Advice: Going from 126mm to 130mm spacing. Is it safe?

Hi there,

I have a 130mm Dura Ace hub I want to fit on my old Raleigh Peloton Lite road bike. The tubing is not special, just cheap made in Taiwan.

Is there any downside to stretching the rear dropouts to 130mm? I definitely don't want to compromise the frames structural integrity.

All help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

If you Google -
sheldon brown cold setting
There is loads on Sheldons site on this particular subject

Short answer: yes.

Cool, thanks.

Any experience with frames that have been spaced out (do they ride exactly the same after the spacing?)

They'll be fine, as long it's steel, don't worry about it, don't even bother spacing it, just plop the wheel in.

Useful video:

https://youtu.be/YdibmxBuMy0

It's 2mm either side... just jam that sucker in and go ride

Exactly, not worth the hassle, doesn't even take much effort at all to push it in.

Hehe, true! The 130mm hub that I have does fit in the dropouts with a little push in. I was just worried that it might put some stress on the steel and cause it to fail.

Thanks for the replies!

The only downside is the Dura Ace's wheel, as the rims tend to be quite thin and likely to wear out soon, if it's second hand, chance are it might be worn already.

I can't see that working: the stays are pushing against each other, so there is no way of controlling the amount each stay is bent.

Slight topic hijack with a reverse of the original question.
Looking at buying a road bike that was originally fitted with a 6spd freewheel, so I presume 126mm spacing ? Seller claims he fitted a wheel in with a 9spd cassette without "modifying" the bike. Presuming the 9spd wheel is 130mm spacing, has he just pushed the stays out by putting the 130mm wheel in ?

If I bought it and wanted to go back to an original 6spd freewheel with 126mm spacing, would I need the frame coldset ? Or can I just put a 126mm wheel in and make sure the QR is done up tightly ?

You answer your own question.

most fixed conversions you see around are 126mm frames squeezed onto 120mm track hubs

thats 6mm, 50% more than what you are trying to do

I've done it this way before, just count the rotations and set up some string to guide symmetry. Works a treat.
I always found sheldons 2x4 technique a bit hit and miss in getting accuracy. Though some people have had issues before whereby this technique affects the alignment of the drop outs from the stays

Yeah I see what you mean, although in the vid he does check the frame alignment afterwards to ensure the dropouts are equally spaced. I suppose that's a benefit of the earlier methods he tries, i.e. using the plank of wood and bending the stays using the seat tube as a pivot, that way you can space each side at a time.