cougarkite

so I bought a set of new wheels yesterday, installed tubes, tires, a new rear cassette and now when I'm trying to put them on my bike, the front axle is slightly too large in diameter to slide in. They are 27x1.1/4 wheels with the axle roughly 3/8" and the opening on the fork about a 1/16 under that...I have an old Raleigh frame...the back fits although I have to spread the frame more than I needed to do for my previous wheels...Any tips or should I return? I guess I could dremel or file the fork slots to fit?

SquidPuppet

Just file the bottom of the slot.

cougarkite

the "bottom" meaning the side closer to the back of the bike?

SquidPuppet

Yes. Think about where the fork end experiences the load and stress. The top front. You want to file the opposite side of the slot, the bottom rear.

SquidPuppet

Edit: Check in the frame builder subforum to be sure it's OK. I've done this on old Schwinns, but those bikes aren't running front brakes. When applying a front brake the rear/botton of the fork end will be stressed.

I bet it's OK, but better safe than sorry.

cougarkite

Will do...is the any idea why the axle size varies? Was the original a smaller size they phased out?

SquidPuppet

Yes. There have been many different axle sizes over the years. Even modern axles aren't all the same size.

okane

Do your new cones still fit the bearings/race properly?

I've done this sort of thing in the past and in a couple of cases either the new cone profile or size didn't fit properly into the hub.