OK, here's the problem-being a med student with crazy hours I do most of my training on an indoor trainer, pretty much year-round. I want to purchase a cheap rear wheel and put some crappy tires on it because the trainer really wreaks havoc on tires and pretty much wears them out in about 3-4 months. I found an old set of wheels on ebay for 40 bucks, but it is campagnolo 8 speed and my old bike has a 7 speed (please don't laugh) shimano. Anyone know if I can use this wheel?
thanks
jon
question
Mon, 03/01/2004 - 6:03pm
Tue, 03/02/2004 - 5:58am
#1
fitting the wheel
You don't really need new wheels. Just get a durable tire! Cheap, heavy tires last a long time, and as long as you're not trying to keep up with others, the added durability will be useful.However, if you're set on getting new wheels, you have a few issues:
It's unclear if your bike has 126mm rear dropout spacing or 130mm. You can take the rear wheel off and find out--just measure the inside space carefully. If it's 126mm, the 8-speed wheels probably won't fit--they were made for frames with 130mm dropout spacing. If the frame is steel however, you can shoehorn it in there, it will be okay (you won't be able to budge aluminum).
Does the bike have downtube shifters? If so, you can probably use it in a friction mode, which doesn't care how many gears you have. You will have to adjust the high and low adjustments of the rear derailleur to cover the upper and lower gears.
Does the wheel come with a freewheel or cassette? If it's a freewheel, you can get 7-speed freewheels for it. If it's a cassette, I think you're stuck with 8-speed.
Tue, 03/02/2004 - 6:13am
#2
"Amen to all of those points.
I suspect you'd do better calling around to some of the shops that deal in older parts -- maybe ""A"" on 14th street, Franks, Bikeworks -- and see if they have an older rear wheel in decent condition (and one hardly needs a Campy hub for a trainer wheel!).
Note that even if you have 7-sp / 126mm spacing, a 120mm wheel can usually be spaced out to the greater width.
Peter Storey"
Tue, 03/02/2004 - 6:46am
#3
BikeWorks
http://www.bikecult.com/works/index.html
Dave Perry, the owner, has lots of older wheels - new ones too. And he's inexpensive and dedicated.
