JohnDThompson 

The threaded hole does make the dropout weaker in that area, and damage to the dropout (i.e. crashing and badly bending the derailleur tab, or shipping damage that crushes the slot closed) can lead to cracking and eventual failure at the threaded hole. Have a bolt in there does not prevent this type of damage or failure, but as long as you have the hole, you may as well use it as intended.

jetboy 

when I went with a wopping 34t at the rear I found that by removing dropout screws completely, i could slide back enough that I didn't have to do any trickery with the tension bolt on the derailleur. otherwise I have always kept them it.

CuttersRidge

I think you have something there. I have one bike that uses the dropout screws and when I set the rear-wheel all the way back after removing the screws, it works with no problems. Perhaps it is the cog size. I'll have to remember why that one wheel does work fine that way.

squirtdad

I like them because of the adjust wheel once and forget about it aspect anytime I need to take the wheel off and put it back on.

noglider 

I like them when they work, but often the nut on the back falls off, and sometimes the screw gets stuck. When it gets stuck, it's very hard to get out. My International is missing them, and I think I won't bother getting any.

stardognine

This sounds like a partial understanding, as I use a 32t large cog. No corncobs for me, thanks, although I do like eating corn. I think there's a lot I need to learn yet, on this subject, in order to understand why removing them helps, with a large cog. As a clarification as to the original problem, my rear axle had plain axle nuts, that weren't gripping the dropouts well enough, and my wheel would move around to the point of tire rub on the chainstays. I wrongly thought it was the adjusters, but eventually figured out that I needed those serrated axle nuts, which fixed everything. I'll probably put the adjusters back in, both for strength and looks. I still won't necessarily know what I'm doing, but at least it'll look "normal". Thanks for the help, everyone, I'm a little less dumber now.

southpawboston

+1

Gary Fountain

Wow!!! Now that's what I call CLEAN! Beautiful.

jetboy 

No great mystery why removing the adjusters helps with a big cog...look at the pic above and you can see as the wheel moves back it also moves up giving more clearance.

eschlwc

'79 sekai 4000


'79 trek 930


'84 davidson challenge

Bandera

Absolutely!
A clean safe < 10 second wheel change requires properly adjusted dropout screws on horizontal dropouts .

-Bandera

3speedslow

As dirty as get out but one of the pics which made my mind up about buying the bike. I notice when it has Drop out adjusters.

southpawboston

Thanks. And I forgot all about the Mercian:



And the Raleigh Comp GS:



And the Trek 560:

Chombi

Although maybe not as kewhl looking to everyone Simplex really got it right with their dropout adjuster screw retention system they used on their late 70's/80's rear dropouts I never lost the adjuster screws or had them move on me. They finally found the best use of Delrin on a bike part doing so.....

RobbieTunes

I say yay, or aye.

Without them, your bike is going commando.
A fun thought, but it gets old after a while.
And chafes.

unworthy1

Whenever I can find them I swap in long metric STAINLESS STEEL machine screws to replace the plain steel screws. Most of the time these are Allen head only cause the few hardware stores that carry such exotica limit the choices. It stops 50% of the rust between the screws and the threads of the dropout holes

Pars 

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I had a question about these. The '86 Trek 500 frame/bike that I got from my brother didn't have the screws in there, but has the holes. I bought a set of these (very nice, and props to the seller Dave Moulton). The dropouts look somewhat like those on the Trek 560 above in post #38 . When installed, I have them backed out all the way (with the spring fully compressed), and the wheel is verging on being too far forward. The dropout itself has a shorter slot than say a Campy 1010. Can I run these without the springs, or put the springs on the other side of the dropout (with the nuts loctited)? Or shorter springs?

The bike as I originally got it had Avocet Cross 32 tires, which probably needed to sit as far back in the dropout as possible, but I have since replaced these with GP4Season 28s.

merziac

You could cut the springs down.

The Golden Boy 

I'll have to remove my adjuster screws.

Oh. Cog

Nevermind.

Ghrumpy

I'd recommend putting the springs outboard of the dropout. The springs put a little preload on the screw to help keep its postition from changing. If the springs are really much longer than they need to be, you could use shorter ones, or cut the ones you have shorter.

Hudson308 

I've mentioned this in some other thread, but I actually prefer to install them backwards for the following reasons:
1) The little chrome thumb nut seems to work better as a stop for the axle vs. the slotted head of the screw;
2) I never lose the previously noted thumb nut; and
3) Installing them backwards allows access to the slotted head for adjustment, without completely removing the wheel.

Spring location ends up being at whichever end of the bolt has the longest length exposed when adjusted as desired.
I've never understood why they would install these so that stupid little piece of chrome is bound to work lose and drop off somewhere.

79pmooney

They're sorta like underwear. Completely no-essential but life is better with. On derailleur bikes, they place the wheel at the best location for the derailleur every time, make centering the tire in the chainstays child's play and simply save time. On non-derailleur bikes, they can be set to optimum chain slack, making getting that right likewise child's play. (I take those screws out on non-derailleur bikes where I change cogs a lot or on the road.)

Ben

noglider 

Good thoughts, @Hudson308. Thanks. I'll do that. @79pmooney, I like your underwear analogy, I guess. Or maybe not.

tkamd73 

Chombi1 

Nay!,....... when shipping a bike, that is......
They are guaranteed to get all bent up or even snapped off if they are not removed before shipping. Almost always expect to have at least one of them bent if you receive a bike with them still on the DO's..... I've had this happen on even really well packed bikes that I received through the years.