Wayne Davidson writes:
> Hi all, I've gotten a SH one in the mail, need cogs replaced
> and bearings adjusted,
Wayne, are you sure the bearings need adjusting? If they're too tight to turn, sure, but a fair amount of looseness is tolerable. Remember the bearings do little but stabilize the body side to side, with the pawls taking all your mighty oomph. The bearings don't even move except when coasting, and who ever does that?
OK, me too. Well if you really want to try it you're in luck, since the Winner is one of the few freewheels ever made that's really micro-adjustable. It has a cone and locknut arrangement similar to most bicycle bearings, unlike most freewheels, which adjust in discrete steps by adding or removing shims.
Your Winner may really be a "New Winner" - most were, by far in the US anyway, 90% maybe? New Winners adjust on the right, small-cog side, old Winners adjust on the left. New Winners are meant to be adjusted with a special tool, probably hard to find now, but can be done with a hammer and punch if you're good and lucky. I don't remember how old Winners were adjusted.
I think Winner Pro and Microlight came after New Winner, but probably never came in 5-speed.
There's a good explanation of the Winner - New Winner differences, with photos, exploded diagrams and history, at
http://www.yellowjersey.org/
(Ha - I thought that filename was "stfu.html" for a second there...)
Mark Bulgier
Seattle WA USA