Cold setting - anyone?

dudes, a friend of mine has just picked herself up a lovely old Hetchins frame with the curly stays. only needs wheels to get it on the road but the rear dropouts are 115 OLN and the forks are 95 OLN. no shortage of people out there who can build a decent single speed wheel for her but does anyone know of someone who can reset the dropouts? thanks for any pointers

5 mm you should not even need to cold set. You should be able to just sping the wheels in by hand. Give it ago with your wheels.

5mm is nothing, you'll have no problems flexing the frame in by 2.5mm each side

Tommy, Jon, i was kind of thinking that. on one of my fixies i am always forcing out the 130 OLN to take 135 hub, no problem. i will have to get round there and stick my track wheel in and see if that works fine.

does the same apply to the front fork? never done that before

cheers for the help

same deal, easier even! just 2 tubes instead of 4.

i had a 96mm OLN front on a 100mm forks. so 100mm hub on 95mm forks shouldn't be any problem.

nice one edmundane, all sounds promising

it's all easy stuff, but sometimes with a frame designed for gears the stays don't spring evenly, so your non-dished track wheel will be out of track, this is when a bit of careful cold setting is needed.
It may even be the case with a track frame, if it's older.

I've cold-set two frames and a set of forks this year, no bother.

probably worth getting a shop with a jig to do it, if it's a nice frame, which it sounds like it is.

sure it's nice. a hetchins!
know how old it is jonnywilkinson?

Personally I would get it cold-set. That way you know that the frame will track straight. Sometimes when you flex the chainstays to get a 126 wheel to fit a 130, the tracking is a little out.

Any frame-builder should be able to cold-set.

bill, i am hearing that. i think cold-setting is definitely the way to go, particularly as i posted it is 115 OLN, it is actually 110. rpm, cheers,

edmundane - we have checked out the hetchins website and we think it is a 1938. gonna be lovely when it is up and running.

cheers again

Any shop with a frame alingment tool should beable to sort you out.

I've got a drop-out alignment tool if anyone ever needs it.

(that's not some kind of social reprogramming device)

"sometimes with a frame designed for gears the stays don't spring evenly, so your non-dished track wheel will be out of track"

Whether a frame is designed or freewheel or fixed is not relevant if the the stays don't spring evenly, there's nothing special about a fixed frame that'll ensure that the stays will spring evenly. Also if the stays don't spring evenly, the wheel will be slightly out of track, and the chainline might be slightly off too, but the amount of dish on the wheel has nothing to do with it. Wheels built with some track hubs, eg Campag, do have dish because the left flange is quite close to the left locknut.

I said that because geared frames often have dented/scooped chainstays on just the drive side. hence they don't spring evenly.

As track frames are usually 120 oln, there's hardly ever a need to spring the stays when using track hubs is there?

Good point about the dented right chainstay, I forgot about that, thanks for mentioning it! 120mm maybe is the current track standard, but other widths have been used in the past. Anyway you generally only have to spring or coldset if you're using frames and hubs from different eras, or if you're converting a frame.

This issue caused me an awful lot of pain with my old raleigh. if you're not careful, doing it wrong will result in the chain potentially pulling the rear wheel into the side of the frame when stomping hard on the pedals, causing a skid at the least or more likely throwing you over the handlebars. I always super-tighten my wheels now...

This would be particularly important if your friend isn't an experienced cyclist. that i think is why i hurt myself anyway!

Didnt want to start a new thread, i need to reduce O.L.D from 135 to fit a 120 hub, i have read the sheldon example just wanted any tips and hint from anyone who had cold pressed a frame at home, its not a fancy frame so dont want to spend the money taking it to a shop.

take your time when doing it. make sure you flip the frame to keep it even

ta dale, did you use the string method getting it right ???

i just stand on the rear triangle and gently jump up and down. patience is the key, you will feel it give, just do a little bit at a time.

gently jump up and down! i hold you totally responsible if it goes wrong ;)

you'll be suprised how strong they are. you can also put something in there to stop going too far

I have reset a 135mm MTB frame (steel obviously) to 120mm and it worked. Works. Took a fair bit of doing with chunky seatstays, beefy brake brace and 26" geometry, but got there in the end.

Aye - definitely doable. My Orbit Photon was cold-set from 135 to 120. Mosquito did it for me as part of building the bike up from frame, forks and previous bike.

Any shop with a frame alingment tool should beable to sort you out.

Haha, its called a straight edge and a metal rule.

And jumping up and down on your rear triangle is pretty fucking crude, when compared to clamping the B/B shell in a vice and carefully pulling each stay, whilst someone else supports the frame, then check your measurements.