Philly Tandem

I'm getting ready to build up a Co-Motion Nor'wester frame that I recently acquired. It has 130mm rear spacing, and I'm thinking about having it respaced to 132.5mm in order to be able to use standard road wheels as well as touring wheels. Most of the time I'll ride it as a sport-tourer, and would run lighter road wheels with 130mm spacing. For tours, though, I'd like to be able to put on a set of touring wheels with 135mm spacing.

So, my question: for those of you with 132.5mm spacing (I think Surly does this on LHT frames?), does the spacing work OK with both sizes? Or is it the worst of both worlds?

For the respacing, I'll have it professionally done by Bilenky here in the Philadelphia area.

sstorkel

I have 132.5mm spacing on my Nashbar touring frame, IIRC. Seems nice, but I wouldn't pay to have it retrofitted to an existing frame. Unless you need disc brake rotors, there's no reason I can see why you shouldn't be able to build a bomb-proof touring wheel around a 130mm hub!

Philly Tandem

I neglected to mention I already have a nice set of touring wheels built around XTR hubs that I'd like to hold onto. But, would also like a set of lighter-weight wheels running 105, Ultegra or even Dura-Ace hubs. That's why I'm thinking of the spacing compromise.

ClemY

I am so old my bikes all had 120mm rear spacing. When I finally gave up on 5 spd freewheels and modernized things, I went to 135mm for my road bikes. I was getting new wheels built up and 135 makes a more balanced wheel. If you have dedicated wheel sets for this new touring bike, why not make them all 135? If you have older 130 hubs, perhaps you could change out the axle and space it for 135.

Philly Tandem

Thanks for the thoughts so far: I'm aware of the pros/cons of different hub spacings and am not really looking for advice on what type of wheels to go with. I'm mainly interested in feedback from people that actually own bikes with the 132.5 spacing and to hear how it works in the real world.

Thanks!

TonyS

I have the Nashbar touring as well and it works great with 130mm hubs after 600 or so miles (just finished building it not too long ago)

Monoborracho

I have two sets of wheels for my Trek 520. I have a set of XT hubs with 36 spokes for touring. And I have a set of 32 spoke Ultegra 6600 spaced out to 135mm and redished, which makes them more symmetrical.
You can, and I have, run either of those in a 132.5 spaced Fuji Absolute which I formerly owned. I spent a week on TRIRI using the Ultegra hubs. No probelm.

sstorkel

Keep in mind: a 5mm difference in dropout spacing isn't that much. Before you pay a shop to cold set the frame, I'd try giving the seat stays a slight outward tug as you drop the frame onto the rear wheel. You only need to spread the dropouts by about 0.1in on each side in order for the wider hub to fit...

Pedaleur

It's the cross check, not the LHT, that has 132.5 -- not that you're buying a new frame, but just to clear that up.

I have a cross check that I run only 130 wheels on (my touring wheels are Shimano 105 hubs). You either have to unscrew the quick release a bit more, or squeeze the drop outs just right as you put the wheel in. A bit of a pain, but less so than dealing with the semi-horizontal drop outs.

Never tried to put a 135 in. But in the grand scheme of things, it really isn't that big of a deal.

Frankly, if you're only doing occasional touring, I wouldn't even bother to spread them. Try putting the wheel in as it is and see how hard it is. I don't think it is an issue, and I seem to recall Sheldon Brown writing the same.

positron

As others said: respace to 135 and +spacers/redish the ultegra wheel to match.

Ive spread a frame 130-135 to use a particular wheelset, and its only a bit of a hassle when you have to spread the frame to get the wheel in... but better to have the wheels and frame match IMO- I would spec everything to 135.

Pedaleur

After reading positron's response, I dug up Sheldon Brown's take. He's not quite as care-free about it as I suggested, but not totally against the idea. He also gives instructions on doing it yourself (with suitable warnings that you can really screw things up).

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

Philly Tandem

Ah, the Cross Check, right! Not the LHT. Thanks.

Yes, I've read Sheldon's advice, which is one of the reasons I'm thinking about having it cold-set professionally should I go that route. It's a nice frame and I'm doing a good build, so I want to do it correctly even if it costs a few bucks.

On an older Santana tandem I used to own I ran a 145mm-spaced rear wheel on the 140mm-spaced frame. It worked, but was always a pain to get the wheel in/out of the dropouts. That experience has colored how I'm looking at this frame.

TonyS

To the OP: If you have 132.5mm spacing, you don't need to see Sheldon's page or have anyone do anything to your frame. It is meant to work unmodified with either 130 or 135mm hubs. So please don't go bending your frame yourself or wasting money to have someone else do it for you.

Philly Tandem

@TonyS. My frame is currently spaced at 130mm as built, not 132.5. I'm asking folks who have 132.5mm spacing to let me know how well it works for them.

TonyS

Right, just some of the advice was aimed at your current frame and I didn't want you thinking you'd have to spread the new frame if you got a 132.5mm frame.

Anyway, as I said, I love mine.

illwafer

this. should be no big deal if steel.

positron

The frame isn't the concern,
the increased number of broken axles on the rear hub might be...

sstorkel

Doubt it. When I TIG-welded my mountain/commuter bike frame a couple of years ago the final welds sucked the rear dropouts closer together than I expected. The fit is definitely tighter than 132.5mm, but a 135mm hub stills fits without too much trouble. It didn't seem worthwhile to bother cold-setting the frame, so I just left it. Hasn't been a problem so far and, honestly, I'm not sure how it could ever be a problem. What would cause the axle to fail?

Aquakitty

...my take is you are a "perfectionist" and the thought of having 132.5's on your 130 frame is bugging you. Getting it cold set as you say is a total waste of money IMO.

benajah

Its currently 130mm, he is talking about having it respaced to 132.5mm.

ploeg

The only potential issue would be if the axle alignment is off. If the axle is seated properly in the dropout, and the axle is parallel with the ground and otherwise aligned properly, the axle is OK. And if you're not cold setting the frame to get the wheel in there, the dropouts should spread equally and be symmetric and everything should be fine, at least as far as the axle is concerned.

benajah

Ive got a cross check with the 132.5 spacing. It is just like anything intended to be multi purpose, works fine both ways but not perfect for either. I run both hub width wheels in it and it works fine.

positron

Axles on (especially freewheel) hubs can in theory suffer more breaks due to non parallel clamping surfaces of spread dropouts... Im not saying this will happen, just that it might. The frame will almost certainly be fine, but axles do break, and this has been suggested as one reason it might happen. On a heavily loaded bike, I would consider it...

from Sheldon:
Spreading the frame will cause a slight change in the angles of the fork ends, so they will no longer be exactly parallel to one another (assuming they started that way.) For higher-quality frames with forged fork ends, this can theoretically lead to problems if the fork ends aren't re-aligned. In the case of older/cheaper frames with thin, stamped dropouts, the dropouts are flexible enough that it's not a problem.




whats all this talk of cold setting being a waste of money??? last time i checked it was free and easy to do...

ploeg

The author of the original post would have it done professionally by Bilenky.

In the next paragraph in the page that you reference, SB says:

Moderate spacing changes make only small changes in the fork-end angles. For instance, spreading a 120 mm frame to 126 mm only changes the angle by half a degree. Spreading a 126 mm frame to 130 only changes the angle by one-third of a degree.

At maximum, we're going from 130mm to 135mm, which changes the angle by one third of a degree. It's not a problem.

positron

thats fair. im just saying i have seen a few broken axles (on freewheels in the shop, back when).

I still dont know why one (the OP) wouldnt cold set the frame (themselves) to 135 and set up both wheels to match... if nothing more than to not have the hassle of squeezing the 135 wheel in during flats etc.