# Converting 126mm to 130mm rear spacing



## moguidry (Jan 2, 2003)

Is this safe for a steel frame(to bend or stretch the stays out)? What tools are involved? Can any bike shop do it, or should it only be trusted to the most advanced shops? Any thoughts would be great.
thanks


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## fmw (Sep 28, 2005)

Yes it can be done. Most shops don't want to because the process is not without some risk. It involves bending the frame and ending up with the dropouts still straight and properly aligned. I'm sure none of the shops in our area would do it. In fact, only one is willing to face BB shells and head tubes. The others are even afraid of that. I'm almost ready to buy the facing tools myself.

My feeling is that, if you have a really cool classic frame, then it's worth building it up as a classic with vintage parts or at least vintage type mechanisms. If you want a modern bike, you're better off starting with a modern frame. I'm working on a modern classic myself at the moment. It is actually a modern frame (Basso Gap) but is partially lugged steel with classic lines and geometry. It even has a steel fork. When I'm done, I'll have the look and feel of a classic steel Italian road bike with the convenience and performance of modern Ergopower shifters and a freehub rear wheel with 10 speed cassette. That's the approach I took.


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## daneil (Jun 25, 2002)

*Some spacing advice*



moguidry said:


> Is this safe for a steel frame(to bend or stretch the stays out)? What tools are involved? Can any bike shop do it, or should it only be trusted to the most advanced shops? Any thoughts would be great.
> thanks



As it's been said, yes it can certainly be done. But it's not nearly as perilous as the previous poster makes it out to be. Heck, TT just cold set (another term for re-spacing the rear dropouts) a Ti frame to 135 to accomidate a CX disc hub.

To steal a little from Sheldon Brown's site:
_*Do You Need To Permanently Spread Your Frame?

Ideally, the frame spacing should exactly match the hub spacing. This makes for eaasiest wheel replacement. In practice, however, there's a fair amount of latitude in fit. In fact, when the first 130 mm 8-speed hubs were introduced, they had locknuts with beveled sides, so that you could "spring" apart the rear triangle of a frame made for the then-standard 126 mm spacing.

In general, you can safely go up one size in spacing this way, just springing the frame apart. I can't give you an absolute guarantee that this won't cause damage, but the odds are very much in your favor.

If, however, you want to do it right, and your frame is steel, cold setting is the better way to go.

If you're going more than one size, say from 120 to 130, or from 126 to 135, you should definitely cold set the frame.*_

You also might want to recheck the spacing as it stands. For a little while as the standard was shifting (no pun intended) from 126-130 a few manufacturer built bikes with 128 spacing to easily accomidate both hub widths. There's a chance that your frame might be one of these. 

To put it in perspective, I just started building up a mid-late 80's Raleigh and had no problem at all installing a new 130mm rear hub.

BTW here's a link to Sheldon's site with a how-to on cold-setting:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

I agree. Don't over think it. I've done it many times with steel frames. Take a 130mm spaced wheel and shove it there...It really isn't that hard. Some frames work better than others but I've done it with at least a dozen bikes with no problems at all.


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## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

After "Cold Setting" the frame, you just might want to borrow a "drop out aligning tool" to check the drop outs. As long as you're doing that, you might as well use a "hanger aligning tool", also.


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## Cory (Jan 29, 2004)

*I'm w/Dave--just shove it in there.*

I've done it on at least two bikes that I can recall, and also gone the other way, using a 126mm wheel on a bike with 130 spacing (emergency replacement on a trip). No problems in at least a few thousand miles. Glad I had a friction option on the barcons, though.


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## wilier (Mar 16, 2002)

*I've done both methods*



moguidry said:


> Is this safe for a steel frame(to bend or stretch the stays out)? What tools are involved? Can any bike shop do it, or should it only be trusted to the most advanced shops? Any thoughts would be great.
> thanks


One being shove the wheel in there and 2 being having the frame re-spaced.

My recommendation is do not re-space the frame yourself. Also do not have a shop do it. Find yourself a custom frame shop that works with steel (or used to) and have them do it.

Until you have the time/money for that, just shove the wheel in there. Short term I can't imagine any problems with that.


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## Spinfinity (Feb 3, 2004)

*Depends on who's riding the bike.*

I have no problem putting the 130 axle into 126 dropouts. My wife had a pretty tough time holding the stays open while pulling the axle into the horizontal dropouts so we had hers spread when we got the frame repainted. It only cost $40.00 as part of the repainting, so it seemed worth it to us. In any case it's not a big deal either way.


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