Louis,
I have found a use for the adjustability of rear dropouts. I tried to get one of my old Colnagos to shift with a large inner cog on a 7sp freewheel. It would not shift until I let the screws way out, suddenly it worked fine. Still does. Sometimes it's all about the shifting.
Brian Baylis La Mesa, CA
>
> So, what is the function of dropout adjusting screws? Even in the long
> dropouts, the springs take up so much room that there really isn't much
> room for adjustment. And what difference does the adjustment make? I
> doubt if anyone would notice the change in wheelbase. The whole long
> dropout/long adjusting screw has always baffled me. It always seemed
> like the long dropout was just a leftover from the Cambio Corsa or
> something like that.
>
> Louis Schulman
> Tampa, Florida, where I was able to ride between storm clouds for a
> nice 50-mile tour around the Bay on my 1973 Ron Cooper (which has the
> long droupouts and adjusters, fwiw)
>
> On Sun, 15 Jun 2003 15:52:55 -0700, Chuck Schmidt wrote:
>
> #Boy, you have an eagle eye, Steven! My circa 1954 Bianchi Campione
> del
> #Mondo has the dropouts you describe above with the larger 4 mm screws.
>
> #I never even noticed.
> #
> #The small spring anchor hole drilled above the threaded derailleur
> #hanger hole is for the Sport derailleur. As you know, the Sport has a
> #fixed single pulley cage so the top of the body is sprung. I have
> heard
> #that sometimes guys took the upper pivot body of the Sport and mated
> it
> #to the Gran Sport so that it would pivot at the top like a Simplex
> does.
> # You'd set it up so the upper and lower springs balanced each other
> out
> #to keep the upper pulley closer to the cogs as you shifted.