Track ends - newbie question - Craig David

I'm not clear why track ends are seen as desirable.

Obviously vertical drop outs which give no chain adjustment are no good without a derailleur, but ordinary foward opening road ends which were fitted to the vast majority of steel frames until fairly recently are fine to use with single speed - fixed or free.
This type of end was invented for use with single gear and was seen as an advance over 'roadster' rear ends which were the same shape as track ends but normally used with chain adjusters. The benefits of the forward opening ends were (and still are):

1. Easy rear wheel removal. The chain drops out on the wheel and can be left on the front sprocket, also, if there is a back mudguard it can be left in place.
   
2. If a double sided hub is used and the wheel is turned to use a different size sprocket so the wheel is in a different position in the slot, the sloping angle of the ends will cause the rim to remain in line with the rear brake blocks - this is not the case with track ends which are normally mounted horizontally. Just think of those pre-war Tour riders turning their wheels at the top and bottom of mountains!
   
   

Rotrax's price may well include a respray - personally, I've given up worrying about paint on frames for everday use and if I had to do a repair of this type I'd just wire brush the joint and give it a couple of coats of red oxide.

Just a final note on d.i.y. frame repairs. Silver solder is much easier to use than brass and nearly as strong - possibly stronger, because there's no risk of overheating the steel tubing. The extra cost of the silver is significant in the cost of a whole frame, but not when making a repair of this type.