Bicycle Mechanics - Thread Less on a old bike?

Hello,

I was thinking about cold setting the rear to 135mm. Then getting a new thread less fork, and stem. So that I can run new 700C wheels on it. Is this possible?

You don't need a threadless fork and stem to run 700c wheels on an old frame. What's the spacing on it right now?

126 mm on rear, not to sure on front fork. Sorry for asking these odd questions last couple of weeks. I am exploring projects for this winter. I will not be riding as much as I do in the summer thank you.

This is an old road bike? A modern road hub will be spaced at 130mm, there will be more available in pre-built wheels in 700c with this spacing than with a 135mm hub, as 135mm is the norm for mountain bikes. There are 700c wheels available with 135mm hubs, though, if that's what you want to do, or you could always build your own............If you go with a 130mm hub, you can either spread the stays a little by hand each time you install the rear wheel (squeezing it in, since it's only 4mm difference), or you can cold set the rear triangle so that wheel changes are easier. There are excellent instructions for cold setting on Sheldon Brown's site, under "frame spacing", I believe. If you go from 126mm to 135mm, you'll need to cold set it...............As for the threaded to threadless conversion, by far the cheapest way to go on that would be to get a threaded to threadless adapapter, which would allow you to use a threadless stem with your current threaded fork and headset. Otherwise, you'll need a new fork, headset, and stem. Here's a link to an adapter that Nashbar carries, they have models that will go from either 1" or 1 1/8" threaded to 1 1/8" threadless: www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=119&subcategory=1185&brand=&sku=9755&storetype

One more thing, if you currently have 27" wheels, you'll need an additional 4mm of brake reach to reach 700c rims, as the 700c's have a 4mm smaller radius than 27's.

Thanks, I made a mistake in my OP about the size it is 130. I was reading the Sheldon Brown source it appears to me there is no good way to bend a front fork. I checked the calipers they have the extra 4 mm to move down. I was figuring if I did that I should just swap everything,and give it a new look.

Ryan, I think you might be a bit confused on things. Front hubs are fairly much (within a couple of mm's) standard width. You can always play with jamb nut & washer combos to go up or down as you need. It's only the rear hub that has wider spreads in spacing. You should have no major concerns running a 700c front in your existing fork. seems like you have the brake reach aspect covered as well.

You really need to just focus on the rear spacing. Good luck with the proiject!

Thanks, I made a mistake in my OP about the size it is 130. I was reading the Sheldon Brown source it appears to me there is no good way to bend a front fork. I checked the calipers they have the extra 4 mm to move down. I was figuring if I did that I should just swap everything,and give it a new look.
Front hubs are 100mm, both road and MTB, and have been that width for decades so any modern hub should fit your current fork unless the bike is department store quality. Current 8/9/10-speed rear road hubs are 130 mm as noted above.

Front hubs are 100mm, both road and MTB, and have been that width for decades so any modern hub should fit your current fork unless the bike is department store quality. Current 8/9/10-speed rear road hubs are 130 mm as noted above.

I wonder why I had such a hard time putting on the front wheel I will have to investigate this again

Ryan, I think you might be a bit confused on things. Front hubs are fairly much (within a couple of mm's) standard width. You can always play with jamb nut & washer combos to go up or down as you need. It's only the rear hub that has wider spreads in spacing. You should have no major concerns running a 700c front in your existing fork. seems like you have the brake reach aspect covered as well.

You really need to just focus on the rear spacing. Good luck with the proiject!

And for that you really don't need to coldset the frame. 4mm is only around 1/8". There is enough flex in the frame to take up that kind of difference. Sure the wheel will be a little tougher to get in and out of the dropouts but it's not really a problem.

Awesome I will try some more jamming to see if I can get the thing to fit. Huh that was not right let me try to rewrite that. I will try to flex the frame to get the new hub to fit.