Campagnolo 7 speed rear hub (126)?

[Sboat]

I have acquired a NOS Athena hub set, it states 8 speed EXA rear hub, but axel measures in at 126 with a caliper, not 130? Am I missing something, or is this actually going to work with an 8 speed cassette on my Serotta Club Special.

[jtakeda]

It will work with exa drive 8 speed cassettes

[Sboat]

That’s awesome, I really didn’t want to cold set the frame to 130.

[ultraman6970]

The athena threaded hub came in 126 and 130... surprise me see a FHB one at 126 but well...

BTW you dont need to cold set to use 130 mm hubs, just spread at the time to put the wheel in. Will work just fine aswell.

[Hindmost]

Velobase list the Athena freehubs as coming in 126 and 130mm during this period. C Record freehubs are listed as 130 mm.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by ultraman6970

The athena threaded hub came in 126 and 130... surprise me see a FHB one at 126 but well...

BTW you dont need to cold set to use 130 mm hubs, just spread at the time to put the wheel in. Will work just fine aswell.

Yup, during the 7 to 8s 'transition', there WAS Campag 7s freehub rear hubs, 126mm and very rare.
Velobase.com..search hubs, then Athena 7s cassette hub...shorter FHB, 7s only. Opps, answered right above.

Very early cassette hub from Campagnolo. Seven speed body had the same spline pattern as the 8 speed units. Eight speed sprockets could be used, but only seven cogs would fit. Some sources deny the existence of 7-speed Campagnolo cassette hubs, but apparently they did exist, if only for a short time.

As for shoving a 130mm rear wheel into a 126mm frame..I would never do that. By forcing the dropouts un parallel then forcing them parallel with the QR 'can' break a dropout..Cold setting is way easy.

[jemdet]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Yup, during the 7 to 8s 'transition', there WAS Campag 7s freehub rear hubs, 126mm and very rare.
Velobase.com..search hubs, then Athena 7s cassette hub...shorter FHB, 7s only. Opps, answered right above.


As for shoving a 130mm rear wheel into a 126mm frame..I would never do that. By forcing the dropouts un parallel then forcing them parallel with the QR 'can' break a dropout..Cold setting is way easy.

Didn't Campy sell some hubs at 128 in the 90s?

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by jemdet

Didn't Campy sell some hubs at 128 in the 90s?

I'm pretty sure the answer is no. You might be think about some frame manufacturers, who made steel frames with 128mm rear dropout spacing (so they could fit both 126mm and 130mm rear wheels).

As far as the comments about using 8spd cassettes on a 126mm axle freehub: Old Potatoe is right, Campagnolo 126mm axle freehubs are 7spd only. However, Campagnolo 7spd and 8spd cassettes use the same spline pattern and the same center-to-center spacing, but 8spd cassettes have a larger total width (because there is one more sprocket). This means that removing one sprocket and spacer from an 8spd cassette makes it a 7spd cassette, and will fit on and work with a 7spd freehub.

The usual recommendation is to remove the largest sprocket to convert an 8spd cassette to 7spd. If a sprocket is removed from the middle of a cassette, the shifting ramps/gates sprockets where the missing sprocket used to be may be misaligned, which may result in less precise shifting between these sprockets. (Note: This applies only to 8spd Exa-drive cassettes, which were introduced in the later part of the 8spd era. 7spd cassettes and early 8spd cassettes were pre-Exa-drive, and did not have shifting ramps/gates.)

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

I'm pretty sure the answer is no. You might be think about some frame manufacturers, who made steel frames with 128mm rear dropout spacing (so they could fit both 126mm and 130mm rear wheels).

As far as the comments about using 8spd cassettes on a 126mm axle freehub: Old Potatoe is right, Campagnolo 126mm axle freehubs are 7spd only. However, Campagnolo 7spd and 8spd cassettes use the same spline pattern and the same center-to-center spacing, but 8spd cassettes have a larger total width (because there is one more sprocket). This means that removing one sprocket and spacer from an 8spd cassette makes it a 7spd cassette, and will fit on and work with a 7spd freehub.

The usual recommendation is to remove the largest sprocket to convert an 8spd cassette to 7spd. If a sprocket is removed from the middle of a cassette, the shifting ramps/gates sprockets where the missing sprocket used to be may be misaligned, which may result in less precise shifting between these sprockets. (Note: This applies only to 8spd Exa-drive cassettes, which were introduced in the later part of the 8spd era. 7spd cassettes and early 8spd cassettes were pre-Exa-drive, and did not have shifting ramps/gates.)

Nope, no 128mm Campag cassette rear hubs..and I know you know this but pre ExaDrive were 'Alphabet' cogs, DID have shifting ramps/gates, sorta and I have that chart here somewhere as to how to assemble. BUT, really made no difference, really, kinda like DA twisted tooth Uni-glide cogs.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

pre ExaDrive were 'Alphabet' cogs, DID have shifting ramps/gates, sorta and I have that chart here somewhere as to how to assemble. BUT, really made no difference, really, kinda like DA twisted tooth Uni-glide cogs.

Yes, but unlike ExaDrive sprockets, pre-ExaDrive sprockets could be used in any position. You were just supposed to re-orient (rotate) the sprocket depending on the adjacent sprockets. Just like with Shimano Uni-glide and Suntour pre-PowerDrive sprockets, with Campagnolo pre-Exa-drive sprockets you can make custom cassettes with any sprocket combinations.

[oliver1850]

If the OP needs an 8 speed 130 spaced hub, I may have one though probably not NOS and likely Chorus or Record.

The 1991 catalog shows Athena and Xenon cassette hubs being 130 mm and 7 speed with no 8 speed option listed. Does this mean that the freehub body is narrower than Chorus, Croce D'Aune, and Record, which are listed as 130 mm and 8 speed?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by oliver1850

If the OP needs an 8 speed 130 spaced hub, I may have one though probably not NOS and likely Chorus or Record.

The 1991 catalog shows Athena and Xenon cassette hubs being 130 mm and 7 speed with no 8 speed option listed. Does this mean that the freehub body is narrower than Chorus, Croce D'Aune, and Record, which are listed as 130 mm and 8 speed?

Yes...shorter FHB for 7s..it was apparently Athena only(Velobase), 7s, 126mm and made for a very short time.

[oliver1850]

I'm guessing that the 130 mm "7 speed" freehubs were 8 speed width and only listed as 7 because the lower groups used 7 speed shifters. All freehubs look to be the same width in the 1991 catalog.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by oliver1850

I'm guessing that the 130 mm "7 speed" freehubs were 8 speed width and only listed as 7 because the lower groups used 7 speed shifters. All freehubs look to be the same width in the 1991 catalog.

Perhaps..I just looked at a 1991 catalogue and it lists Athena and below hub as '7s' and 126.5 width..126.5? Not sure where that came from..
No doubt things were transitioning or had transitioned to 130mm and 8s..Valentino actually thought index stuff was the stuff of 'cyclotourists and nurses', CDA and below and 'real enthusiasts and pros' would use Record with Retrofriction shifters..I guess until ERGO came out later that year(1991)..that and their MTB stuff almost spelt their doom in the late 80s, early 90s.

[oliver1850]

Perhaps we are not looking at the same catalog. The one I have says 1/91 in the bottom LH corner of the cover, and GB in the bottom RH corner. There are 126.5 hubs in that catalog, but only for freewheels. All the cassette hubs are listed as 130 mm with 135 mm as optional. I don't have a small parts catalog for this era (1989-1992). Surely they exist but I've never seen one.