Frame alignment question
I have an old steel road bike that I can't ride no handed. It always wants to fall over to the right. I have eliminated wheels as a cause of the problem. I did Sheldon's frame alignment test, and the string is about 2mm farther from the seat tube on the right side than the left. To say this another way, the right chain stay is farther from the center of the bike than the left seat stay is.
I have two questions before I try to bend the rear end of the frame. First, the magnitude of the misalignment--it doesn't seem that great to me. It's not like the bike pulls a bit, it is really impossible to ride without hands. I'm wondering if a 2mm difference is enough for that. Second, as far as I can picture this in my head, this makes the bike like this:
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(looking from the top, up is front)
I'm not sure this is consistent with the bike's no-hand behavior, which is the front wheel turning sharply to the right by itself.
I might bring the fork in somewhere to be checked tomorrow to see if that isn't the true cause. It looks alright visually. I am kind of mystified at the moment.