Hi, there's a nice 531 road frame I've been looking at, for my first conversion. It has 135mm rear spacing. Can anybody tell me if this is an issue?

Many thanks,
Che.

I think you'll either need some spacers on your axle or a fixed hub designed for 135mm spacing. Or you can flex your stays inward.

To maybe clarify mathletics' answer, yes it is an issue that you could ignore if your frame was spaced 120mm, but it's a relatively miinor issue with at least three simple solutions. The simplest for a beginner is to buy a wheel with a fixed hub that is spaced out to 135mm. usually your lbs can do this for you by adding washers to a fixed hub thats spaced 120. I might measure the spacing myself before buyiong a hub though since sheldon says 135mm is rare for a road frame. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/wheels1.html

Thanks mander. I knew only that it could be remedied but not exactly how to do it.

I'd double and triple-check that spacing with a ruler before I went out and bought a hub/wheel if I were you. 135mm is standard spacing for mountain bikes, but it pretty damn rare for road bikes.

Also, since it is steel, you could take it to a (good) shop, and have them cold-set the stays to 120mm for you. Probably costs less than a 135mm hub (if that is indeed the size).

Harris Cyclery can convert one of their rebadged Formula hubs which they normally sell pretty cheap for just $5 more. I have a set of their hubs and they're sweet!

https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/fixed-hubs.html#harris

Cross and some touring 700C frames are spaced at 135mm. Make certain a 42mm chainlined hub will work. Your frame may not work with a 42mm chainline crankset due to ring clearance issues. A 135mm singlespeed specific fixed/free hubs have chainlines even further out.

Thanks all. I should have described the frame as a tourer. As it goes, I think I'll take something a bit for my fixed. Thanks again!

531 touring frames are worth bucks these days, if you got your hands on this frame and it wouldn't be unethical to flip it, you could probably buy or trade for a pretty good frame that would be easier/better for fixed.

Here's a question I've been pondering. If you space the hub out from 120mm to 130mm or 135mm are you putting yourself at risk of breaking axles like 8 speed freewheel bikes were prone to do? Seems like you'll have a similar amount of unsupported axle.

Basically, but in practice it's not a huge problem. Track axles are pretty sturdy, and the load is balanced evenly if you hit a pothole or whatever.