Pre 1950s rides of LFGSS: old bikes, vintage rats, classic lightweights

I think I've seen on fixie forum threads that fixed gear in forward facing dropouts is something to worry about (although not quite the same level as covid, brexit or all the other things going). I guess as rear facing track ends means pumping your massive guns can't pull the wheel out of the dropouts and ruin your pretty face.

This idea is silly. Forward facing drop outs were invented for single gear machines. I can't find the reference at this moment, but I believe the Peugeot team in the 1912 Tour de France changed their frames overnight because they realised the advantage of the forward facing end for rapid wheel changes.

If you do happen to pull the wheel over, either by excessive strength or by failing to tighten it properly, it won't come out of the fork end - it will just foul on the chainstay, exactly as it would with track ends.

I've seen one of Fausto Coppi's track bikes in the museum at Novi Ligure, perhaps the original Bianchi Pista, and guess what, it has forward opening road ends!

It seems to me that chain adjusters (one type shown in the post above) have two uses:

1. For the super fussy who want to get the perfect tension at the chain's tight spot.
   
2. On traditional roadsters where track nuts can't be used because the mudguard stays go on the wheel spindle outside the fork end. With this set up even a weak rider will pull the wheel over without chain adjusters.