shimano front freewheel system

Posted on Thu 6th, September 2018

• #1

carson

you guys ever seen these before?
new to me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwpnxh_Vxpk
• #2

yoav

Heard of it but never seen one. Shimano does have a history of trying out lots of new things, which are theoretical improvements but some do not prove popular and are quietly dropped, like the 10mm pitch drive train. On the other hand, I have a very early Shimano indexed rear derailleur which uses 2 cables to actuate gear changes, which has been somewhat refined since then!
• #3

carson

the 10mm pitch drive train

whats that?
• #4

yoav

If you measure the distance between teeth on the cassette or chainwheel, it will be 1/2 inch - it is the standard so chains, freewheels, cassettes and chainsets will work together (everything else being equal). But why 1/2” I hear you ask. Well, it was set by the British bicycle industry many years ago and everyone else followed suit and still do to this day. Shimano, as usual, had other ideas. Why not make it 10mm instead and thus all the parts of the drive train are smaller and lighter for the same gear ratio. So they made all the parts and they were for sale for a while, and obviously not compatible with anything else on the market. It lasted a few years, I think. Bits come up for sale on eBay now and again.
• #5

sketch

Harder to trackstand.
• #6

carson in reply to @yoav

I can imagine that would cause a massive headache if you tried to interchange with standard parts unknowingly

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