Originally Posted by
thehugoball
Oh I realize that, I just wonder if it would be a good idea to set the bike up with the axle resting at the back of the dropout, so that my friend, who is not an amateur bike mechanic like me, won't misalign the wheel if she ever removes it.
Dropouts of the era often weren't positioned so perfectly and with both sides all the way back the wheel might not center in the chainstay. Odds are you can fix that with a file if the goal is simpler wheel replacement. Test the shifting first, then if needed you can file one to match the other.