Rim and Hub compatibility issues

pneumatic

Ok, now treat me gently on this one: I'm out of my comfort zone:

A friend of mine tells me he has been given an old racing bike with tubs for tyres (we have no experience of these nor need/desire to use them) and campag mech.

I have a spare pair of old Sachs wheels (with "normal" tyres and tubes) that came off a bike with Shimano mech (Sora, I think).

Both sets of wheels have 7 speed cassettes (I think!).

1. Can we just swap the wheels over, or is it going to be more complicated than that?
2. If we chose to swap the cassettes, are they likely to be compatible?
3. Am I right in assuming that we can't just put "normal" tyres on rims intended for tubs?

Told you I was clueless! :oops:

I would normally just fettle about with the problem, but we live 200 miles apart so need to prepare.

BTW, I am utterly disinterested in the question of which is better, Italian or Japanese: I just want to make his bike roadworthy for him.

desweller

Mm. If it's all friction stuff so I would have a go even if someone on here says it won't work, the usual Shimano/Campag incompatibilities arise from indexing so don't see why it wouldn't work.

Might have troubles swapping freewheels though.

EDIT: You might tap into more knowledge if you cross post this in the Special Interests section

disquieting_museeuws

Tubular and clincher rims can usually be swapped over without trouble in terms of where the brake blocks hit the rim.

If they're both seven speed the hub width should be the same or near enough - you can measure the OLN (over lock nut) with calipers or on the inside faces of the rear drop-outs with the wheel removed.

Clinchers can't be used with tubular rims - the cross-section of a tub rim is just a shallow cup with nowhere to attach the beads.

The cassettes will probably be incompatible if indexed but I don't really know. Indexed shifting started coming in about 1987 for club folks, so it would be quite old if it was friction.

pneumatic

Thanks, that helps.

I can't remember whether the shifters are indexed (I only saw the bike for a few minutes at the weekend) but it is quite old so there is a chance.

For the time it will take to swap the wheels over and hook it all up, it is probably worth a try, anyway.

Monty Dog

There's no incompatability problems with 7 speed whether it's freewheel or cassette - you can swap over wheels no problems, but it does depend on how worn the components are - a worn chain may skip on a less worn freewheel/cassette. Swapping sprockets depends on whether both hubs are same type i.e. 7 speed could be a freewheel (screw-on 'cluster) or cassette (splined sprockets secured by lockring)
May be worth checking whether both hubs are same dimension across the rear axle too - you can fit 7 speeds on a 126mm or 130mm rear hub - depends on age of wheel.
You cannot fit conventional tyres to a rim designed for tubulars/sprints