rear dropout spacing problem
 

Hi,

The measuring caliper shows just under 132mm for the rear axle dropout on my aluminum road bike frame. And since i at one point squeezed the frame on a 125mm rear hub (never rode it, but had it siting like that for a while before i got to know that it's a big nono for alu frames) i'm not sure if the 132mm is a shrunken 135mm spacing or if it's just a loose 130mm. What do you guys think? is it usual for a 130mm frame to have some "slack" on the dropouts, or do you think it's a bent 135mm?

lots of bikes have 132mm spacing to work with both road and mountain hubs. Is it a cx bike by chance?

I see! well, hopefully that's what it is.

About the frame, it's a bit of a strange one. It's a HEAD frame, but i can't seem to find any information about HEAD bikes whatsoever (almost like they don't manufacture them). And i got it for cheap a few years ago from a guy who ran a small bike shop and had i laying around. So all i know is that it's a fairly light race/road (?) frame made in "7005 lite alloy".

I've seen a few Head bikes but they've all been MTBs and hybrids. It's been a long time since I've seen a NEW Head bike so I suspect they're not really available in the US these day but may be in the Canadian or European market or others.

They're huge in the tennis world, have had some popularity in the ski market but never made much of a dent in the US bike market.

Got pics of bike?

I don't have any at the computer right now. But i would gladly post some pictures when it's finished. The project is mainly based on the frame that i stumbled on for cheap and a reynolds carbon fiber fork that i got at a 50% sale. And i'm using as many components as i can from an old beat up racer i got for free to use as a donor bike. So it's a "decent bike for a limited budget" type of build.

the + 2mm should make a 130 wheel slide in without too much sweat.

As posted above, odds are it was built that way to split the difference between 130 & 135. Rest assured that simply squeezing it to 126 wouldn't have bent the stays, nor does the amount of time you kept it there matter.

You might have someone check the dropouts for parallelism at the width you plan to use.