Respacing 130mm to 126mm

[Eziemnaik]

Hi
I am in the process of upgrading my bike to a freehub from freewheel. I had found 126mm cassette hub and had the wheel done.
My question is would it be possible to respace much easier sourced 130mm hub to fit in 126mm frame?
If yes then how and what would the drawbacks be?

 

[figbat]

How about spreading the frame by 4mm?

 

[Eziemnaik]

Yeah, I was thinking about that as well but it is old alu which may or may not take kindly to it

 

[rogerzilla]

2mm washer under each locknut. Sorted.

 

[Sharky]

The bike I'm riding on my avatar was a track frame and I managed to spread it out with a bit of force to take a 126mm 5 speed hub. But it was steel. Did try the same with a 130mm hub, but it was impossible, so it went back to fixed.

Not sure about doing the same with alu.

 

[Eziemnaik]

2mm washer under each locknut. Sorted.

I'm not sure if I understand. That would effectively make hub wider not more narrow?

 

[Ajax Bay]

You cannot fit a 130mm freehubbed wheel into a 126mm OLN rear dropout frame, without bending the frame's rear triangle out, permanently. AASHTA. Steel = yes. Other materials = no.
If you tried to remove a spacer (4mm?) on the left end of the axle, the right hand spokes would become much closer to vertical, the left hand spokes' tension would be too low, and the wheel would fail.

 

[rogerzilla]

I'm not sure if I understand. That would effectively make hub wider not more narrow?

Ah, sorry, misunderstood the OP. You'll need a 7 speed (maximum) rear road hub.

 

[Eziemnaik]

Thanks for all replies. That's what I was thinking, but wanted to be sure. 126mm hubs are the way to go then - shame almost nobody makes any new ones (Velo Orange, Novatech? - and these are freewheel).

 

[Sharky]

https://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/comp...ZZTMelOuMCWRgFu7MdvNTZTy7P1RfAahoCSBkQAvD_BwE

If building a new wheel, but screw on.

Or you go for hub gears

 

[Ajax Bay]

126mm [free]hubs are the way to go then - shame almost nobody makes any new ones

Do share why you want to swap from freewheel to freehub (7sp) and think it an 'upgrade'.

 

[Eziemnaik]

Do share why you want to swap from freewheel to freehub (7sp) and think it an 'upgrade'.

To be honest, the more I think about it, the more it seems nothing but a whim and curiosity. Sensible cassettes starting from 13 are hard to find, any weight and strength gains are minimal?, and as stated before 126mm freehubs are rather rare and not widely available.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Cassettes with a 13t smallest are a small percentage of the available range, and tend to come quite close ratioed. I believe a market exists for a 13-30 or 13-32 for 8 and 9 speed drivetrains. For 10 and 11sp, you can afford to go smaller without increasing the steps between gears.

 

[si_c]

For the frame you have I would stick with a Freewheel based hub - they are a proven, reliable technology and the upsides of switching to a cassette are more than counteracted by the need to widen the frame.

Don't do this on an aluminium frame, you will permanently damage it.

 

[fossyant]

126mm freehubs are long gone. Even my 1986 Raleigh had 130mm spacing and that's with a 7 speed freehub.