I have received more than a couple of bikes with the drive side dropout closed slightly (one, almost completely). I too used the "carefully bend it back out method, and haven't had problems from it yet, but all of my bikes don't all see a ton of riding ... just some of them. In my occurrences, the drop was bent closer by the lack of protection, and impacts taken on the bottom of the box during shipment, either with the rear der. in place (which seems to transmit the impact to the dropout, in my experiences, and not take any damage itself), or with just the derailleur hanger hitting. I too wonder about the long term impact of such repairs, and am interested to hear what the responses are...
Ciao, Mark Agree Southfield MI USA
-------------------------------------------- In a message dated 6/6/2004 7:33:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org writes: Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2004 18:23:01 -0500 From: "Retrofan531" <Retrofan531@allegiance.tv> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Subject: [CR]Any long-term issues with rear dropout repair? Message-ID: <031001c44c1d$35f815b0$4c02f918@home1fankkhk9z> References: <01e501c44cd6$0c4c3610$dafba652@ericaspc> <p061104dbbce946af8d45@[10.0.1.2]> Content-Type: text/plain;charset="iso-8859-1" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Message: 15
I have a lugged steel frame with horizontal dropouts. It has never been built up, and with too many bikes I sold it to a fellow who would build it and ride it.
When he came to pick it up and put it on a roof mounted bike carrier, the rear wheel on the drive side would not go in, but the non-drive side would. After looking at it, it was evident the rear right dropout was just a bit smaller than the non-drive side dropout at the opening of the dropout.
I took a open-end wrench, put the handle between the dropout, and with one application of force on the wrench the dropout now accepts the rear wheel with no problem. It also looks to be the same distance the length of both dropouts now.
My questions are:
(1) What is the possibility this adjustment will weaken the chromed dropout and cause problems down the road with this drive dropout from the small (maybe 1mm) adjustment?
(2) Is this something that others have experienced maybe by the dropout closing a bit when shipped or something?
(3) Is there a better way to fix a problem like this in the future should it occur again?
Thanks,
Frank Phillips
McAlester, OK