• I’ve filed dropouts before. If you’re careful it should be fine.

    That said, being that those blb hubs have female axles and the bolt is what sits in the dropout, I’d probably have a go at modding the bolts as they are the easiest and cheapest thing to replace.

    The photos I found online show a fully threaded bolt, I’d start by knocking down the height of the threads. If you can get it to fit by doing that you’ll have lost very little if any strength. If you have to remove material from the actual diameter of the bolt then go slow and test foot often so you don’t take too much off.

    I’d flatten an area wider than is really needed to make installation a bit easier. The bolts are plenty long so there should still be tons of full height threads to engage deeper into the axle.

    Mounting the bolt in a lathe would be the best way to ensure you take an even amount of all the way around but failing that, a drill can be a decent stand in, just be careful not to damage the threads if you have to hold them in the chuck because the head is too large.

  • All sounds like something I’d love to try but ultimately am too scared and ill-equipped to do :(

    Selling the wheels if anyone wants them…

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