Anglian wrote:breakwellmz wrote:Surely it LESS faff to spread the frame,non?
Hello breakwellmz,
I don't think so.
Although I'm having to think about the consequences of respacing, and understand how various aspects of the bike's geometry will be affected, if it can be done this way, then I think it's not much work to unscrew the locknuts, replace the spacers with differently-sized ones, and refit the locknuts again. It just needs some appropriate wrenches.
The approach of cold-setting the bike frame to a wider spacing would require (if Sheldon Brown is to be believed) removing various bits of hardware from the bike frame (in particular the derailer), protecting the frame paintwork from scratching, then getting an appropriate lever, and applying force in a trial-and-error basis until the rear dropout distance is respaced (in a balanced way, same displacement on each side), then re-assembling. If I then needed to go back to the 130mm wheel which used to work on this frame, it would no longer fit.
The spacers seem to be on wheels so that the same hubs can be fitted to different frames, by changing them.
I appreciate that the situation for non-solid (that is, QR) axles is different, as meic pointed out above. in that case, axle length needs to be close to the dropout distance. However, for sold axles, and nutted wheels, it the OLD which counts, and the spacers offer an easy way to do that (presuming I can understand the geomterical consequences well enough).
Regards,
Anglian
If the frame is steel(please let us know)you're getting hung up over something that's not rocket science.
An 8mm threaded rod,with nuts on and big penny sized washers(all availlable at B&Q) on the insides of the dropouts,wind the nuts outward thus spreading the dropouts.
Wind it to 135mm and then slacken off the nuts and check how wide they've become.
Do it again but this time a little futher keep going through the process until the d/outs are 135mm with no pressure on them.
Put the wheel in,check if the rim is centred,I'd guess it's not more than 2or3mm out,if any.
You do not need to strip anything off the bike except removing the rear wheel and holding the bike up,say by hanging it over the washing line with the saddle.