Author Topic: Help me and my Dog get set up for touring?  (Read 4060 times)

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Offline ImmortalMessenger

Help me and my Dog get set up for touring?
« on: July 22, 2015, 03:35:51 pm »
Hi all,

Pretty new to all this, but have done some good homework. I have a 1984 Schwinn World Sport I am trying to get set up for at first some week long touring with my 50lb dog, and hopefully longer trips in the future. My first major hurdle is changing the gearing.

My Bike is a 6sp freewheel, does anyone know if I can easily put a 7sp on there? I am looking at the Shimano TZ30 (6sp 14-34) and the TZ31 (7sp 14-34). I like the middle gears in the 7sp better, and would rather go with that.

Since I will only have a 14 in the rear, I would like at least a 48 in the front. Therefore, I am looking at a 26 36 48 triple crank. This would give me a total range of 20.7-92.8 gear inches.

My main question right now (more to come :)) is if I can put the 7sp freewheel in there, but any other advice for a newbie is welcome.

Thanks,
~Andrew

Offline DanE

Re: Help me and my Dog get set up for touring?
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2015, 08:39:48 am »
"My Bike is a 6sp freewheel, does anyone know if I can easily put a 7sp on there? I am looking at the Shimano TZ30 (6sp 14-34) and the TZ31 (7sp 14-34). I like the middle gears in the 7sp better, and would rather go with that."

It kind of depends. Six speed freewheels came in two widths, a standard width which fit on a hub that had a 126 mm long axle, and a narrow spaced freewheel which fit on a hub with a 120 mm axle which was the standard axle for 5 speed freewheels. Seven speed freewheels have the same narrow spacing as a narrow six speed freewheel and fit on a hub with a 126 mm axle. So, if you have a standard six speed w/ a 126 mm axle then it should work just fine. If you have a narrow six speed with a 120 mm axle then it won't work as it stands now. You could get a new rear wheel that has a 126 mm rear axle and it should be no problem to spread your rear spacing on the frame out to take the new hub but that is going to cost you more money to buy a new rear wheel.

The freewheels you mention above have a very large cog, I would be concerned about whether the rear derailleur on a bicycle of that vintage could shift into a 34 tooth cog. I would guess that the largest cog that your derailleur could handle would be a 28. Those freewheels were probably more oriented toward a MTB coming from that era. I would try to do some research on your bike before spending a lot of money on it. It is hard to say what will work with the information given in your question and not really knowing what a World Sport has on it. Keep in mind that if you picked this bike up somewhere used it might not have original equipment on it as that could have been replaced at some time.