I once cold set a mid eighties Japanese-made straight guage junker Bianchi frame from 126ish to 120 by squeezing the dropouts together with my fingers until I felt the metal bend just a little. I'm sure it was total luck, but it came out perfect!

I'm also in the process. Is there a concern about getting a longer BB spindle to avoid having the chainring rubbing against the widened stays? And if so, how is this going to affect the chainline, shifting, ect?

Should not be a problem, as the wider 8-10 speed cassettes and OLD also caused the hub drive side flange to be push closer to the middle. Look at a 120mm or 126mm freewheel hub and the flanges are ~57mm apart. Newer wheels have hub flanges <50mm apart, so the chainline really didn't change.

This is recommended against for a good reason. There's absolutely no guarantee that both stays will bend equal amounts. It is in fact far MORE likely that one stay (usually the right stay) will bend quite a bit more than the other. At this point, you have an alignment problem. Correcting this will require using Sheldon's method, so why not just start off with that, and do the job right?

And yes, I've spread a frame using a 2x4. Not actually all that hard (the hard part was fixing the terrible alignment).

For the few instances I've needed to spread a frame I've just used a scissor jack from a car...

Having cold set more frames than I'd care to count......

1. It is very very easy to bend or dent a seat tube using the 2x4 method.
2. I simply stood behind the frame and pulled to simultaneously spread the stays. After checking symmetry with the string method I would make small adjustments.

Really?!

How many times has this happened to you?

Were you using the wide or narrow edge of the 2 x 4?

I have never heard of any instance of this before.

I actually stopped using 2 x 4s 'cause I snagged a pair of Thule roof rack load bars, which are lighter and easier to handle. They're considerably smaller than 2 x 4s, made of rectangular steel tubing padded with some sort of rubbery material.

Sheldon "No Dents" Brown

#2 is questionable, too.

In what manner?

I guess you haven't done as many as I have.....

A scary thing happened to me while cold setting w/a 2x4. I was setting "in" to shorten the spacing, when The stays just suddenly gave way almost completely. they were probably 60mm apart. Mind you, the frame was already bent in the fist place and I was just straightening it out. It did freak me out a little bit, but then considering I only paid 10 bucks for the bik in a thrift shop, I collected myself, reset the frame and went on with my life. No big deal. Although I wouldn't do it to a frame in which I made a significant investment.

Thanks Sheldon for posting that cold set method...it worked like a charm on my old steel mtb. String measurement came out perfect! I just use the handle of an old hoe and set an old rag on the frame to keep from scratching it.

Brian "it worked" M.

So you don't choose to answer the questions I asked?

Sheldon "Never Dented A Seat Tube" Brown