Drwecki

Hi all,

I've just bought this awesome super cool wheel set for my old 70's "tease" bicycle (must have been a give away), but...(1) the fork is too narrow and (2) the dropout (or whatever you call them when they are on the fork) are not wide enough to take my new hub...I was reading up on how to fix the narrow problem....with all thread, nuts, and patience and widen the fork (do it slowly, do it slowly, I've learned something about stretching metal before), and I've heard of people using a dremel tool to cut away metal and make the dropouts accept the new hub...

Ok, so, what is the process for carving away the metal with a dremel tool in order to make the hub fit? Like get the dremel tool, get which attachment, and how do I do this properly?

Like my bike is my baby and I love it, my bike is not a prisoner held captive in my garage that I hack to pieces just for fun, so if I have to cut out metal, I'd like to do it properly... At least I have an excuse to buy a dremel tool, always wanted one and I never got accepted to dental school .

Thanks Awesome community of bike people that like to help!

Brian

markhr

Try asking in the classic and vintage forum maybe?

Little Darwin

I would rather spread the fork than to hack up the dropout...

If the hub is really so wide that you can't wiggle it in the way it is, you would have to take off more material than I would want to remove from a dropout.

Bikedued

You could try switching to narrower locknuts on the cones, if they're not already the narrow type. I have bought some wheels in the last few years, where the locknuts were as wide as the nuts
that held the wheel to the frame. The rear dropout problem is easy with a steel frame. If you have to widen the drops too much, then make sure you straighten them back to parallel.,,,,BD

Drwecki

Ok, so I am reading a dead thread, I think (I have posted there and this may technically be a double post, but I don't think people check threads that are 3 years old)...

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...fork+spreading

Anyways, my problem is that I not only need to "spread the fork" I got the solution to that problem, but I also need to file the fork's drop outs to accept a fatter (like bigger in roundness) Axle (the thing that is connected to the hub that has threads on it, that I bolt the fork too)...in this thread they say "Dremel away" .. If you look at the fork from the side you see an upside down U shaped empty space where you put the wheel and bolt... I need to make my upside down U space bigger... Basically, I have an old fork and I want to put a new wheel on on it that not only has a wider up but also uses a beefier axle! I should be able to file the U to accept a beefier axle, right?

Brian

Thanks sorry for the confusion and lack of appropriate word usage.

Ex Pres 

Measure the gap in your existing dropout and then measure the axle diameter and report back so we know how much of a difference there is.

A modern front dropout has a 9mm slot and should accept all? modern wheels. I just want to make sure the axle/ dropout size diff is your true issue.

HillRider

There is another thread here on this same issue so I'm just going to duplicate my last posting there.

There is another solution. Get a new fork.

Bike shops should be crawling with steel take-off forks from riders who have upgraded to carbon forks. These will have the right dropout spacing and axle diameter and should be very cheap. You will probably have little trouble matching the required steerer length and spacers can be used to fit a slightly too long steerer to your frame.

Drwecki

Ok so the drop out is 2.5/8 of an inch, the axle is 3/8 of an inch (no mm rule around). Which is about 7.9 mm for the drop out and 9.5 mm for the axle.. Now obviously there is some rounding error here, but there is only about a mm that I need to cut out! Ok, so why not a new fork, well I spent all this time painting my old fork that it would be quitting and I am not made of money, plus My fork is sexy! Ok, so give me some advice on how to dremel it out... if you still don't believe me go to my website... https://briandrwecki.com/bike.aspx and look at the pictures of the axle... I took them just for you guys.


Brian...

BCRider

Suggestion.... It will be exceedingly easy to file or Dremel out this but it will also be exceedingly easy to end up with the two sides out of alignment and have a crooked wheel in the forks. A very small error in the dropouts will end up being very noticable up top at the edge of the wheel. Some very, very careful scribing lines or some other tricks will be needed to ensure that your dropout enlarging is even from side to side to a high degree of accuracy. First off I'd strongly suggest you do it with a file just so things go a little slower and you can do it in small amounts. Second you'll need some trick jigs to aid you but it's hard to suggest anything not knowing what you've got for tools. Frankly I would not do this without my dial calipers to compare my work from side to side and to the plan of attack. In your case I gather you've got a tape measure and a cell phone camera...... Not a great beginning I'm sorry to say. Hand tools like files are fine but you need some way to measure your progress to a far, far better degree than the tape measure.

Instead of spending money on the Dremel I'd suggest you find one of the low priced digital callipers that are so common these days. With those and your round file you can do this and do it well. It'll take some typing and pictures to guide you through this since you're obviously new to this so when you get your digital or dial or vernier calipers PM me and I'll do a write up for you.

Bikedued

Getting a new fork that accepts your axle isn't quitting. It's called basic safety. What is a "tease", post some pics?,,,,BD