noobinsf 

In my experience, corks aren't compliant enough to allow the flexibility a spring would. Once it is compressed, it is pretty rigid, and it needs to be solidly secured to avoid rattles. I still like to use them as fender spacers, but I go in not expecting it to solve the need-to-deflate-to-remove issue.

ThermionicScott 

That's fair! I have other bikes on which I need to deflate a tire to get the wheel out of the bike (if it wasn't already flat), but for this one, I stubbornly made it a goal not to need to. If I lived closer to @gugie, I'd probably send him the frame to replace the dropouts with verticals!

gugie 

I've done it twice. One frame I left the seat stays on. It was a real pain in the a$$ to fit it up properly. Next one I removed the seat stays, brazed in new dropouts, then replaced the seat stays. A lot easier, however it was still a lot of work.

More recently I just hacked off half of the lower portion of the dropouts. Customer wanted the wheel all the way back in the horizontals anyway. That's easily a DIY solution with a hacksaw and file.

gugie 

I've used corks before. They compress enough on marginal cases. The VO Spring Thingie compresses a lot more, but it also rattles a lot, whereas the cork solution doesn't.

Part of my Gugificazione 650b treatment is to remove the brake and chain stay bridges and make new ones to give a good fenderline without spacers and also gt the wheel out without having to deflate. On horiziontal dropouts the chainstay bridge gives a bit more clearance than the brake (now a fender) bridge, but it's typically only noticeable if I point it out. Of course, that only makes sense if you're doing a lot more framework since it requires a repaint/powder coat.

ThermionicScott 

That makes sense -- I don't see much dropout-swapping apart from Yellow Jersey's page, and I can only imagine what a pain it is to line up right.

I have filed small amounts away from the forward lower ends of my horizontal dropouts, but didn't know if it was kosher enough to mention.

gugie 

If you need to remove a lot of dropout to get the wheel in, the derailleur hanger would have to be relocated. Yeah, done that too.


Ignore the dingus in the back.

ehcoplex 

Well, while we're on the subject of dropouts........ No matter how tightly I crank down the QR skewer on the rear axle, if I stand up and hammer up a steep incline the DS pulls forward and the tire rubs the left chainstay (sometimes enough to nearly stop the wheel...). The chromed Simples dropouts seem particularly 'slippery'. Anyone got a clever/easy/cheap solution to this?

ehcoplex 

Have you ever Gugificatiated a PX-10?

ThermionicScott 

Are you sure the axle isn't too long? Make sure that it's not any longer (beyond the locknut) on either side than the dropout is thick. For my bikes, I make sure they are a bit shorter.

gugie 

Not yet. But many others have successfully put 650b x 42 wheels on them, and that's 90% of the battle.

AJI125 

What do the VO skewers and hub locknuts look like? A lot of newer options have smooth faces, while older ones were rough (knurled the right word?) and had more "bite" for this situation. I bumped a rear tire into a seat tube on my Bianchi - test riding it and standing/stomping up a hill with some DT Swiss wheels I had laying around (which had smooth faces). Lucky I caught myself as all of a sudden the rear tire wouldn't move, for some reason I'd popped on some pedals with cages and straps for the test ride.

ehcoplex 

They've got some knurling- at least as much as the original Simplex skewers do, and the VO look to have more surface area that contacts the dropouts. I kinda doubt the Simplex QR can be cranked down as much as the VO, but I'm going to give it a try..... when the snow coming tonight melts.... & the Simplex skewers are definitely cooler looking.

ehcoplex 

Good question- I hadn't checked that.....

....just did- DO is 6+ mm thick and there's about 5mm of axle, so alas that isn't the issue.

ehcoplex 

Doesn't seem like there are a heck of a lot of PX-10 conversions out there, but it definitely works. 650b x 42 with fenders, woo-hoo!
All the braze-on goodies like direct-mount Raids, bottle-cage bosses, seat-stay pump pegs sure would be cool on a PX-10!

nlerner

Another PX-10 option is the 650a conversion!

Bad Lag

You need some elastic cords or paracord retaining straps for your water bottles which are anchored at the base and loop up and around the necks of the bottles to hold them down and in the carrier.

ehcoplex 

The King Iris cages are quite tight and so far I haven't had a problem with the bottles rattling of coming out. That definitely wasn't the case with the V-O Moderniste cages I originally had on there- far too flexible and loose (one of my bottles has some nice dings and road-rash now....)!

52telecaster

Winking owl from Aldi has synthetic corks that are terrific. The wine is 3$/bottle. Go crazy man.

ThermionicScott 

Yeah, I took a Moderniste cage on its maiden voyage last weekend, and it got bent to the side partway through, I think from a point in the ride where I had to shoulder the bike for some portaging. Weight-weenie problems.

52telecaster

That's an excellent looking bike.

ehcoplex 

Yeah, it's a very stylish looking cage, but doesn't seem up for the rough stuff..

Road Fan

I've paid a lot of attention to this on the Witcomb wheels. I shortened the axles (new replacements, due to bent axles) by trial and error. On the NDS stamped dropout I settled on between 1.5 and 2 mm clear space. On the DS there is also a claw to mount the derailleur, so I allowed a full 2.5 mm (dropouts are 3 mm thick). Same values on the front wheel. The front wheel is holding the fork very tightly. It's really not ready to ride, so I can't really tell yet if it's tight enough, but the front wheel QR clamping is very promising. I also think the quality of the QRs is important, in terms of knurls and teeth that bite, and a clamping lever that feels solid. I think the traditional Campagnolo designs are among the most solid, but one of the ones I'm installing is a Joy-tech, and the other is a modern all-steel design, which was nameless on Amazon. But it is holding the front wheel solidly.

ehcoplex 

A bit of follow-up re the slipping axle/QR issue.... I took a dremel to the inside of the original Simplex QR skewer nut and added some slightly deeper 'knurling' cuts which seems to have helped. Still have to really crank the QR down, and haven't been on another serious long, standing-on-the-pedals uphill grind, but so far it holds. Kind of interesting that the way the inside of the nut is shaped, concave with a really pretty thin ring of contact, sort of seems like more surface area would've been a more stable design? Unless maybe less surface area causes it to 'dig in' more...

tiger1964 

I'm curious about how to measure to determine if such wheels fit a frame; I presume you need (a) the overall greatest diameter of the wheel/tire combo from axle centerline to furthest point, and (b) at how many mm from the axle centerline is the widest point on the tire, to clear the chain stays. Is this knowable anywhere?

I have a friend that has long since "gone carbon" but he inherited his father's bike; I have not seen it in many years but I recall it's a full-Campy-except-brakes Raleigh, and I showed him this topic and he might be interested in such a conversion.

ehcoplex 

Yes, it is knowable..... somewhere! Apparently there was a blog post somewhere that had all the info in one place but it's gone now. I found the info I needed in various places and I could swear I wrote it all down somewhere, but now....

A 650B wheel will most definitely fit a frame made for 700c, as the 650B is a smaller diameter. The question is how much extra clearance for wide tires will it give you, and is it enough to be worth it. And what will you need to do as far as brakes. It gets a little more complicated as the width of tire you run will determine where exactly the widest point will be, as well as your overall diameter.

I've got to run now, but I'll see if I can find the numbers..... But I believe I determined that with 650B x 42 tires the widest point was about 303mm from the center of the wheel..... And I think the outer edge of 700c wheel is more or less where the widest point with a 650bx42 tire will be....