Cold-setting frame (126->135) or re-space hub?

Hi,

I've checked existing threads and most here seem to be about getting track hubs (120mm) into road frames (130mm).

This post is about getting a 135mm hub into a 126mm single speed frame.

Does anyone know / recommend anyone or any workshop that would be happy to re-space a reynolds 520 frame to 135mm? London preferred.

Here's the back story:

I'm converting an OTP Ridgeback Solo into a touring bike for the missus. The frame is Reynolds 520. It's a lovely little bike. My plan was to fit an Alfine 8 speed; the OLN is 135mm. The track dropouts on the Solo are specified at 130mm so I'd hoped to be able to just ping em open.

The measurement on my frame however is about 126mm and pinging the dropouts open is a non-starter.

So would anyone here who has experience of cold-setting be able to help me re-space the frame? Or can anyone recommend a workshop that has experience of this kind of thing? London preferred. I'm going to call round the usual suspects but just in case someone can make a recommendation...

Alternately I can re-space the hub, but this involves some pretty hefty and non-reversible modifications. But given that cold-setting is a fairly dramatic procedure would this be my preferred option?

Any help appreciated -

Howard

i haven't heard of anyone cold-setting a frame to a 135mm hub from a 126mm, but a friend got his bike cold-set at London Fields Cycles to 120, so they could be your best bet.

have you checked whether the hubs have spacers inside them which you could take out?

Howard, You've presumably seen this page, http://hubstripping.wordpress.com/alfine-shimano/ which shows you are not the only one!

Try to reduce the spacers as far as you can, re-dish the wheel if required, and cold set the frame the Sheldon Brown way, with a bit of 2x4 timber and a vernier gauge, to the width required by your axle.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html

Cold setting is not scary if you do it carefully (it needs much less force than you would imagine)
although there are plenty of people who would disagree. I've only done it once, but wondered what all the fuss was about afterwards.

^ what he said^

cold setting is no biggy, 5mm each side is quite a lot for that gauge steel though. the longer the wood the better, and you'll have to bend it quite a way to get the stays to relax 5mm further out. definitely respace the hub as slim as pos 1st! rest your wood where the stays meet, cushioned with a small towel, (i.e. not levering against the dropouts) this makes dropout alignment really easy as you'll be tweaking them both inwards just a tad, (big adjustable spanner and careful eyeballing does the job)

Thanks for the replies. This post describes why re-spacing the alfine is PITA, but the headline is that the axle beneath the locknuts is of large diameter to that of the axle beyond it - so if you reduce the size of the locknuts you'll have to grind down the axle too, as well as re-dish the wheel. Uughghh.

Taking a piece of 2*4 to the frame sounds easy by comparison. I think if it went up to 132 you could ping the rest open to get the hub in. That's only 3 mm each side.

Or i could give up on the project and buy a roadrat frame instead. hmmm.

I'll ring round some workshops tomorrow and see what they say.

Update: Condor will have a look at the frame next week and see if they can space it out to 135 or 132. £35. Sounds good to me.

definitely space to 135. setting to 132 then stretching the hub in means there's a constant strain on the stays and the brazes. its 10 times safer to set to the correct width so you're riding with the frame relaxed rather than the steel being under constant under tension.