micromobility·micromobility - Bikes, scooters, boards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobilitybyTelorand
Would you swap a Sunrace freewheel hub with a Shimano cassette hub?
I'm currently fixing up my bike, and I've come to a dilemma. For background, I got a bike at a police auction, but the rims were damaged and had a bulge in both. It's a V-brake system, so it affected braking.
I got a donor bike with better rims, but it used a Sunrace freewheel. Is there a meaningful difference between the Shimano and the Sunrace, other than how the gears attach? Would you recommend going through the effort to swap the hubs?
What bike?
The frame is a Specialized Hard Rock, and that's the one that had the Shimano hubs. The donor bike, I'm not sure.
They are probably compatible according to SunRace's Q&A https://sunrace.com/faq-qna/:
That said, is the cassette still in good shape? Might want to confirm it's still got a good amount of life in it before you go to the trouble of swapping it out.
How would I tell if it's in good shape? That's not something I currently know how to do (but I'm willing to learn). I can remove gears, and I can grease wheel bearings, but I don't know how tell the difference between a worn cassette and a new one.
Compare how the teeth look on yours vs a new one, you can get an actual cassette wear tool but you should be able to see how warn down it is visually.
Feel free to post pics too for second opinions.
You'll probably be fine but if it doesn't work a new cassette isn't crazy expensive. Check the chain and cassette for wear though, no sense in putting on parts that are already cooked. You can buy a chain checker and cassette wear tool for relatively little money and they're worth having especially if you ride a lot. You could probably also stop by your local bike shop and they'll measure it for you.
Oh, good idea! I do have a nice local shop that's been very helpful in doing these repairs.
Always good to support your LBS!