New Gears for old Freehub

[Sparky]

I have a 1992 vintage road bike with Dura Ace components. It is an eight-speed with a 12-21 cassette. Until recently, I lived where it was flat and that tall gearing wasn’t a problem. Now I have moved to hilly country where the gearing is unacceptable. I bought a new rear derailleur and a Shimano mega-range cassette (11-34) thinking that this would be just the trick to get me up those 18% grades that are around here. When I tried to install the new cassette onto my freehub it wouldn’t fit correctly; the lock ring acts like it doesn’t really want to be tightened and the 13t sprocket and the rest of the cassette is not on tight. I would guess that the cassette and freehub are not compatible with each other. Does anyone know of a freehub body that will fit a ’92 vintage Dura Ace hub that is compatible with a more modern mountain bike cassette?

[cyclerUK]

There was some differences between the old Dura Ace and other Shimano ranges.
If the cassette goes on but is a little loose then you could fit a thin spacer to fill the gap.
Even so the indexing may still be out a bit.??
The worst scenario is you would have to change the hub/freehub for a more modern one.

Some info' here:-
http://sheldonbrown.com/dura-ace.html

[nfmisso]

You may be able to remove use the 12T gear and retainer from your old cassette, in place of the 11T on the new one.

The 11T cog is the problem.

[Sparky]

Thanks for the replies. I had combed through the Sheldon Brown site many times hoping to find how I could fit newer cassettes to my bike.

Over the weekend I tried using the 12t sprocket and lock ring, and it works great; it was just the 11t sprocket that was causing the trouble. I also found that my original Dura-Ace derailleur can stretch out enough to fit a 42-34 combination so I don't have to fit a new one.

[nfmisso]

glad everything worked out for you.