• mdcc, why did old road bikes have horizontal dropouts in the first place?

    There is "folk wisdom" about the perceived utility of horizontal dropouts on bikes which don't need them for chain length adjustment, but really I'm pretty sure they were just a carry over from earlier single speed machines which took a long time to die out, even after the derailleur hanger got integrated into the right dropout. Over the years, bicycle engineers have applied themselves with tremendous zeal to certain areas of design, while studiously ignoring other things which are assumed to be either right or necessary just because they have been ever thus.

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