Suntour 6 Speed freewheel

[Rabbit]

I'm doing up an old Dawes Galaxy mixte for my daughter and just noticed the Suntour
6 speed freewheel is missing a tooth on the smallest sprocket - Question is, can I just get a new cog
or do I need to find a whole new freewheel? Or do I even need to worry about it? Didn't seem to be a problem when I did a quick check through the gears...

 

[Pauluk]

The freewheels I've seen tend to have the cogs riveted permanently together so have to be changed as a whole unit. I would also check the chain for wear/stretch if you haven't already.
As to whether you leave it or not depends on how reliable it performs I guess and how much/what your daughter is using it for, but I don't think freewheels are that expensive to replace and nor are chains if one is required.

 

[Rabbit]

Many thanks, will see how it performs when the wheel is back on the bike, and then start searching Ebay if need be!

 

[andrew_s]

You used to be able to get spare sprockets, but you'd have to go to eBay for one now.

Suntour freewheels were good, so I'd probably keep it going as long as the missing tooth didn't cause a problem. I got a 17T sprocket down to 7T once before I gave up (frozen rear mech on a commuting bike).
Modern replacements are either cheap and nasty,or expensive (as are old Suntour freewheels)

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

I'm doing up an old Dawes Galaxy mixte for my daughter and just noticed the Suntour
6 speed freewheel is missing a tooth on the smallest sprocket - Question is, can I just get a new cog
or do I need to find a whole new freewheel? Or do I even need to worry about it? Didn't seem to be a problem when I did a quick check through the gears...

Until quite recently I could still see skip-tooth freewheels for sale on e.g. ebay. I think even Shimano used to make them, make shifts easier, supposedly.

 

[Rabbit]

Thanks both - sounds like good advice. Don't really want to give up on the freewheel as it spins really nicely and has a very smooth sound - even the guy in the bikeshop remarked on it! In fact - he said excatly what RecordAce has said... that some freewheels/cassettes are designed with missing teeth to improve gear changing.