My mother-in-law has cheaply acquired some kind of urban bike which should be a 21 speed but a previous owner has replaced the rear wheel with one with a 5 speed cassette on it. Consequently the indexing doesn't work properly and it seems these 5 speeds are rather on the low side. I was thinking that she needed a whole new wheel because it looked like an old style freewheel but now I'm not so sure. It isn't worth buying a new wheel/cassette because that'll cost almost as much as the bike… It's a 700c wheel btw. Any advice appreciated!

You can still get 7 speed freewheels & cassettes.

You can't put a 8 or 9 speed cassette on a 7 speed freehub though.

"new chain may be needed" alert.

Sounds like someone has bodged the wrong wheel on to it.

well your stuck with a 14 tooth "highest" gear on a freewheel

7 speeds are still availible

is it a shimano freewheel or some don ping crap

well your stuck with a 14 tooth "highest" gear on a freewheel

[url=http://www.evanscycles.com/products/sunrace/index-7-speed-freewheel-13-24t-ec016703?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle]Is that right?[/url]