That's the problem - the way the rear derailleur is hung to the dropout is with its own hanger, rather than bolting into a threaded hole; the hanger is held in place by a small screw that threads into a purpose-made nut that's shaped to fit the bend at the end of the horizontal slot. The wheel axle slides into both the slot in the dropout and the coinciding (and shorter) slot in the derailleur's own hanger, which then acts like a bumpstop to locate how far the axle can slide back into the slot.












The only way I could take advantage of the undamaged parts of the dropouts is to go fg/ss, which I'm not inclined to do.

In theory, I could drill a 5mm hole into the dropout and tap it to bolt the derailleur's retaining screw into it to allow the axle to slide farther back into the slot, but there's a very good chance that this would weaken the dropout at its most critical point. So that's not really an option.

I could also take the bike to a machine shop and ask them to weld and file the damaged area back to thickness, but with all that's been going on in the world, there's a lot of logistics involved.

And then there's the question of whether or not I should invest this much time and effort into what's basically a cheap, entry-level frame that's not even my size, but it's a perfectly good bike that I'm inclined to keep in roadworthy condition, if for no other reason than its sentimental value.