Hey all,

I picked up an old ompax mont royale with the intention of converting it to a fixed gear. I assumed the fork dropouts would take the wheel I bought. Unfortunately I was wrong. The droputs are too narrow for the axle. At this point I'm not sure what to do. Should I spring for a new fork? Would filing the dropouts a bit be ok? Also, is this a common occurance with old road bikes? I figured dropout sizes were relatively standardized.

File it down and you are good to go. The bike co-op I go to usually grinds them down with angle grinder. This is quite common with an older fork, I've seen a lot of people grinding their fork ends at the co-op.

Hammer until fit.

I had this same problem with my sisters single speed conversion. The forks dropouts were just slightly to small. I just took a drill to it and now it fits perfectly.

Take your time filing it down though, make sure everything is levelled. You could take it to the shop and let them do it for you though.