noglider 

There are indexed-shifting bikes with horizontal dropouts, though I guess you could argue that it's a compromised design. My mid-90's Bianchi Volpe is an example.

Catnap 

the Surly Crosscheck still uses horizontal D.O.'s

JAG410

Yup, same with the new All City Space Horse.

Fredo76

The Shimano vertical drop-outs that I used in 1976 in my own frame (see avatar) were the first Shimano vertical drop-outs that anyone in Tucson, including Colin Laing, had ever seen. I chose them because to me they looked exactly like what Campy vertical drop-outs would have looked like, if Campagnolo had offered any then, which they didn't.

I don't know about widespread use, but I'll take undeserved credit for helping to popularize them!


Shimano vertical drop-outs from 1976


Zombifying the internet since 2013!

bulgie 

Oh yes they did!
Here's a scan from pg 31 of catalog 15, 1967.



I don't know if they were new in '67, or whether they were in any other earlier catalogs. I first noticed them on a Jack Taylor from maybe '73.

They are a bit cheap looking, stamped rather than forged, with no raised "islands" for the axle nuts. Better builders like the Taylors typically brazed a washer to the inside of the right DO then slotted it, to space the wheel a little further from the stays for chain clearance. There's no way to make them look really nice IMHO, but you can make them quite passable.

On the 2 frames I made for myself in '77, I used Art Stump verticals, investment cast stainless, quite pretty.



I considered using GP Wilson verticals, also cast stainless. Wilson used a super-strong stainless, 17-4 PH, which let him make them very thin and light but still strong. Not as sculptural as Stump's though, to my eye. Stump and Wilson knew each other and were aware of each other's work, but I don't know who first came up with the idea of cast SS vertical DOs. I wouldn't say either one copied the other, they were both innovative.

Pretty much all the French constructeurs of touring and randonneur bikes from the '30s on preferred verticals, though you will see Campy 1010 horizontals on a lot of Singers in this country because so many of them were sold by Spence Wolf, and that's how he spec'd 'em.

Mark B

merziac

JohnDThompson 

Campagnolo offered the #1060 vertical dropouts since the mid-60s. They were popular on British bikes BITD.

nlerner

Campy vertical dropout on a '73 Raleigh RRA:

Fredo76

Darn! Wrong, again! I guess Campy DID make vertical dropouts in 1976, just not nice ones...

Thanks for the corrections.

gugie 

By "wide spread use", we're not talking about the vertical dropouts on my 1948 Peugeot PH60 - they're fairly rare.



Wide spread here in the US would mean production bikes sold in the US. We should also minimize the discussion to steel frames, almost all aluminum frames have vertical drops I believe. Mountain bikes switched over to vertical dropouts earlier than road bikes, so perhaps we should also limit the discussion to road bikes.

As a proxy, I suggest we look at Specialized and Trek. The catalogs are in this link. A quick Trek's 520 had vertical dropouts in 1990, for example.

Steel Charlie

That's simply not true. I have had index shift Shimano from 6 to 9 speed on a variety of horizontal drop out bikes. Exactly None have received or required any special attention.

My late '70s Caylor has the Campy vertical drop outs. With the washer on the inside of the right one.

JohnDThompson 

I braze a stainless steel washer to the face of the 1060 dropouts to improve things:

bulgie 

I posted the Campy catalog scan of the 1060 verticals, then realized Jeff Wills posted them already to this very thread way back in 2013, post #16
When did vertical drop-outs come into wide-spread use?

Darn zombies! I should try to remember to check the dates and histories on threads before I go spouting off... Nah!

bulgie 

That was also handy for a race bike that might get a neutral-support wheel. You needed your dropouts to be the same thickness as Campy 1010 so the QR would close with the right tension, or your wheel change would take much longer.

My race toolbox used to have two pair of 1010 dropouts (front and rear) for setting the QRs on spare wheels.

Then nonferrous frames started having all sorts of different thicknesses of dropouts, and we lost that de facto standard thickness. Don't even get me started on disk and through-axle on roadrace bikes, so dumb!

merziac

That also gives it the bolstered look we all know and love instead of the plain stamped kludge look.

JohnDThompson 

The prevalence of "lawyer lips" on fork ends got people accustomed to unscrewing and screwing quick releases (obviating the very idea of "quick release" IMO) to remove and replace the wheel, rather than adjusting the quick release once, then simply flipping the lever to remove or replace the wheel.

bamboobike4

I think it was the era after they came into normal-spread use, which followed the narrow-spread use era.

Or maybe I misunderstood the question.

bamboobike4

Same time as shoulder pads and big hair?

bamboobike4

There is a lot going on right there.

himespau 

I'm too lazy to file off the lawyer lips, but one of these days I'll get around to it. Been saying that for years though.

bamboobike4

I saw what you did there.

T-Mar

I said it back in 2013, in post #17, and I'll say it again. Vertical dropouts eliminate one of the variables that owners can unwittingly alter and have a negative effect on indexed shifting performance. Shimano had the best performing indexed system in the late 1980s. Some others, such as Accushift and Syncro, could be incredibly finicky. There were lots of complaints and mechanics who unfamiliar with index shifting, could make things worse. Establishing a fixed and optimal axle postion relative to the derailleur mount helps to provide a correct chain gap which is an important parameter for good indexed shifting. Vertical dropouts eliminated this variable and therefore were a step towards mistakeproofing and increased customer satisfaction. Of course, indexed systems can work just fine with horizontal dropopts but it can also be adversely affected if the axle postion is incorrect. While vertical dropouts have a long history, widespread adoption occurred after the introduction of indexed shifting.

Steel Charlie

I objected to the term "required". Simply not true.

smd4

I think this perfectly answers the OP's question.