126mm Dropout spacing Wheel options

Maxticate

I have been commuting on an old Vitus Futural that I was luck enough to get for free. I initially had trouble with getting comfy on it but thanks to good advice fom here and changing the seat I now find it a joy to ride!

Here it is [img][/img] The saddle is a charge spoon now and the pedals are flats.

However the rear wheel rubbing problem that afflicted it on my first receiving the bike, that I originally fixed by tightening spokes, has returned. The spoke nipples have reached the end of their adjustment and the wheel is out of true again.

I would like to get some new wheels for it but unfortunately the dropout spacing is 126mm and cold setting is out as it is an aluminium frame. I have thought of getting a new bike but I really like the old school downtube friction shifters and the whole look of the bike in general.

I don't really know what the options for wheels are (if there are any) does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks
Max

rjsterry

You pretty much have to go for second hand wheels or get some built up on 126mm hubs. I have been looking for these myself and they are rare. Phil Woods do some suitable for a screw-on freewheel, but they are pricey (if well worth it I believe). SJS Cycles also have some (presumably new old stock) Sunrace GPX hubs with a cassette-type freehub, but these only take special Sunrace cassettes, of which they have none :? Apparently it is possible to remove a couple of spacers from a 130mm hub, fit a shorter axle, and squeeze that in to 126mm dropouts. Sheldon (as always) has a good article on this.

wgwarburton

Hi,
I would think that you ought to be able to respace some 130mm hubs, as long as you arn't trying to squeeze in 10 or 11 sprockets.

I can't give you a known-good solution, though, I'm afraid, except for contacting vintage bike specialists for old-stock hubs of the same generation as your frame.

Is there anything actually wrong with your current hubs? Your best bet might be to get them relaced onto new rims (if needed) with new spokes. Hubs of the quality that used to come with bikes like your Vitus are hard to find these days, so if they are contemporary they may be worth saving.

Cheers,
W.

gtvlusso

Try www.lfgss.co.uk classifieds - Hilary Stone in Bristol usually has this sort of thing for sale.

NOS wheels or have the frame respaced for a 130mm hub - at least you will have wheel and gear options then!

HebdenBiker

Have a look at the Sheldon Brown article here: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html

My understanding is that you can "squeeze in" a standard 130mm wheel. If you don't want to do that you can cold set the rear triangle.

rjsterry

HebdenBiker wrote:

Have a look at the Sheldon Brown article here: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html

My understanding is that you can "squeeze in" a standard 130mm wheel. If you don't want to do that you can cold set the rear triangle.

The frames alu, not steel.

HebdenBiker

Ah - apologies.

night_porter

Maxticate wrote:

However the rear wheel rubbing problem that afflicted it on my first receiving the bike, that I originally fixed by tightening spokes, has returned. The spoke nipples have reached the end of their adjustment and the wheel is out of true again.

Would it not make more sense to take the wheels to a local bike shop and get them to true the wheels? If the spokes have run out of adjustment then the shop will replace them with suitable ones but it is more likely that they are over tightened but the shop will deal with it for you.

But of course if you are intent on getting new wheels to "upgrade" your bike then as WGWarburton said before use the current hubs and get the wheels rebuilt to suit.

Alphabet

had the same problem with mine, but i was wanting to go single speed. if that's something you're looking to do, you can get a 120mm hubbed track wheel - the axles are usually quite a bit longer - and then use some spacers from here:

http://www.velosolo.co.uk/axlespacers126.html

to pad out the gap. does mean you have less gears though.

I have actually got a 126mm rear wheel with a 5 or 6 speed (can't remember which) cassette on - it's about 25 years old, but hasn't been used much as far as i can tell. i took it off the bike as soon as i bought it from ebay. you can have if for £30 if you want.

Maxticate

Thanks for all the advice.

As buns said I don't think there is anything wrong with the hibs themselves so I think my preferred solution right now is to get the wheels rebuilt onto new rims.

I am a little worried about the state of the cassette and chainrings though.

Cheers for all the help.

Max

Maxticate

Well I took the wheels of the other night to take them to the bike shop and there was a lot of movement of the axle.

Aha I thought the cones are not done up tight enough and that's why the wheel was rubbing. To much flex in the system.

So I dug out my cone spanners and tried to tighten them up a bit and it turns out the whole axle is broken!





So now I need a replacement one of those instead

Max

rjsterry

Err, and your cones are pitted to f***. Not a moment too soon I'd say: you've been riding on the QR skewer for a while :shock:

Check the bearing surfaces in the hubs for similar wear. If they are as pitted as the cones, you'll need new hubs - fingers crossed it's just the cones. Presumably the balls are a bit rough-looking as well.

Maxticate

That would explain the wobbly handling from the back I thought I kept riding over small invisible sticks.

The cones do look pretty pitted. However the balls that fell out and I cleaned looked very shiny and fresh. Not damaged at all. I'll have to do some more exploring later to see the state of the bearing surfaces in the hub. Never noticed the wheel running rough though.