Everyone's experience will be somewhat different, but I've seen several
strip out the threading on the hub.
Maybe the chainline was off, perhaps the hubs were narrower threaded in
amount of threads for purchase area, but most likely the hub may have had so
many cogs removed that the threads were thin and didn't have enough bite
depth.
Many single freewheels are a little wider than a single cog, and the single
cog usually sits almost directly above the thread where the single freewheel
usually sits just a little farther out and changes the angle a little in
relation to the cog thread relationship.
Why did all those old hubs usually come single side fixed and opposite side
wide thread?
Were they for multispeed cogs or single freewheel when guys went to races
and reversed wheel sides.
Were there that many multi-speed freewheels in use in England before the
war?
Granted. the factories could use the same hubs when making bikes and save
cost on sourcing original equipment, going into the '70's.
It makes me wonder how much of this was a typical bicycle hold over in an
industry loathe to change old habits, as is shown still today in our
threading sizes?
Like I first wrote in my first post, it's a chance, and not my choice.
Ted Ernst
Palos Verdes Estates
California, USA
> At 11:25 PM 18/03/2008 -0700, ternst wrote:
>> I was going to respond and forgot. Here's my take:
>>One always takes a chance when putting a freewheel albeit a single on the
>>narrow track hub thread section.
>>Chances are it will be OK, but an aluminum hub is risky and a steel hub
>>mght
>>be OK.
>>Personally I wouldn't do it.
>>The thread stress from the freewheel might be just too much for the hub to
>>hold especially under hard riding, and you may ruin a hard to replace
>>treasured hub.
>>You takes your chances. A 3/4/5 speed freewheel, hub suicide, a single
>>freewheel, chancy, especially on an alloy hub.
>>Not on any of my bikes on my watch, neither a recommendation.
>
> I thought about that too, but how would it be any different than the
> torque
> from a single fixed cog? In fact, a fixed cog (with a lockring) would
> stress the hub threads in both directions alternately, unlike a freewheel.
> Well, okay, maybe a multi speed freewheel would stress the threads when
> the
> chain is on the small cog, but not a single speed.
>
> John Betmanis
> Woodstock, Ontario
> Canada