wheels and cassettes

ddraver

hey guys

Moving back to london for a few weeks and so am resurecting my crappy roadie

the wheels are knackered and so i'm looking for a half decent pair of wheels but not too expensive..something,like the cheapest mavics would be good but is there anything else i should look at, I'm a big guy so they need to be pretty strong and if they look pimpin they re gonna get knicked...ebay has some good deals on them so thats where i'm aiming

also given the old wheel is a freewheel, I ll need a new cassette, given that 7 spd seems to be rare, can i put an 8 spd cassette on, the shifter has 8 clicks on it and i reckon the derailleur might be as well but how do i check?!

I would also be interested in making it single speed (solving the above problem). are there any decent roadie conversion kits cos i can't find one, only MTB ones, and will the small ring on the compact chainset be OK or too big

Many Thanks

Dave

ddraver

is it cos i posted in the MTB bit too............

acorn_user

The shifters should say how many gears they are for.
7 speed freewheels are easy to find, and as cheap as chips. I would stick to this IF THE OLD WHEEL is any good. If it's stuffed, you might as well get a cassette rear wheel. You run 7 speed cassettes on an 8 speed wheel using a spacer (4.5mm; an old 8 speed cog will do).

Best cheap wheels are probably straight from the Madison, Raleigh or Bob Elliot catalogs.

chunkytfg

acorn_user wrote:

The shifters should say how many gears they are for.
7 speed freewheels are easy to find, and as cheap as chips. I would stick to this IF THE OLD WHEEL is any good. If it's stuffed, you might as well get a cassette rear wheel. You run 7 speed cassettes on an 8 speed wheel using a spacer (4.5mm; an old 8 speed cog will do).

Best cheap wheels are probably straight from the Madison, Raleigh or Bob Elliot catalogs.

I did this recently on a set of Quest como wheels. £59 for the wheels and about £20ish for the cassette fitted for me. I'm also a big guy(20+ stone) and the wheels are holding up very well so far(500 miles approx) and still totally true

The Spiderman

I just picked up some good secondhand wheels today,to fix up my old roadie.Again I did have a 7 speed freewheel,and now need a 7 speed cassette.
You can still get a 7 speed Shimano HG50 for aound £15-20 plus the spacer is around £3.You will also need a new chain for around £10.

Take a look on Parkers international or wiggle for the parts.