Put a 130 hub in a 135 frame? Steel.
 

I'm probably going to need to temporarily pare down my bikes for a short term contract.

I got to thinking about the gravel bike as a road bike.

It's an older steel CX bike with Canti's and 135mm spacing.

I took a set of road wheels and tightened it up. It works and the wheel is centered. I have a bar end shifter so I switched to friction, and it smoothly sailed through the Campy cassette. I'd be pretty limited with gears, since I have 12-30 and 12-25 cassettes for the road wheels, and the gravel bike is 40t 1x.

Still this could allow me to go on casual road rides by only bringing spare wheels. If I need to point up a mountain, hopefully it's a dirt road and I can put on my other wheels with a much wider cassette.

I sort of would like to maybe meet in the middle though, like 1.5 or 2 mm spacers on each side. I can't put spacers under the locknut, they'd have to be outside due to the construction of my hubs.

Is this a worthwhile endeavor?

So you can’t add a 2mm or so spacer to just the NDS? If you could and had enough spoke threads to re-dish the wheel you would end up with a stronger wheel.

John

Neither of my road wheels have threaded axles or cup and cone. Early aughts Campagnolo and somewhat newer Stan's 3.30ti. I could redish the Campy wheels no prob, but I'd be putting these back on the road bike in 3-6 months. And the spacer would still have to be loose on the outside of the locknut.

I wouldn't bother with spacers. Any steel frame can handle a little flex like that. For years, everyone road 130 mm wheels in frams that wanted 126, and it worked fine. Shimano made their 8 speed Dura Ace hubs with rounded axle nuts to help spread the frame.

2.5 mm deflection on each side just makes getting the wheel skewer tight a little bit more of a hassle. Beyond that issue, there is no issue.

I thought my steel frame could handle being spread from 130 to 135, and I didn't need to worry about bending the dropouts so they were vertical. Worked for about 6 years, then the frame broke.

Next I swapped a 135 wheel into a 130 frame, without spreading the frame. Worked one or two years, until the dropout cracked.

Slow learner, but I can learn. Now I try to match hub width to frame width.

Do you suppose stretching it vs compression makes a difference?

Are there any end cap conversions for your hub. I’m not well versed on what conversions are available?

John

Thinking about it, I suspect what did them both in was the bending mode. The dropout and chainstay system deformed when the wheel was installed and the quick release tightened in both instances. Chainstay gave first on the first bike, dropout cracked first on the second.

(Disclaimer: I'm not an engineer, but I played one on Railroad Tycoon.)

There is a $7.50 spacer on Amazon that would work. Dishing the Campy wheel, with the open pro's, would be easy enough. Then I wouldn't have to adjust the derailleur, I could even leave it friction for both wheels if I wanted.

Looking at both Amazon and eBay, it looks like 2 months to get it. So even if I went this route, I'm not patient enough to wait.