I just built up a pair of wheels for a project, using a pristine NOS pair of older Brampton hubs (thanks again to one of the generous souls on this list). The hubs have chromed steel barrels and large (high) flanges. The rear is double-sided, one side for gears and the other for a fixed cog and lockring.
Imagine my surprise when all but one of my medium-sized collection of older freewheels would not thread far enough on to the gear side of the hub. It didn't take me more than 30 minutes or so to figure out that the issue is the depth of threads on the freewheel's body. In the end I found only one hub that would thread all the way on, and it's an unusual beast - a "Made in France" (spelled out in English) CYCLO with english threading. I was happy to find one in my collection that fits, but not so happy with the range of cogs - it's a 14-16-18-20-22. Very pretty, actually, but the equation of [(age x local terrain)/leg strenghth]/weight means I would ideally like a 26 back there.
The threaded portion of this hub is slightly over 10mm long, and most of my freewheels fall in the 5mm - 7mm range.
Two questions: 1) is this one of those arcana that separates the really knowledgable collectors from the dilettantes (like me)? 2) Anyone know where I can get some more of these "deep throat" freewheels?
Dave Ross
Portola Valley, CA