whoosh!

i just got an unmarked old italian road frame that for some odd reason, came to me with a spacing of 110mm.

i have no clue why it would be at this spacing, when one would assume it to be 120 or 126.


anyways, i am trying to cold-set it to 120, using sheldon browns method, but with no luck. when i push on the board where it crosses on top of the seat tube, i feel it flex, then i stop and measure the stays, and nothing has changed. it seems like the flex is happening in the main triangle, which i definatly dont want.

honestly i'm a little scared to apply alot of force, but is that what i have to do? does the fact that its fully chromed have anything to do with it? (i dunno... mabey makes it stiffer?)

it just aint working for me. any help/opinions would be awesome.

operator

110mm: Rear older track, coaster brake and other single-speed hubs. Also, front hubs for Downhill bikes with 20 mm axles.

whoosh!

it's got campy 1010's with a derailleur mount...

europa

Sounds like you need more force - you do have to bend steel past it's required position as it will always spring back a bit.

I've got a mate who's done it twice - ruined one frame, succeeded with the other. Kinda put me off trying it myself.

Richard

whoosh!

yeah, i'm a little nervous.

on the other hand, i did squeeze the hub in there easily enough... anyone know how much damage spreading the frame 10mm wreaks on things? (i'd assume it'd be terrible for an axle.)

bikingshearer 

Spreading the rear 10mm on a decent steel frame should not be a big deal - I am riding on a frame that was at 120mm and is now at 130. (And I am a big boy.) The problem is what you do to stuff in the spreading process. Personally, I'd price out how much a good shop or buiilder would charge to do it. If you can afford it, let them do it.

huerro

Philly has a bike church, right? Might be worth giving them a call to see if they have a spreader.

squirtdad

I saw another post where the poster used threaded rod, nuts and washers to do the setting. The poster noted that to get to 130/135 he had to spread to about 160 or so. A search might get this thread

Grand Bois

I've cold set a few frames. I use a 6ft 2X4 and I push down neat the center of the board. I lay the frame on a piece of carpet and prop the 2x4 up on the washing machine. Be sure to keep the end of the 2X4 close to the BB. Steel is springy and you have to bend it past the point where it springs back to where it was. Just keep increasing the force and measuring until you get some permanent movement. Don't try to spread it more than 2mm at a time. Don't use your foot. It takes a delicate touch. I think you'll get a feel for it and the other side will go much faster. Be sure to check the alignment with a string.

I don't think the chrome makes the frame stiffer, but I know that chrome will crack and peel if you flex the frame too much. I don't think that cold setting will put enough bend in it to cause that, though. I found that mixtes are harder to spread because they have an extra stay.

Good luck!

well biked

It's recommended on the vintage trek site, www.vintage-trek.com , that you reinforce the chainstay and seatstay bridges before cold setting, to try and insure that the joints at the bridges don't pop. I wrapped mine with filament tape, wrapping around each bridge several times as tightly as I could. Whether this actually does any good or not, I don't know, but it gave me some peace of mind as I spread my frame. I used the threaded rod technique (the weakness with this method is that it doesn't account for frame alignment like Sheldon's method does) with excellent results. I remember I had to spread the dropouts to around 160 or 170mm to get them to "set" at 130mm, from 126mm. As Dirtdrop says, work carefully and measure the progress you've achieved as you go along so that you don't overdo it. You'll get more confidence when you measure and see that the dropouts have permanently spread some-

Grand Bois

I tried the threaded rod method once and it was a disaster! Sheldon knows what he's talking about. Follow his instructions to the letter and you'll have no problems.

LóFarkas

Everyone says that cold-setting is better than spreading by forcing in the hub. If you know you'll use that hub, you're clearly better off taking a deep breath and being more violent with Sheldon's method. Bend it more.

lrzipris

Meaning a LBS? Whoosh, if you're anxious about doing it yourself and if you dont want to trust a local shop, you might go over to a local frame builder like Bilenky and see if he would do it for you: www.bilenky.com.

huerro

No, menaing a community bicycle shop/tool library/used parts depot/etc.

I've never been in Philly, but check out this link: https://www.neighborhoodbikeworks.org...s/index.htm#03

oilman_15106

My thoughts also. It might be worth it. Or you could make your own spreader with threaded rod, washers and nuts. Just takes longer to set than Sheldons method. Done it on 3 frames with no real problems.

lrzipris

Neat. Never heard the term before; I've known about the neighborhood bikeworks programs, but only for its bikes-for-kids-who-fix-them-up/learning responsibility program and for its annual bike parts art show.

Speaking of bike churches, around your town, huerro, there's a MTB club called the Church of the Knobby Tyre (with the coolest club jerseys I've ever seen), and a friend from the Seattle area "worships" at the Church of the Spoked Wheel, meditating to the whirr of her wheels as they spin along.

Hocam

Take to bike church, we have both the park spreader, park frame alignment stick and the alignment checker/adjuster for your drop outs after you've bended em all up. Forgive me if I don't know the technical terms. They're all easy to use and with a stand it seems like it'd be hard to ruin a frame to me. I faciliate at 'The Divine Bike Church' and should be there thursday night, ask for mike.

Fixing bikes is all about using the right tool properly.

Cassave

After cold setting the rear triangle you will need to re-align the dropouts to parallel.
Campy makes a set of tools for this (so does Park I think).
We used to call them "bells" because of the shape of the cups that indicate that the drops
are concentric and parallel.
If the dropouts aren't parallel, you'll distort the axle when you tighten the skewer.

Grand Bois

I never found it necessary to realign the dropouts, but if I did, I'd use my biggest Crescent wrench.

Grand Bois

It's not done right unless the wheel drops right into the dropouts without adjusting the qr.

well biked

I think it's pretty well accepted that in spreading from something like 126 to 130, the amount of dropout misalignment isn't enough to worry about. If I were to spread a frame from something like 120 to 130, I'd probably do it. As for axles breaking because of the dropout misalignment, Sheldon makes note of the fact that if the dropouts were out of alignment in the other direction it would be more likely to cause broken axles-

Hocam

Bike Church gets a lot of really old beat up frames/bikes donated so we end up getting some use out of those drop out aligners. Plus, they're a lot (A LOT!) more precise than eyin it up an using a crescent wrench.

niallac

Whoosh!, I did this last night, re-setting an old Raleigh 531c frame from 123.5mm (?) to about 130mm for a 9-spd freehub. As Hocam suggests, I did this at my local 'bike church'. https://www.thebikestation.org.uk Despite spending 20 minutes searching skips in the locale, in the snow, for a suitable bit of timber to use as a lever, I managed to successfully set the frame (is this 'cold setting' ?) then realign the dropouts afterwards (with the right tool). It took me ages, because I was terrified of bending the frame too far (as it is, I had to correct my adjustment by about 1mm) but it seems to have worked ok.
Bear in mind, though, that the mechanics at the B.C. will probably be briefed on a principle of 'first, do no harm' so don't be surprised if they advise against you doing this! I volunteer at the place mentioned above every week, and I was firmly discouraged!

onbike 1939

I had no problems with Shelon's method but I do think that 531 tubing lends itself to this over other tubing.

Sheldon Brown

I never heard of it myself until last June when I visited the Santa Cruz (Calif.) Bike Church.

Photos at: https://sheldonbrown.org/journal/jour...05.html#061206

Sheldon "Not Usually Religious" Brown