Tonight I am crying into my tea!!

[Grannygrinder]

.

My LBS in carmarthen is a bit of a wiz when it comes to straightening steel frames. He has a large campag kit full of bars and spacers. He straightened one of my steel frames, he uses the headtube as a reference point using a metal bar/jig to see how the rear dropouts relate to it and moves everything to where it should be. Its been fine ever since. My RM has 'fragile' seatstays which have at any given point been upto 9mm too narrow to 8mm too wide, still rides ok, although I don't trust it offroad

 

[Andy R]

they will have to heat it to a temp where your powder coat is gone for them to straighten correctly.

No, this isn't true - it won't have to be heated at all, mis-alignments such as this can be (and always would be) dealt with by "cold setting". If a little care is taken there's no need for paint to be damaged either.
There is absolutely no reason why, once this is done, that it won't be as good as new.

That's the beauty of steel, you know. It's real.....

 

[hamster]

Lots of custom builders (not the best ones admittedly) cold set their frames to get alignment spot-on.

I have bent the mech hanger on my Pine Mountain so badly that the rear mech was upside down. :shock:
Chas May rejigged it for me, although he refused to heat is as it used heat-treated steel. he did tell me not to make it a habit though. 15 years on the frame is still fine.

753 was definitely heat treated as well, along with most super-steel tubesets. That is why builders required a brazing test to get license - overcook it and it became vanilla 531.

 

[Anthony]

I don't understand the problem. You say the old wheel used to fit, but a new wheel won't, and they're both 135mm wheels, and the new wheel is 6mm too big? So just to be clear, you mean the old wheel that used to fit is also 6mm too big, just like the new one?

To eliminate the powder itself as a problem, I would carve away with a blade any paint that is either inside the dropouts, or on the inner edges where the hub makes contact - there shouldn't be paint there anyway.

If a 135mm wheel is still 6mm too big, then it sounds as though the rear triangle is distorted, not a problem with the dropouts. As has been said, a competent LBS should be able to straighten a steel rear triangle, it doesn't involve heat, it shouldn't damage the paint and there is no need to be concerned about the subsequent structural integrity of the frame.

If you decide to junk the frame, please send it to me.

 

[fatandforty]

both hubs are 135mm

If I do junk it, it'll be a wall hanger

 

[Andy R]

Lots of custom builders (not the best ones admittedly) cold set their frames to get alignment spot-on.

753 was definitely heat treated as well, along with most super-steel tubesets. That is why builders required a brazing test to get license - overcook it and it became vanilla 531.

Yes, you're certainly correct - what I meant (and didn't make very clear, as usual ) was that I was refering to post-weld heat treatment, as happens with some aluminium alloys.

 

[any123]

If you want the frame to be as meant to be then you will have to have the stays removed and new ones tig welded back on because if LBS does a whack and hope for the best job you will not be happy. my advise is throw the frame and pick up one from the bay. period

thanks andy

 

[Anthony]

If you want the frame to be as meant to be then you will have to have the stays removed and new ones tig welded back on because if LBS does a whack and hope for the best job you will not be happy. my advise is throw the frame and pick up one from the bay. period

thanks andy

I think you're on your own on this one my friend. Straightening a steel rear triangle is a skilled task - the method is well enough established and it isn't 'whack and hope'.

Most steel frames have to be cold set in the factory in the first place to get the rear triangle straight because the heating and cooling in the welding process has an inherent tendency to cause distortion of the welds in ways that can be difficult to predict. So if cold setting affected structural integrity to the degree you suggest, then steel frames wouldn't be a very good bet. But in reality, as we know, they tend to last for quite a long time.

 

[Andy R]

If you want the frame to be as meant to be then you will have to have the stays removed and new ones tig welded back on because if LBS does a whack and hope for the best job you will not be happy. my advise is throw the frame and pick up one from the bay. period

We're not talking about a rear triangle that's been run over by a bus or anything, just one that is a few millimetres out of correct alignment.
Why, once it is corrected, would anyone not have any reason to be happy with it ??
I for one would be perfectly happy to ride it without even one seconds hesitation, and if the OP lived just down the road he'd be more than welcome to pop round and I'd do the job while he waited. There'd be no big hammer invoved either :roll: However, I'm sure that someone can recommend somebody nearer to him?

What Anthony said is correct (as ever ) - there's no need to damage the paint and no need to worry about future mechanical integrity either.

 

[fatandforty]

God I love forums

Yes you can.

No you can't.

But this is the best way.

No no this is the best way.

Clear as mud now


I'm happy enough that I can stop filling the mug with tears now though.

Cheers

Mike