new hubs on old wheels

If they are steel, then yes, it is insane. Steel wheels are terrible for braking in wet conditions--no comparison to aluminum alloys.

Here's a pre-built budget option (no affiliation or experience with the website or company):

http://www.bicyclewheelwarehouse.com/road/riders-220-or-less/mavic-open-sport-shimano-105/prod_140.html

You hit upon one of the great conundrums of older bikes--it may seem cheaper to "update" a cheap, old, used one rather than buy a newer bike, but there are so many mechanical incompatibilities that you have to either spend some money, make some serious compromises, or not upgrade certain parts.

Quote:Originally Posted by Fly1296 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]I'm rebuilding an old Schwinn World Sport with sti (Shimano 5600 shifters) and am running into a conundrum with wheels. The existing steel 27x1 1/4 wheels are perfectly fine but obviously won't accept a cassette. Wheelsets are more than I expected, even used on eBay. Would it be completely insane to rebuild the wheels with newer hubs? I can get a good set of 105 hubs for $20 shipped.

FWIW. As noted, steel rims are not considered to be ideal ...

But, if you don't ride in wet weather (there are, of course, sintered pads which can be used to address wet weather riding with steel rims) and you apparently have not had an issue with them then because you are dealing with the rear wheel 'I' think it is worth the effort If you can relace & true the wheels yourself to convert the wheel's rear hub-type BECAUSE Cassettes are vastly superior (IMO) to Freewheels ...

The caveat is that your frame's rear dropout spacing is probably 126mm ...

That is not a big deal ... particularly if the frame is steel ... but, I digress ...

Because most 105 Road hubs will be spaced for 130mm dropouts.

So, you would have two options ...

You can either respace the frame to 130mm ...

OR, you can simply remove the 4mm spacer from the non-driveside of the hub (that is, presuming it is a hub intended for a frame with a 130mm rear spacing) PLUS shorten the axle by ~4mm (you can do this with a good FLAT FILE or the flat side of a HALF ROUND FILE).

NB. To state the obvious, your bike's wheels probably have 36h hubs so you need to be sure that you buy 36h hubs as replacements.

Thanks for the replies. I'm leaning towards just springing for some decent used 700c off eBay or CL. I'm not particularly comfortable building my own wheels and by the time I bought the hubs and paid to have them built I'd be close enough to a wheelset to justify the extra. I have room in my budget after scoring a set of 105 5600 shifters for $25 (patience pays off). Thanks again for the help and I'm sure I will have more.

Make sure your existing brake calipers have enough adjustment range to work with 700c wheels. If possible borrow a set of 700c wheels to see how it all fits and to get your head around what alfeng mentioned above about rear hub spacing as your newer STI compatible hub will be 130mm wide and your World Sport almost certainly has 126mm dropout spacing. Not a huge deal with steel bikes where you can either just manually spread the rear triangle width every time you mount the rear wheel or you can carefully stretch the frame spacing to 130mm but one way or another you'll have to figure out how to get a 130mm wide rear hub into older dropouts.

Rebuilding older bikes can be fun and you can almost certainly get a pretty nice bike out of it when you're finished but it's easy to throw an awful lot of money down that rabbit hole for a bike that will still be built on a Schwinn World Sport frame, not exactly top end stuff for the period so don't go too crazy on upgrades if the main point is to have a nice bike. Plenty of great deals on used but newer STI equipped bikes built on better frames if the main point is to have a good bike but if restoration is the point then personally I'd restore it, friction shifters, 27" steel wheels, six or seven speed and all.

Good luck,
-Dave

Great idea about borrowing a set of wheels to check brake reach. Brakes are on my radar but towards to bottom of the priority list as I am confident that the existing will work for the time being. Yes the bike has 126 rear spacing. I can easily spring them open to 130 but I will probably cold set to be easier on the rear hub bearings. Restoration is not the goal. I really like the ride and fit of the big Schwinn (I'm 6'6", 200#) and the project will fulfill my tinkering nature.

Sounds good, don't forget that you'll likely have crankset/chainring issues if you run a crankset designed for 6 or 7 speeds with a 10 speed rear drive train. It's not a show stopper and you may be able to swap to new thinner chainrings but ideally you'll run a modern crankset for best shifting performance with new narrower chains.

-Dave

daveryanwyoming said:

Sounds good, don't forget that you'll likely have crankset/chainring issues if you run a crankset designed for 6 or 7 speeds with a 10 speed rear drive train. It's not a show stopper and you may be able to swap to new thinner chainrings but ideally you'll run a modern crankset for best shifting performance with new narrower chains. -Dave Â

Planned upgrades include STI shifters, front and rear derailleurs, bottom bracket, wheelset, crankset, chain, and all new cables/housings at installation. Brakes, if necessary, and wider handlebars are possible down the road. If I can get as lucky on a wheelset as I did on the shifters I should have $300-$350 in it, bike included...half or less than I would pay for a used bike similarly equipped. Yes it will be heavy but I'm not racing, live in reasonably flat Oklahoma, and the weight will make me stronger in the long run.

Ok, so wheelset purchase is proving difficult. Very little on CL and the stuff I'm finding on eBay is generally far more than I can justify spending for my project. It occurs that I may just not be doing the right searches in the right places. Does anybody have any brand suggestions for inexpensive, basic wheels with a 130mm freehub axle? I'm not even married to 700c at the moment. I'd like to keep it under $100 for the set, which is of course asking a lot but seems possible. Thanks!

Fly1296 said:

     Ok, so wheelset purchase is proving difficult.  Very little on CL and the stuff I'm finding on eBay is generally far more than I can justify spending for my project.  It occurs that I may just not be doing the right searches in the right places.  Does anybody have any brand suggestions for inexpensive, basic wheels with a 130mm freehub axle?  I'm not even married to 700c at the moment.  I'd like to keep it under $100 for the set, which is of course asking a lot but seems possible.  Thanks!

For under $100 it's going to be difficult finding anything that's worth mounting on your bike. If you're okay with your hubs, just buy two rims and have them laced to your hubs by a local bike shop. You can likely have the whole thing done for $150-$200. That would include the cost of the rims, the cost of spokes, and the shop time. You can find new rims on eBay pretty damned cheap. Even new rims from a dealer can be cheap (Mavic, Velocity, Kinlin, HSon.....)

Quote:Originally Posted by Fly1296 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG] Ok, so wheelset purchase is proving difficult. Very little on CL and the stuff I'm finding on eBay is generally far more than I can justify spending for my project. It occurs that I may just not be doing the right searches in the right places. Does anybody have any brand suggestions for inexpensive, basic wheels with a 130mm freehub axle? I'm not even married to 700c at the moment. I'd like to keep it under $100 for the set, which is of course asking a lot but seems possible. Thanks!

Well, IF you don't have the patience to wait for the ideal wheelset to show up on your doorstep THEN you have to get real in your expectation ...

OR, resign yourself to learning how to (re-)lace your own wheels (honestly, ANYONE can do it with only modest amount of motivation) ...

IMO, you have little to lose if you try to re-lace your rims on the hub of choice ...

AGAIN, choose a Shimano hub ...

Remember to be sure to order a 36h hub BECAUSE that is most certainly what your current 27" wheel has ... but, if by a rare chance it is different, then go with what you actually count.

You will need a SPOKE WRENCH ... if you go by the color coded designation, then you will probably want the GREEN one ...

The BLACK wrenches are for DT nipples.

Patience is the key ...

If you UNLACE the old hub slowly & carefully then you can re-use both the spokes & nipples...

Don't confuse the shorter driveside spokes with the slightly longer non-driveside spokes ...

Alien, the hubs are the problem. I couldn't be happier with the current wheels (even if they are heavy steel) but I need a freehub rear. Alf...I think wheel prices were a reality check more than anything else. I am leaning towards your suggestion to relace a 130mm freehub onto my current rear, leave the front alone for now, so at least I can complete the rest of the build and ride the bike while waiting for that perfect wheelset. And you are right, they are 36 spoke wheels. I suspect that will be preferable for a first time build as each spoke will be less loaded. 32 is the practical minimum for me anyway thanks to being just inside the clydes window.

Managed to find a set of Mavic Reflex SUPs with Shimano 600 Tricolor hubs, Q/R skewers, 700x20c tires and an 8-speed cassette for $50. Tires appear brand new, hubs are like silk and the rims are perfectly true and round. The fit right into the spacing and the brakes reached just fine. I weighed them before installation and weighed the old coming off...dropped 5.5lbs right there. First ride was this morning and I picked up 2.5mph in average speed. Cassette is a 12-21 but I have the 21 locked out because of chain rub on the wheelguard; I'm still using the 5speed chain but will naturally replace it when I get a 10-speed cassette soon. The thing just wants to go now; I'm amazed by the difference the wheels make.

I think wheel prices were a reality check more than anything else. I am leaning towards your suggestion to replace a 130mm free hub onto my current rear, leave the front alone for now, so at least I can complete the rest of the build and ride the bike while waiting for that perfect wheel set. And you are right, they are 36 spoke wheels. I suspect that will be preferable for a first time build as each spoke will be less loaded. 32 is the practical minimum for me anyway thanks to being just inside the clydes window.