There's no difference in the spacing of of a 5/6/7sp IRD freewheel and a 8sp cassette of any make. Standard Shimano spacing for all.
If you use a Suntour FW.... spacing varies . Sachs FW's use Shimano compatible spacing also... as does Sunrace. FW and cassette ride the same. I prefer Phil Wood FW hubs because they are simple and durable. Axles are never an issue with PW hubs. I prefer FW hubs because I can fully service them myself, if a bearing or FW body ever went bad, I have spares. With a Cassette, you may have to send it to the manufacturer(in the case of PW,White,CK,etc.) ..... which means dismantling the wheel. . . which if you pay top dollar to have a perfect wheel, you don't go dismantling them. . .Ever. I also prefer 7sp above all because I friction shift, and above 7speeds I found it tedious.... and I gained nothing useful in gears. Don't worry about the OCR thing, I think it's a bit over rated and convoluted. A 7sp PW hub and a standard rim (like a Mavic A719) will make for a plenty durable wheel. I've had mine for many years built by a Joe Young and have never had to touch them. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
