Looking for a quality 5 speed freewheel?

[HovR]

As in the title, I'm looking for a quality 5 speed freewheel.

I bought one off eBay a while back - an "Eagle" freewheel for £5 posted in NOS condition, bargain I thought! A few months later, after maybe only 500 miles it starts making horrible noises.

So I rebuilt and regreased all the internals which fixed the issue for about 500 more miles, however now it's started making more (slightly different) noises again, strangely both when freewheeling and when not.

The only brands I've found on eBay are Sunrace and ETC. I've heard of Sunrace before, although never used any of their stuff.

Any recommendations would be appreciated!

 

[TheDoctor]

Would any of these at SJS be of interest?

 

[HovR]

Would any of these at SJS be of interest?

That £5 Eagle one is the exact same as I have at the moment, so I think I'll be steering clear of that. Some of the other models look good though so I'll keep them in mind - thanks!

 

[TheDoctor]

SJS are quite good for older or hard-to-find bits.
Not cheap, but you can't have everything!!

 

[Teuchter]

You're not alone in this, HovR. The eBay 6 speed freewheel I put on my Peugeot in summer has been doing similar. It was one of these. Started making grinding noises when freewheeling last week followed by seeming to jump when moving off after freewheeling. I fed a load of heavy oil into it and left it overnight and it seems better now but it's marked for replacement in the very near future. Trouble is my Shimano freewheel tool doesn't fit it so I'll have to figure out what kind of tool is required to get it off first.

 

[compo]

HovR
I have a couple of genuine Shimano 5 speed freewheels in my shed. They are used but in very good condition. They are from when I changed a couple of wheels from 5 to 6 speed. They could do with a clean, but the grease has stopped the rust! I can do you a couple of photos if you want to examine them, but not until it stops raining. I can't recall the ranges but they are fairly wide range. Get you up Birdlip easy enough Yours for the postage.

 

[HovR]

HovR
I have a couple of genuine Shimano 5 speed freewheels in my shed. They are used but in very good condition. They are from when I changed a couple of wheels from 5 to 6 speed. They could do with a clean, but the grease has stopped the rust! I can do you a couple of photos if you want to examine them, but not until it stops raining. I can't recall the ranges but they are fairly wide range. Get you up Birdlip easy enough Yours for the postage.

Thanks compo, think I'll take you up on that offer, much appreciated!

Pictures would be great as well, thanks. No rush though, as my other bike is standing in at the moment!

Sent from my GT-I8160 using Tapatalk

 

[compo]

It's nearly dark now, so I will photograph them in the morning and post a link up to the shots. They will be on Photobucket. I have no idea what the postage will be. Once you say you want them I can bung them in the post and we can sort it out afterwards.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

The Sunrace ones should be decent. I have a 7 speed one on my knockabout bike at the moment and had another from their range on the Raleigh until the upgrade in the summer. I find them as good as the equivalent Shimano ones.

For what it's worth, Sunrace is the company that currently owns Sturmey Archer.

 

[HovR]

It's nearly dark now, so I will photograph them in the morning and post a link up to the shots. They will be on Photobucket. I have no idea what the postage will be. Once you say you want them I can bung them in the post and we can sort it out afterwards.

Sounds like a plan, thanks very much.

 

[compo]

Here we go: They need a good clean but the bearings run nice and smoothly and although obviously not new have loads of life in them yet.

 

[HovR]

Here we go: They need a good clean but the bearings run nice and smoothly and although obviously not new have loads of life in them yet.

Those look to be just the thing, Compo! It's tough to find any quality 5 speed Shimano freewheels any more.

PM me your PayPal address and I'll be sure to send you the postage costs when you know what they are! Thanks again.

 

[Archie_tect]

I bought a 5 speed freewheel [14-32!] on Ebay -came from India- to replace the old 11-25 on my old 10 speed Dawes bike [after I had to walk up the first half of the Ryals on the Cyclone B route]. Local LBS helped as I couldn't shift the old one. Good range of gears using the original 52/40 chainrings.

 

[HovR]

I bought a 5 speed freewheel [14-32!] on Ebay -came from India- to replace the old 11-25 on my old 10 speed Dawes bike [after I had to walk up the first half of the Ryals on the Cyclone B route]. Local LBS helped as I couldn't shift the old one. Good range of gears using the original 52/40 chainrings.

The freewheel that was on the bike when I got it was a 14-24ish deal, which made hills a pain, so I swapped it for the 14-28 I'm now having trouble with. I find the ratios on this freewheel really good (although the actual freewheel is rubbish). I think if I went any bigger then the large tooth count jumps would drive me insane on the flat!

 

[Archie_tect]

I got used to it pretty quickly and prefer it now to the 30 speeds on my new one! The 40-32 gets me up just about anything!
Ranges from 2.5 through to 7.3 with only one repeat at 52/28 and 40/22.