Does anyone have any experience in cold setting a frame (steel obviously) or bending chain/seat stays outward to accommodate newer hub spacing?
edit: I’ve already researched quite a bit on it, I was just curious if anyone had done this type of deal here
almost tried it with a fork i had (i was going to have a shop do it).
i think boner city did it with a frame of his.
Yup. Use the Sheldon Brown string method or a frame alignment gauge. Be careful not to mis-align the rear dropouts. It’s really fairly easy with a long enough lever arm.
i would not cold set a fork. I have in the past. After taking apart a fork that was bent and reset, the tops of the blades had cracks where the fork crown lug shoreline was. thats my opinion. and my dentists.
I’ve had so-so success realigning the DO’s with an axle(with hardware) in either DO, nearly touching in the center.
yeah i just bought a new fork.
I’ve cold-set two frames with no issues.
Just used a 2x4 and some string.
[quote=“zombie”]I’ve cold-set two frames with no issues.
Just used a 2x4 and some string.[/quote]
going from 110 to 120 or 126 to 130?
The first was 120-130 and the second was something like 125.5 to 130.
I do it all the time. Forget the 2x4, you can bend the rear triangle by hand. If it’s gonna be used for anything but polo/bar biking try the string technique and make sure the dropouts are aligned. If you don’t have access to the proper tool, old axles will work pretty good. This part’s too often overlooked and can lead to broken axles and accelerated bearing wear if not done.
[quote=“white folks”][quote=“zombie”]I’ve cold-set two frames with no issues.
Just used a 2x4 and some string.[/quote]
going from 110 to 120 or 126 to 130?[/quote]
I went 120 to 130 with 2x4s, piece of cake. For 126 to 130 I don’t even bother cold setting, I just cram the wheel in there.
i just did a clunker snow bike, 120 to 130 and while not exactly hard, i would estimate being out of the capabilities of roughly %50 of tarckbike.
My new build was coldset to 130, but I still have the spread the stays by hand to get the 12t to clear the inside of the chainstay when putting the wheel in.
plus one. seen this recently.
snug ok, misaligned be bad.
I was going to say this in a far less eloquent way.
Bending the stays by hand is fine if you just want to spread them apart or move them in a bit. However if alignment is off it’s difficult to move the stay relative to the ST/HT. It can be done, but it’s easier with a 2x4 as Sheldon describes. I had this problem with a frame that seemed like it had been wrecked with both stays offset in the same direction and misaligned dropouts.
Yeah, if a frame is misaligned, I’ll usually lay it on the ground and press down on the seat tube.
What jacques said. Make sure the ends are parallel. I went from 126 to 110 on the silver thing posted too many times.
Likewise. Even on my steel Gunnar, which is theoretically set from the factory at 130, I have to bend it a little bit to get the cassette all the way in. Similarly, I am frequently spreading apart the 130 spacing on various aluminum bikes which are not set perfectly.
DIAF noob.