Cycling Equipment · Public discussion

Re: SImano Uniglide update questions

Dave Mayer · 2004-10-04T01:36:51+00:00

"Retro Bob" wrote in message news:[email hidden]... I've got a Uniglide hub I am toying with using. I read Sheldon's page on Uniglide vs.Hyperglide and I understand all that. It says that most Shimano hubs (my uniglide) can be upgraded to Hyperglide if you don't hit these conditions: 1. Very early freehubs (identifiable by the absence of the typical bulge on the right end of the hub barrel) which have non-interchangeable bodies. Bob: I have several wheels built with 6-speed Uniglide hubs that Shimano made in the early 80's. They are cassette hubs, but do not have the bulge in the hub waist. They were 6-speed, they have a grease injection port in the waist of the hub, the cassette bodies are Uniglide (all the splines are the same width) and the smallest cog threads on. You cannot use a normal cassette lockring on these, because the inside lip of the freehub body is not threaded. They are very likely 36 hole. Contrary to what Sheldon says, you can upgrade these, but this is about as complex a job as you can find on a bike. In the words of my bike shop pal: "this is brain surgery". I have done this 6 times. The freehub bodies are press-fit onto the hub shells. A normal Shimano freehub fits on this - 7,8,9 speed. First you must pull the old freehub off. Shimano made a tool for this. Good luck finding one. Amazingly, a freewheel body threads on to the freehub body. This (and a hub axle and some washers) can be used a the basis of a makeshift puller. What attaches the freehub body onto the hub is a 10mm long male projection on the hub. This takes the place of the threaded hollow bolt on the modern Shimano freehubs. Note that this connector will have to be slightly ground on the outside to make the freehub fit. This is a one-minute job because the projection is just soft aluminum. Use blue locktite upon pressing the new cassette hub back onto the body. Why spend time on this? I like the convenient grease injection port. But most importantly: because this hub does not have the body bulge, the steel bolt, and steel threaded insert, it is the lightest thing on the planet. My current project is merging XTR hub parts onto these. The very light 600EX cassette hub body will then have the titanium axle and freehub body.

Started by Dave Mayer · 4 October 2004 · Last activity 5 October 2004 · 5 posts · 798 views

← Back to Cycling Equipment

Thread details

What we know about this thread

Original section: Cycling Equipment
Published: 4 October 2004
Last activity: 5 October 2004
Original author: Dave Mayer
Posts: 5
Discussion status: Public discussion
Total views: 798
Views / 30 days: 0
Topics: Bottom brackets Cassettes and freewheels Single-speed and fixed-gear

The navigation and discussion metadata provide context. Posts remain in their original chronological order.

Original post
Dave Mayer
Archived post

4 October 2004, 01:36 UTC #1

"Retro Bob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I've got a Uniglide hub I am toying with using. I read Sheldon's page
on Uniglide vs.Hyperglide and I understand all that. It says that most
Shimano hubs (my uniglide) can be upgraded to Hyperglide if you don't
hit these conditions:
1. Very early freehubs (identifiable by the absence of the typical
bulge on the right end of the hub barrel) which have
non-interchangeable bodies.
Bob: I have several wheels built with 6-speed Uniglide hubs that Shimano
made in the early 80's. They are cassette hubs, but do not have the bulge
in the hub waist. They were 6-speed, they have a grease injection port in
the waist of the hub, the cassette bodies are Uniglide (all the splines are
the same width) and the smallest cog threads on. You cannot use a normal
cassette lockring on these, because the inside lip of the freehub body is
not threaded. They are very likely 36 hole.
Contrary to what Sheldon says, you can upgrade these, but this is about as
complex a job as you can find on a bike. In the words of my bike shop pal:
"this is brain surgery". I have done this 6 times.
The freehub bodies are press-fit onto the hub shells. A normal Shimano
freehub fits on this - 7,8,9 speed. First you must pull the old freehub
off. Shimano made a tool for this. Good luck finding one. Amazingly, a
freewheel body threads on to the freehub body. This (and a hub axle and
some washers) can be used a the basis of a makeshift puller.
What attaches the freehub body onto the hub is a 10mm long male projection
on the hub. This takes the place of the threaded hollow bolt on the modern
Shimano freehubs. Note that this connector will have to be slightly ground
on the outside to make the freehub fit. This is a one-minute job because
the projection is just soft aluminum. Use blue locktite upon pressing the
new cassette hub back onto the body.
Why spend time on this? I like the convenient grease injection port. But
most importantly: because this hub does not have the body bulge, the steel
bolt, and steel threaded insert, it is the lightest thing on the planet. My
current project is merging XTR hub parts onto these. The very light 600EX
cassette hub body will then have the titanium axle and freehub body.

Report
Ryan Cousineau
Archived post

4 October 2004, 08:55 UTC #2

In article <TO18d.603973$gE.59382@pd7tw3no>,
Dave Mayer said:
"Retro Bob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I've got a Uniglide hub I am toying with using. I read Sheldon's page
on Uniglide vs.Hyperglide and I understand all that. It says that most
Shimano hubs (my uniglide) can be upgraded to Hyperglide if you don't
hit these conditions:
1. Very early freehubs (identifiable by the absence of the typical
bulge on the right end of the hub barrel) which have
non-interchangeable bodies.
Quoted message said:
Bob: I have several wheels built with 6-speed Uniglide hubs that Shimano
made in the early 80's. They are cassette hubs, but do not have the bulge
in the hub waist. They were 6-speed, they have a grease injection port in
the waist of the hub, the cassette bodies are Uniglide (all the splines are
the same width) and the smallest cog threads on. You cannot use a normal
cassette lockring on these, because the inside lip of the freehub body is
not threaded. They are very likely 36 hole.
Contrary to what Sheldon says, you can upgrade these, but this is about as
complex a job as you can find on a bike. In the words of my bike shop pal:
"this is brain surgery". I have done this 6 times.

[...]
Quoted message said:
Why spend time on this? I like the convenient grease injection port. But
most importantly: because this hub does not have the body bulge, the steel
bolt, and steel threaded insert, it is the lightest thing on the planet. My
current project is merging XTR hub parts onto these. The very light 600EX
cassette hub body will then have the titanium axle and freehub body.
Dave: you really ought to write this into an article for Sheldon. It's
pretty classic insane stuff.
--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com
Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.

Report
Jeff Wills
Archived post

4 October 2004, 15:46 UTC #3

Ryan Cousineau <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
<snip>
Quoted message said:

Dave: you really ought to write this into an article for Sheldon. It's
pretty classic insane stuff.
*Seriously* insane stuff...
BTW- how light are the hubs when you're finished? Is there any
possibility that a body from a Shimano DX BMX freehub would fit? I'm
thinking of building an ultra-light single speed...
Jeff

Report
Dave Mayer
Archived post

5 October 2004, 02:01 UTC #4

Quoted message said:
BTW- how light are the hubs when you're finished? Is there any
possibility that a body from a Shimano DX BMX freehub would fit? I'm
thinking of building an ultra-light single speed...
Jeff
Jeff: I recently had a boxed set of DX hubs that I sold on Ebay. The hub
shells looked like any other standard Shimano rear hub. I don't know if the
freehub attachment is the same as other Shimano cassette hubs, but I woudn't
be surprised to find that it is.
Weight: a 9-speed rear Dura-Ace hub is around 310 grams. The XTR hub is
slightly lighter due to it having a titanium axle. So my bastardized
Shimano 600EX/XTR hub would come in at less than 300 grams. Keep in mind
that the small-fry hub makers tend to quote hub weights without a skewer.
This weight includes the excellent Shimano skewer.
My next mutation of this would be lighten it further by pulling off the
steel left-hand dust cap and replacing with plastic. Then replace the
stainless steel balls with ceramics. Then I get out the drill... He He...

Report
qtq
Archived post

5 October 2004, 04:02 UTC #5

"Dave Mayer" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:3gn8d.609460$M95.30115@pd7tw1no:
Quoted message said:
My next mutation of this would be lighten it further by pulling off
the steel left-hand dust cap and replacing with plastic. Then replace
the stainless steel balls with ceramics. Then I get out the drill...
He He...
I have a set of these hubs, too - I'm not sure what model, though. Is it
worth resuscitating them?
--
to email me, run my email address through /usr/bin/caesar
(or rotate by -4)

Report

Active in the last 60 minutes

Active in this thread

0 users · 0 guests ·0 bots ·0 total

No signed-in users are active right now.

No known search crawlers active right now.

What we know about this thread

Continue through CyclingForums

Active in this thread