Derek, English threads on freewheels and bottom brackets are the same, so the mechanic was using a BB lockring, not a track lockring.
Paul, According to Sutherland's, later Regina freewheels are marked with grooves as you describe. Earlier ones are marked FI (for "Filettatura Inglese," not Formula 1) for English and FF for French, with no marking for Italian.
Even if a BB lockring is nominally English, the threads on lockrings do not have to be especially precise to function satisfactorily, not compared to freewheel threads anyway. In any case, using a lockring of unverified thread is not a very trustworthy way to determine threading compared to using a micrometer and a pitch gauge. I would recommend you do that.
Greg Reiche CyclArt Vista, CA USA
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Derek Athey Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2010 1:01 PM To: W PAUL PATZKOWSKY Cc: Rendezvous Classic Subject: Re: [CR] freewheel thread id, troubleshooting
Paul
Don't understand what you mean by English threaded lockring. A lockring is lefthand thread so won't fit on a freewheel hub anyway.
I've never heard of the one groove = English; two groves = French theory either. Have you checked the threads on the hub for damage or cross-threading by some other 'monkey'!
If you let me know offlist what size you are looking for, I will try and find what you need for your Airlite hub.
Regards Derek Athey Honiton, Devon UK
On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 8:20 PM, W PAUL PATZKOWSKY <oldtrikerider@q.com>wrote:
>
> I have an Airlite hub that I'm trying to find a freewheel for but nothing
> has worked. A local mechanic had a lockring that he said was English
> threaded which threads on fine. I've tried to install a Regina Extra Oro 5
> spd which was sold to me as an English threaded unit, no luck. The freewheel
> has F1 stamped on the back which, I've been told, indicates English threads.
> I've also been told that the presence of one groove on the freewheel back
> indicates English while two are French and no grooves indicate Italian
> threads. So, by that information I have 2 English and one Italian threaded
> freewheel, none of which work on the hub. The hub threads look good.
> What's up?
>
>
>
> Paul Patzkowsky
>
> Longmont, Colorado