View Single Post
Old 06-11-20, 11:34 AM
  #15  
scarlson 
Senior Member
 
scarlson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Medford MA
Posts: 2,089

Bikes: Ron Cooper touring, 1959 Jack Taylor 650b ladyback touring tandem, Vitus 979, Joe Bell painted Claud Butler Dalesman, Colin Laing curved tube tandem, heavily-Dilberted 1982 Trek 6xx, René Herse tandem

Mentioned: 80 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 964 Post(s)
Liked 1,451 Times in 723 Posts
I echo what others have already said. I do think I'd heat it up and have a go. The worst that can happen is it'll be messed up, and it's already messed up.

I do wonder if I can see a crack at the most-bent part in your photo, but it's not high enough resolution to see. As others have said, it could just be the chrome. Usually if chrome is cracked, you can flake it off more with a sharp screwdriver. I would inspect it before you start, just so you know what you're in for. Even if it's cracked, the worst you can do is crack it more.

Probably remove the dropout adjuster screw and spring, and then insert just the screw backwards, just until it's through, so it's not poking in the dropout where you're going to be putting fire, and you won't anneal the spring. This way the screw will force the hole to keep its shape, at least somewhat. You can put some wet rags around the upper portion of the dropout and secure them with wire, as others have done. Then heat it up as much as you can with whatever you have. Closer to red will be easier to bend. And when it is hot, go for it, nice and easy, but not slowly enough to lose your heat!

Optionally, also, if you can set this up, you could put the back end of the dropout in a vise and clamp it down hard from the sides. This would act as a heat sink and give you something to bend against, possibly isolating the bending.

I have cold-bent dropouts back, but I suggest heat in this case mostly because I think it'll help the dropout bend more in the correct spot. But you could try a little bit cold and see how it goes, and then continue if results look promising.
__________________
Owner & co-founder, Cycles René Hubris. Unfortunately attaching questionable braze-ons to perfectly good frames since about 2015. With style.

Last edited by scarlson; 06-11-20 at 11:44 AM.
scarlson is offline