dropout width 80s steel road bike

reformedfatty
reformedfatty Posts: 543
edited June 2015 in Workshop
Hi,
curiosity question really, I have an 80s falcon road bike in my fleet, I think it's 501 steel despite being described as 531 when I bought it, 6 speed cassette and original wheelset. In order to get the rear wheel in I find I have to spring the dropouts apart slightly and thus the hub faces doesn't sit perfectly square to the dropout. Not a problem and it rides fine, just curious if this was normal for the era? Last time I had a similar bike I was ~10 and too busy riding it down bombholes in the local woods to note such things.

Comments

  • drlodge
    drlodge Posts: 4,826
    I would say this is not normal, and the hub has a wider spacing than the dropouts. I would expect the drop out width (OLN) to be 126mm, but may be you have 120mm drop outs with a 126mm axle, or 126mm drop outs with a 130mm axle.

    Can you take some measurements and let us know what you have?
    WyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
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  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Did up an 80s Peugeot with my son. Rescued the original wheels using brutal truing techniques and fitted a new 7 speed screw-on freewheel. No springing required. Not measured but I believe OLN and dropouts to be 126mm.
  • term1te
    term1te Posts: 1,462
    Only last night I sprung a 126mm columbus SLX frame to fit a modern 130 rear hub, then returned it to a 126mm single speed hub, with no problems at all. I've done the same with an old 631 frame, which was a little tighter. A 120 gap would probably be too much to simply pull apart and fit a 130mm hub, and would need cold setting to fit a modern hub properly. A 501 or 531 frame of the era shouldn't be to hard to cold set, if you know what you are doing.

    I also spent a lot of the late 70s and early 80s down bomb holes around Biggin Hill airport, on my trusty Raleigh Arena. Happy days.
    The Master
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  • reformedfatty
    reformedfatty Posts: 543
    I'll take some measurements and find out what's what. Maybe the original spec was 10 speed not 12!
  • reformedfatty
    reformedfatty Posts: 543
    I finally got around to measuring this - it's 126mm, so the correct width for the drivetrain. Must be just the way it is. Bike is up for sale now anyway due to the fatbike requiring other stuff to make room
  • crankycrank
    crankycrank Posts: 1,830
    If you're sure it's 126mm then something is not right with your hub spacing, possibly some extra spacers were added at some time. The hub should just slide into the dropouts without having to spread them. With the older 5-6-7sp freewheel hubs it's also very important to have the proper spacing and the dropouts aligned. If the dropouts aren't perfectly square against the hub nuts then it tends to bow the axle which leads to breakage. Years ago it was not uncommon to see broken axles from misaligned dropouts. If you're selling it either get it straightened (not too expensive at the LBS) or notify the buyer as I would consider this a defect.

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