Help with rear wheel spacing

im after buying a rear fixed wheel for my new bike, i want to buy a halo aerotrack wheel, and they come in 120mm and 130mm, ive mesured the inside of my rear drops and the spacing is 126mm (6 speed road cassette). im not sure which to buy and will i have to either bend the frame to make it wider or use spacers to align the wheel and make it fit?

any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

when they say 120mm is that the overal width of the axel or the hub? if the axel is longer im guessing it would be simpler to add two 3mm spacers to either side?

Personally I would buy the 120mm wheel and buy some 3mm spacers from VeloSolo (almost at bottom of page).

http://www.velosolo.co.uk/shoptrack.html

I'm running a 120 mm track hub in a 126 mm spaced frame. Like Sam says, get some spacers and use them to align the wheel. As you've already identified, you'll need 3 mm either side to get the chainline right.

I stuffed a 130mm axle inside my 126mm frame. At first I didn't want to do it, but was quickly persuaded as it's only 2mm on each side, so the effect on the frame is minimal. A bit of a pain in the arse getting in and out though.

I stuffed a 130mm axle inside my 126mm frame. At first I didn't want to do it, but was quickly persuaded as it's only 2mm on each side, so the effect on the frame is minimal. A bit of a pain in the arse getting in and out though.

"A bit of a pain in the arse getting it in though".............. Ohhh errrr matron.

If you buy a track frame at some point in the future then it will be spaced at 120mm.
So buy the 120mm hub now, rather than the 130mm so that it will fit in future.

If you want a cheaper option than velosolo, you can use M10 washers for about 70p from Wickies

^

That is what I did :D

And it also means you can bodge your chainline slightly if you need to. For example putting 2 washers on drive-side axle and 4 non-drive side to bring the chainline out a bit.

^

If there is one thing we do well in Bournemouth it is bodging.

I have a planet x team bike but since i purchased it off ebay a while ago have been unable to fit the rear wheel properly without prising open the dropouts really hard, even purchased new wheels. Any ideas?

Have you measured the width of the dropouts?

and.. le merge..

yes, but i thought these were standardised? measured the dropouts as per the image and they measure 120mm, is that a normal size for a road bike? been struggling for a long time to get a wheel to fit...

No, that's normal size for a track bike. The road bike standard is 130 mm. What wheel are you trying to fit to it?

it's not a track bike though, it's a road bike

A modern aluminium road frame with 120 mm rear spacing? Bin it.

sound damaged? surely it would have cracked?

Probably will do eventually and it may result in a big crash. When it was made, it would have been 130mm spacing. Since then it has got messed up. You can't cold set an alloy frame like you can with steel. Like Andy said - it's dead.

Yeah I phoned up Planet X and they said something similar. Guess I'm in the hunt for a new frame then that I can transfer the components from. Slightly off topic now, but could I switch everything onto a steel Ribble Audax? O and thanks for your help.

could I switch everything onto a steel Ribble Audax?

You might need a new front mech or clamp as the steel frame will probably want something skinnier. Maybe also a different stem / handlebar setup unless the steel takes ahead. Seatpost might be different size. The rest should be alright.

Thanks for that advice, will keep an eye out for a nice steel frame.

The front mech I bought recently came with a shim to fit to my steel frame, so you should be able to find a shim for it no problem.