jhodgski

Hiya,

I'm trying to fit a Weinmann 700C 16x622 rear wheel from an old 25" Raleigh Team 501 (Reynolds 501) bike to a 65cm Dawes Galaxy (Reynolds 531ST).

The problem is that it's not a snug fit as there is about a 3mm gap on the insides of the frame. Photos here:

3mm gap on left - mobilewebexpert.co.uk/bike/left.jpg
3mm gap on right - mobilewebexpert.co.uk/bike/right.jpg
The thread protrudes by 6mm on each side of the wheel but, due to the 3mm gaps, only 3mm of thread makes contact with the frame on each side. (The frame thickness is 6mm.) - mobilewebexpert.co.uk/bike/off.jpg

I expect it's not a good idea to tighten up as is, thereby forcing/flexing the rear forks inwards, so does anyone know what I'd need to make this wheel fit?

The gap between my rear forks is 131mm. So does that correspond to a particular size/type for whatever part I need?

Thank you in advance,
James

PS - Longer term, I am better going for a wider/stronger hub - esp. as I'll be carry a fair bit of weight?

blamester

This maybe the problem.
So the wheel is likely 126mm old and the frame is 130mm roughly. Have you tried tightening down the skewer to see if it will work which it might. Plenty of people squeeze a 130mm wheel into a 126mm frame and it works.
Yours is just the opposite.
You can respace axle and make it work that way.
Or a larger spacer on the nds side and redish the wheel which actually makes a stronger wheel. I have done this in the past and it worked fine.

Bob the Mech

The Galaxy has a rear fork spacing of 131mm? This also know as the Over Lock Nut Dimension (OLND). Have you meaured the OLND of the Raleigh Team rear end as well. You may well find this to be 126mm, hence the 3mm gap either side when fitting the Weinmann 700C rear wheel into the Galaxy rear. Sometime during the late 1980s 126mm spacing fell out of use as 7 speed huds started to appear. This new standard required a wider hub body to accommodate the wider 7 speed cassette cluster, thus 130mm OLND spacing was born. So the either the Dawes Galaxy post dates the Raleigh Team hence the older wheel won't fit. Or the other senario is that the Galaxy has had it's rear drop outs 'spread' at some point to accomodate 130mm spacing if it's the same era as the Raleigh Team.

Steel frames have a certain amount of flexibility and can be persuaded to to clap down on to the over lock nuts of the Weinmann wheel with no real issue. You can also a add washers under the lock nuts on the left and rigth side axle on the Weinmann wheel to make up the total 6mm short fall. But this will reduce the contact area of the axle that sits in the dropout arch. Or replace the axle with a longer one suited to the 130mm standard. This does mean stripping down the hub axles assembly and still adding new spacing washers to make up that 6mm short fall. Or compressing the rear end of the Gallaxy to fit the 126mm standard (threaded bar, large washers, nuts on either side and a wrench / spanner. OR...just get a new wheel that fits off the shelf....

zebede

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

jhodgski

Thanks for the replies.

Don't feel happy tightening it up as that would put extra stress on the (old) frame, so I'm going to buy a new rear axle. Looks like I need a 145mm hollow axle. And I should be able to use the nuts/washers off my old axle to make up the 3mm on either side.

Cheers!

Crankycrank

You've found the best solution. I would worry less about stressing the frame than the axle though. Old 126mm freewheel hubs are more prone to break axles than cassette hubs. Trying to squeeze the frame to fit puts extra stress on the axle causing the axle to want to bow and more likely to break. Best to just add spacers for a proper fit and for an extra safety measure have the dropout alignment checked to make sure there is no extra bending stress on the axle.

jhodgski

Cheers for that. I found an article on dropout alignment here: parktool.com/blog/repair-help/dropout-alignment