Originally Posted by rat_factory
hmm, he site does say 'billet', i guess as in billet aluminum. aren't they supposed to be steel so people can bend them? argg
Here's a funny quote from Sheldon Brown about what a "billet" is:
"Billet:
pretentious word for "lump of metal," used by machinests and marketeers to confuse outsiders."
Another quote from him that's appropriate here is about "cold setting":
"The process is commonly referred to as "cold setting" which is a fancy way of saying bending the rear frame apart so that it is wider."
As I said earlier, aluminum dropouts can be cold set if the misalignment is only slight. Trying to respace rear dropouts on an Al frame is not good because then you are trying to "cold set" the Al tubing in the seat and chain stays. Al tubing does not bend well.
Whether the OP's derailleur hanger would bend before the Al frame is the $64 dollar question and it would seem that his LBS did not have a definite answer.