I guess everyone should disassemble an FW body once, but frankly I've never had the patience to try to reassemble one with all those tiny bearings, so I've only disassembled FW bodies in order to clamp the inner bodies in a bench vice to break loose a frozen FW. This is a last resort when one usually figures the FW is toast in any case and the objective is to save the hub.
If the ruined FW has good ratios, I'd simply find a Regina with worn cogs or maybe a corncob block, but a good body, and transfer the cogs. Theoretically this coud be done by removing the face plate from the good body and installing the old outer body with cogs in place onto the good inner body. But this invovles collecting or replacing all those tiny bearings and holding them in place while one reassembles the body, no mean feat.
I find it easier to just remove the cogs from the old outer body and from the FW with the good body and change them out. This is not exactly easy either, particularly removing the large cog that threads on from the back of classic Regina FW's. A good tool helps immensely, and I obtained one a while back, I think from Wayne Bingham when he was clearing out some stock he inherited when he took over MPI. Don't have it here, but I think maybe it was made by TA. I do know it made removing the cogs from a Regina FW easier by an order of magnitude.
BTW, last time I disassembled FW bodies, I had two frozen FW's at once, a 5-spd Regina and a mid-80's 7-spd Maillard. When I disassembled the Maillard I was surprised to find caged bearings, the only ones I've ever seen on an FW. Why didn't more companies do that? I mean, FW's are the place where caged beariing actually are a huge advantage, but they were almost never used there. The Maillard body was totally mangled by the time I got it off the hub, but if all classic FW's had had caged bearings, I might actually have had a go at rebuilding a few.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Tuscaloosa, AL, USA about 200 miles from the Gulf Coast beaches where all the parrotheads showed up for a Jimmy Buffet benefit concert this weekend
From: verktyg <verktyg@aol.com> Subject: Re: [CR] Regina Cluster To: "WILLIAM HACKETT" <wfhackett@cox.net>, Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 4:08 PM
Greetings,
That was a common problem with Regina freewheels around that time. It may not be a broken ratchet but metal chips in the mechanism!
This has been frequently written about and you can find lots of info in the archives.
I had a Regina Oro freewheel lock up on me during a fast descent off of Sandia Peak behind Albuquerque in 1975 or 76 - from 10.6K to 7.5K altitude on essentially a fixed gear bike.
A short time after that I had another Regina lock up on me on a short hill around town.
We tore both of those freewheels apart at our bike shop plus several others that had failed about the same time. They all had loose metal chip inside them.
The chips could have been left over from manufacturing if the bodies were not properly cleaned but it's more likely that one or more disgruntled employee/s threw the chips in during assembly - the Italian way!
Since then I pretty much avoided using sacred Regina freewheels and their over priced chains! We saw no difference in chain life or performance between $18 Regina Oro chains and $6 Sedis chains (1970s prices)!
If you decide to tear into the freewheel, the lock ring on the face turns counterclockwise (I think - it's been a long time). Use a prick punch and a hammer to loosen it. Once loosened hold the freewheel over a box or open container because you'll get a rain of 1/8" ball bearings.
Everyone should try it at least once... ;-)
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
> Group
>
> I have a five sprocket Regina cluster with a broken Ratchet.
>
> It is from 1975 era. Is there a way to repair the assembly? Is
> Regina still in business?
>
> Bill Hackett, Mesa Arizona