Cold setting guilt
 

I just purchased an Eddy Merckx MX Leader that came with 8 speed Campy Record Parts. I bought this bike primarily for the parts, as the frame is too small. All my other bikes have downtube shifters. My primary bike is an Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra with Syncro II downtube shifters. I would love to use the 8 speed brifters on this bike, but am having second thoughts about cold setting the frame for 130 rear spacing. I know many in the forum have done this, but I am feeling guilty about altering this classic frame. Any thoughts for helping me get over this?

Thanks!

you may not even really need to cold set it. i have never found a set of wheels that are 130 that wont fit in 126 drops with a little coaxing

If it came w/ 8-speed Record maybe its already 130?

Thoughts on getting over it? Crack open a cold one and hit the garage....

Cold set and forget it. It's totally reversible, in fact, you don't need to reverse the mod to put a 126mm wheel in. Just do it.

I was somewhat reluctant to cold set my frame, even though it's so beat up many people would probably refuse to ride it. And furthermore, I've probably cold set frames more than that when they were new. Anyway, it's 2mm per side, which is nothing. As someone said above, on my frame, I could easily have left it the way it was and just pulled the dropouts apart when I put the wheel in. My commuter bike needs more work than that to get the wheel in.

I think it will be at 130 already, or 128 at the least. You shouldn't have to do anything to it.

I've seen a number of MX Leaders, and none have been 126.

Thanks for the responses, this helps. Sorry for the confusion - I bought the MX Leader for the parts (8 speed Record), now I want to use them on my Corsa Extra, which has 126 spacing. I'll probably just go for it and get over it. The shift levers are so much easier and seem pretty precise. The Syncro 2 is a constant battle.

Lots are cold set
 

I have noticed that it is not uncommon for the stays to already have been cold set, or bent slightly or tweaked a bit out of square, not to mention drop spacing.

Vintage road bikes are a bit fragile, in my opinion, and it is easy to distort the rear stays, or drops, particularly pressed steel drops. With this in mind, many bikes need to be cold set back to original specifications.

Spread to 130 is a personal choice. I recently resisted the urge to destroy original with hopes of running a newly acquired Campagnolo Veloce 9 speed grouppo. The grouppo, wheels and all are still in storage. I just could not alter the frame set away from original. But that is just me.

No problem at all using Sheldon Brown's method - just take it easy and check frequently! I always do each side in turn with minimal pressure and even so sometimes have to reset the drop outs a little closer again, but it's possible to be very accurate if you take time over the job and measure frequently. On many frames the cold-setting actually makes them MORE accurately aligned than before. However, 126 to 130mm might not need any resetting at all - you can often squeeze the 4mm wider OLN wheel in by flexing the stays apart 2mm each side with hand pressure and this does mean the wheel is securely held even before you close the skewer. Good luck, sounds like a good plan!

It was annoying to fit a 135 into my 126 frame but once it's in it was fine. 130 should be "thumb-power" and that's about it.