Hello All,

I might be picking up a bike for my girlfriend tonight but the frame doesn't have drilling in the dropouts to accommodate a rack. This is a big factor because she'll be using it to commute and I want to put a nice Topeak rack on there with a basket. The frame is a 1990 Novara Team Novara bike. The steel is Tange CroMo. Would I be able to drill and tap a hole on either side to install a rack? I'm a mechanic at a LBS and my boss said that once CroMo is drilled through, it is made susceptible to internal rust and corrosion. The last thing I would want is the bike to fall apart while she was riding it! Any help would be greatly appreciated, we're going to look at the bike tonight. Thanks in advance.

NOVARA "TEAM NOVARA" 17 in. MTB - FULL SHIMANO XT GROUP