Help needed identifying Shimano hub

Isn't the 6 speed hub wider than the 5-speed? I seem to remember running into that problem with my 1973 Raleigh Record, I found out to my chagrin that I couldn't fit a 6-speed on because the axle was too short. Those were screw-on though, maybe the Uniglide is different.

If you want to keep it authentic, a local wheelbuilder could build in a new hub for you for a few quid, probably.

Or if you want to revolutionise it someone on the Bike Radar forum is selling a pair of Shimano wh-r550s for £50. Absolutely bomb-proof wheels with cup-and-cone hubs that you can rebuild easily. Take 8, 9 or 10-speed cassettes.

52x16 top. That was the junior gear limit when I was a lad. At 100rpm it's 25mph. And junior races then were at least that fast, with purges much faster obviously. It's also the gear generally used in 6 Days, which average 30mph.

The trouble with runners, even fit ones, is their cadence is their running cadence.

23.5 miles an hour? Just what chainset are you running?

Even it's just a cheap stamped steel job it's going to be 42/52 on an early 80's road bike, if you can't spin that above 23.5mph on the flat then I am afraid it's not the gearing at fault.

A 44x16 will spin out at around 36mph on an incline, on the flat I can get it up to just below 30 mph in a sprint, it will easily cruise above 20 mph.

Stonglight chainsets are in fact quite good quality and new rings can still be sourced for less than £20, not that I think gear inches are the problem here.

I'm pretty sure the top cog (12, 13, whatever it is) screws on there. You need 2 chain whips to get it off, one to hold the bottom cog to stop the freewheel freewheeling, the other to unscrew the 12.

Uniglide is fine, I still use them in winter. I've not got a hub quite that old but have several Dura Ace AX hubs that originally came as a wide 6 speed. I squeeze 8 on them. Cogs are still available. Try Whiskers.

For any really old stuff, my old mate Steve who runs sdeals.com has old kit going back to his dad's racing days in the 60s, onwards. He certainly has lots of old Shimano, he bought up Middlemore's stock when they gave up their franchise 25 odd years ago.

Oh, btw, the 1976 Shimano Dura Ace EX range introduced the 11 cog. About 20 years before anyone else had them.

Without checking, I think the problem he will have with all the uniglide stuff, it starts at a 13 tooth cog. So if he's spinning that out. He'd be better going for a more modern hub and looking for something that'll give him a bit more.

Ideal if the fella above can source you one.

As Flying Scot says and you have found out, it is a Uniglide, not totally obsolete though.

I could probably source him a 6 speed cassette, it would just involve removing the freehub from the original cassette. OR, I know where I can get a NOS 5 speed.

It wouldn't be cheap though, you are talking about £50 just for the cassette.

Give me a shout if you need anymore help info [at] b-kam-cycling.co.uk

It's a 70's uniglide, the first of the free hubs, they are obsolete.

The freehub bit should come apart from the cassette though.

These were rubbish though!