BikeTales 

I have this 700c wheelset with the Shimano Nexus 8 internal hub sitting around and no bike to put it on. I'm kind of having trouble finding something because I'd rather not go through the trouble of cold-setting a frame. Are there any options that I could find used for cheap?

I know there are many mountain bikes with 135mm spacing but can they take 700c wheels? I'm not really particular about the type of frame- steel or aluminum, mountain or road, as long as it fits without trouble.

Any suggestions? Anything for sale?
I'm looking for 50-52cm. Ideally 51.

Thanks for any help!

Otter 718

So the problem is that your hub has 135mm spacing, which is too wide for most frames that would take a 700c wheel, right?

Surly's frames use 132.5mm "gnot-rite" spacing, so they can be stretched a little to use either 130mm or 135mm hubs. A Cross-Check or Long Haul Trucker would fit the bill nicely.

A 29er MTB frame should also work, since 29er and 700c rims are really the same diameter.

Back to the "used for cheap" requirement though: I've read that you can spread out the spacing on a steel frame. If you can make this work, then just about any old road frame you find could do it.

BikeTales 

Yea, I think the hub actually has an OLD of 133.. or was it 132.. The surly would fit nicely. but i'm not sure about the $$ factor. Thanks though. That gives me something to look for.

B

BikeTales 

ok ok does anyone know if a bike shop would cold set a frame, and about how much it would cost??

also I'm willing to trade a very lightly used iPod if you have something. hehehe

SweetLou

A lot of shops will do it. It is basically a frame alignment with whatever spacing you desire. The shop near my house will do it for $25. It's actually very easy. I just did a spacing on one of my bikes last week. Read Sheldon's (pbuh) page: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html
It tells you how to do it and to make sure the frame is aligned.

If the OLD is 132 though, you really don't need to cold set the stays. 130 or 135 will be fine.

MIKEnDC

Yep. The Sheldon link covers it. You can actually just kind of spread the fork by hand when putting on the wheel with the Nexus (helps to have it on a bike stand, though) on a 130 spacing frame. This presumes that you do not have the coaster brake on it.

Also, when looking for a frame be sure to look for horizontal (ish) dropouts. Gives you some adjustment for chain tension (and my apologies if you already knew this ).

rhm

+1

mconlonx

IRO sells a Rob Roy frameset with 132.5 rear spacing for under $300. Works great with a nexus 8sp hub.

Otherwise, find a newer steel road frame with 130 spacing and it should fit fine. If a few mfgs are selling 132.5 spacing to accommodate both 130 and 135 hub spacing, throwing a 132-133 hub into a 130 frame should be a piece of cake. Cold set it if you must, but unless you're changing the tire or wheel on a regular basis, I bet leaving it alone and slightly spreading the stays when you do need to pop it back on will work fine.

BikeTales 

It just occured to me that the OLD may not include the necessary axle anti-rotation washers. I guess I could put those on the outside of the dropouts, between the axle nut and the dropout. This whole thing gives me anxiety

yes

Try the rob roy threads in cyclocross. There was just a group buy and someone may sell you an unwanted frame for $200. Jenson has been blowing out the zions (there is one with eccentric bottom bracket), but it is disk only. Not sure if you have a drum brake or need rim brake posts.