Freewheel Removal

[Dewi]

Shimano cassette lockring removers and Shimano freewheel removers use the same spline pattern, but on the cassette remover the splines are 1mm high, and on the freewheel remover they are only 0.5mm high.
On actual Shimano kit the cassette lockring remover won't fit in a freewheel as the splines are too high, but if you've got "shimano compatible" it may be worth trying a lockring remover for fit (preferably one with long splines). Quite a lot of bike shops don't know the difference between the two removers, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that someone making a no name freewheel could have used the wrong shimano spline.

Interesting point. The splines are a good 25mm deep so I am sure it is a freewheel rather than a cassette lock ring. Looking again at the freewheel it does say TOP Taiwan - not that this helps much as Googling doesn't bring up anything.

As the wheel needed a few spokes and turing up I decided to get a new one and just use the old one for spare spokes. New Shimano 34T Megarange fitted this evening so the hills will be a little easier tomorrow

Cheers