Buying new wheel

[User]

 

[Tim Hall]

Is it a freewheel or a freehub?

 

[Ajax Bay]

Have an idea of how many spokes you want. If you plus bike is heavier than average (?90kg) 32 spokes (or 36) are sensible (and even if you're lighter will match the age of the bike).
Ref rim width, see this Schwalbe link.

 

[Oldfentiger]

Width between dropouts.

 

[Tim Hall]

[QUOTE 4937887, member: 9609"]Free hub (cassette slides over it ?)
7 speed cassette
36 spokes
124.6mm between drop outs

28c marathon plus tyres inflated to 90 psi
current wheel spokes keep coming loose and now the side wall has a tiny bulge in it - this was a new (rebuilt wheel from last december so has about 4 thousand mile on it. (Mavic Elite)

I'm wanting some thing descent as I am knocking out 6000 mile a year in all weather - I'm just over 12 stone so hardly a heavy weight, and you can see from my avatar the bike is light as a feather [/QUOTE]
I'd say your 124.6mm should be 126mm, but what's a 1/16 of an inch between friends? What's your budget? I'm not sure of the compatibility of today's 10 or 11 speed free hubs with 7 speed cassettes. It might be worth talking to Spa Cycles in Harrogate for advice.

 

[T4tomo]

You don't necessarily have to stick to 7 speed, depending what what shifters you have, I.e friction shifters will cope with 8 speed which will also be fine for your chainrings too. Spa cycles is a good shout.

 

[T4tomo]

I think they might be same width, just more tightly spaced cogs, but in any event a 7spd cassette will fit on a hub designed for 8 SPD with a spacer or two.

Edit>> https://www.sheldonbrown.com/speeds.htmlyou need a 4.5mm spacer.

• 7-speed cassettes fit fine on 8- and 9-speed (and most 10-speed) hubs if you put a 4.5 mm spacer onto the body before the cassette. Click here for details.

 

[Cycleops]

[QUOTE 4937887, member: 9609"]
- I'm just over 12 stone so hardly a heavy weight, and you can see from my avatar the bike is light as a feather [/QUOTE]
I think there's someone standing just out of shot with a fishing rod.

 

[iluvmybike]

The difficulty might be getting the right axle width as OP's bike is old one at 126mm - modern size is 130mm or 135mm

 

[iluvmybike]

If you can find a 126mm hub then you can get a wheel built of course. SPA Cycles do one (Zenith large flange) but it is a screw-on freewheel not a cassette

 

[Ajax Bay]

I'd be quite tempted to ask your LBS (or one you can trust to build a wheel) to lace a new (36 spoke) rim onto your current hub. This would solve the OLN issue (126mm) and give you a freewheel you know works (with only 4000 miles on it, it should have plenty of life left) and with maximum dish (as opposed to losing valuable strength because of having to use a spacer on a newer wheel). When my hub went last summer (after an unsuccessful attempt to replace the freewheel) my local bike shop lent me a wheel that had a dent in the rim (but otherwise fairly unused) for a ride I was doing that weekend (a 300km - I could just feel the bump if the tarmac was very smooth), and then replaced the rim in that wheel with a Mavic Open Sport rim (many other rims to choose from and there will be experts on here if you choose this route and want "rim advice"). My rim has now supported me for 12,000+km without a hiccup and the wear indicators are still deep.
Westbrookcycles - Mavic-open-sport-road-bike-rim
Evans - Mavic-open-pro-silver-rim

 

[Ajax Bay]

Worth just looking at this thread if you go for the 'new wheel' option (though the chances of getting one with those spokes/nipples in 126mm OLN are nil). Nipples are not all the same and there are other threads extolling brass compared to aluminium nipples and the merits of double butted spokes.

 

[Ajax Bay]

[QUOTE 4939208, member: 9609"]sums up the mondern world completely, incapable of getting a bike wheel to work properly[/QUOTE]
But your experience is atypical: most people do not have this problem - so does it relate to the modern world - I suggest not (but off topic).
Your frame is an old one which has a dropout of only 126mm. You want to stick to 7sp and want rims wide enough to take 28s. The market for such wheels is very small.
Ask yourself why the spokes are loosening. If they are always in tension, what is mechanism which is making them loosen?
Since your LBS doesn't seem to have managed to build you a wheel that does the business (and locktite on spoke nipples is a poor idea, at best), what about asking @Spoked Wheels if he will help, using your current hub with new rim and spokes? See this thread: hand-built-wheels-update-£20-per-wheel-building-service-to-cc-members

 

[T4tomo]

Choice one. Spa cycle do Zenith 126mm freewheel hubs, so could build you one up, leaving you with a surplus cassette and an arguably inferior screw on freewheel, solution.

Choice two. IF your bike is steel, get the frame cold set to 130mm and then you have loads of hub choices for 8spd freehubs and you can use a 4.5mm spacer for your 7sp set up.

Choice three - ring spa cycles and see if they have a 126mm freehub hub or know where to get hold of one. Or scour Ebay for NOS or used ones

Choice 4 scour eBay for a 7sp cassette wheel and hope it's better than yours

Choice 5 try a different wheel builder if your hub is sound and it's just your LBS have trouble keeping spokes in tension.

 

[the snail]

I wouldn't pay the LBS to true the wheel again, doesn't sound they they are any good at wheel building. Sounds like there's just not enough tension in the spokes - you really shouldn't need loctite on those wheels. I'd suggest reading this
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html#tensioning
And getting your spoke key out, shouldn't be difficult to get the wheel sorted at zero cost.