Originally Posted by
Schreck83
120mm doesn't sound right. My 84 VSP is 126mm and 7-speed. Have you measured the dropout width without the wheel installed?
Congrats on finding a tall one; looks great!
Never sounded right to me either. Catalog spec for '84 and '85 SP is a 5-speed FW. Peloton (same "Columbus SL and SP mix tubing" verbiage, plus Panasonic built, so they are related, in my mind) for '84 had a 6-speed FW, and '85 got a 7-speed. This is just me citing progression.
When I took the rear wheel out, I noticed a healthy amount of axle showing on each side, evenly. Healthy enough to allow 3mm to be put on either side to bump it to 126mm. The outer lock nut on the drive side does not protrude much from the face of the FW, which was another thing I found odd. The wheel slots in and out of the dropouts just fine. Dropout spacing without wheel is 121mm.
So, onto the frame--is there anything odd with that? Ah, yes, there is! The drive side seat stay is essentially dead straight along its outer edge when I put my metal ruler to it--no funny business there. Check the non-drive side seat stay: whoa. From the brake bridge to the dropout, the outer edge of the tube deviates in a pretty obvious fashion...to the tune of 5mm at the dropout. Looks like we have our missing spacing!
Thank you for asking me to essentially do some more digging. I'll put some string (or similar) to further corroborate things, but the angled in seat stay and dropout say plenty already. There is always at least one "Why did they do that?" / "What the heck happened here?" sort of thing that pretty much every bike that is donated to Bike Works has. My Voyageur has two: 120 grit sandpaper to the rear wheel brake tracks (thankfully hard to feel), and now the reduced spacing. The great news on the spacing is that now I can correct it and also have room for a 6-speed FW to replace the worn 5-speed. I will be checking the dish to see if there was even removal of spacers or if they just took from the drive side or something.