I've got an old road frame that I got for a steal awhile back, and have since converted it for fixed gear use around town. It's a really sweet frame, however I don't have any use for another road frame, and I doubt its worth selling. I'm in the market for a vintage steel track frameset, so I'd rather recycle this frame and try my hand at replacing the rear horizontal dropouts with track droupouts before buying a new frame.

I'm currently working at a steel fabrication shop, and have access to metal working equipment at my university shop as well. I'm hoping for input on different methods of doing this without specialty equipment. My preferred method would be to simply MIG weld the dropouts in instead of brazing (as I'm not familiar with it), however I know the frame is made of thin Columbus SLX tubing. Practically speaking for a downtown beater, should I be worried about (carefully) welding SLX? What kind of risks am I looking at? If I absolutely must braze it, can I do this with a normal torch that my shop might have? How cheap of a brazing rod can I get away with?

Also... would it be completely moronic to try to carefully bend the fork back an inch or so for less rake? It sounds totally stupid but I've always been curious.

I'm sure this sounds brutal, but it seems like a fun project to get some use out of this cool old frame. Thanks for any help with my dumb project! Andy
Andy