Originally Posted by
retroshifter
My front dropout has been modified I think to allow for normal reach brakes.
The rear also uses normal reach, not sure if that was factory or if the rear brake brace was lowered, again really crude bracing and faded paint.
The dropout does not look as though it was modified for shorter-reach brakes, instead the slot looks as though was widened to allow a bigger axle to fit - though the normal width of a forged dropout should be enough for a normal qr axle. And you are not going to get the necessary 4mm change from the modification you see. I wonder if the previous owner had one of the Atom tandem front hubs with a 9.5mm axle.
And if so it's been modified the wrong way - the top of the slot, where the axle bears on the frame, has been filed. It's not easy to do this equally each side, so the better approach is to file the down side - when the wheel is inserted it will rest against the unchanged tops of the slots.
For comparison, two pics of serial 455488 (currently a work-in-progress), with a black panel behind the badge; it takes 700c (well, sew-ups) rims with Universal 68's no problem:
