Helicomatic

Dang it's been a long time since I've heard anyone mention a Helicomatic freewheel. You can sometimes find them on ebay like this: VINTAGE MAILLARD HELICOMATIC FREEWHEEL 6 S - eBay (item 400047222381 end time Jul-30-09 13:06:03 PDT)

But they were a short lived concept.

Good luck,
-Dave

Michael Orme said:

Any one out there know where I can buy a new Helicomatic gear cassett from? 6 speed, but might try any.
Mike.

My Peugeot's rear wheel came with a Helicomatic hub ...

Unless you are restoring a bike, I recommend you have the rim re-laced on a different hub ... and then, sell the hub/etc. on eBay.

Most Shimano hubs can be re-spaced to 126mm OR you can respace the frame to 130mm almost as easily.

You can, of course, re-lace the rim on a hub that uses a Freewheel if you don't want to respace the frame.

Make sure the hub's bearings aren't shot before you spend money on it. Supposedly they used a smaller size ball & they fail easily.

garage sale GT said:

Make sure the hub's bearings aren't shot before you spend money on it. Supposedly they used a smaller size ball & they fail easily.

The Helicomatic hub does use smaller bearings than most rear hubs ...

But, they can be as readily replaced as other loose bearings.

While I know that Sheldon Brown thought the Helicomatic hubs were less robust because of the smaller bearing size (I presume he saw several pass through his shop that needed what he thought was premature servicing), I think that bearing life really depends/(depended) on the rider.

daveryanwyoming said:

Dang it's been a long time since I've heard anyone mention a Helicomatic freewheel. You can sometimes find them on ebay like this: VINTAGE MAILLARD HELICOMATIC FREEWHEEL 6 S - eBay (item 400047222381 end time Jul-30-09 13:06:03 PDT)

But they were a short lived concept.

Good luck,
-Dave

Thanks for that I like the Helicomatic, I can fix a broken spoke at the road side in about 7 minutes!
Mike.