Rocky Gravol

And what are the advantage, disadvantages?

Scooper

Generally, stamped dropouts are flat plate steel and forged dropouts have rounded edges and a raised surface for axle clamping (nuts or quick-release). Forged dropouts are generally preferable as they are typically stronger and more resistant to bending.

Forged:



Stamped:

noglider 

Close the thread now. @Scooper's answer is accurate and complete.

jimmuller 

Forged DOs usually come with an integrated RD hanger. Stamped DOs usually do not and so require a claw. To accommodate the thickness of the claw stamped DOs are usually thinner. Since the claw goes on the DS, this sometimes requires the axle be offset a few mm's to the right. This is all just quibbling but it's just another way to see at a glance which DOs a bike has.

Scooper

Excellent points, Jim, but I've seen stamped dropouts with integral hangers (like the Campy 1010/1) as well as forged dropouts with claw hangers. Exceptions, to be sure, but they exist.

Chombi

In the early 80's Peugeot used an interesting dropout design that kinda mimics a forged dropout, complete with integrated RD hanger and cut out window.
It's seen on this article written about a restoration job on the Centennial model (scroll down towards the bottom of the page):
1982 Peugeot Centennial Edition (PH12) | The Simplicity of Vintage Cycles
(I think the article was written by a forum member, by the way, and I think I contributed to it by sending him the shown CLB lever hoods. He sure did a fantastic job restoring and getting the bike back on the road!)
The dropout fooled many people to think that it was a more expensive forged item. A quite nice looking, cost effective touch on their lower model bikes, IMO..... Haven't noticed anything similar on other brand bikes....

Rocky Gravol

Thanks.
I've been curious, and I saw that it had come up in another thread
about Peugeots.


Stamped Peugeot UO 10




forged Peugeot PKN10

YouthxCrew

Actually, Motobecane used the same dropouts on all their models that didn't have forged dropouts. Some of the late 80's Schwinns had similar stamped dropouts made to look forged with integral derailleur hangers and stainless steel dropout faces/chromed dropout faces.

I also have a Fuji with forged dropouts and stock claw.

shoota 

And most importantly forged looks a bajillion times better.

Scooper

Yes; that too.

verktyg 

Scooper got it!

If you've ever been out in the cold wind and rain and had to fix a flat rear tire and when you remove the wheel the rear derailleur falls out of the dropout and the wet, dirty, greasy chain twists around the freewheel and you try to change the tube with wet, dirty, greasy hands, then you'll appreciate the advantages of a dropout with an integral derailleur hanger... Sounds like a Grateful Dead song!

Stamped dropouts were usually the sign of a cheap entry level bike, especially with "claw" style derailleur attachments.

But... there are a lot of better quality British bikes with stamped dropouts or forged dropouts without a derailleur hanger. The logic so I'm told was it allowed the owner to use a single speed or fixed gear wheel, an internal gear hub like a Sturmey Archer or a derailleur with a claw hanger (see above lament).

Also, way BITD before there were any kind of standards for integral derailleur hangers most bikes came with stamped steel dropouts.

In the 80s some lower end models started coming with stamped steel dropouts with integral hangers.

Here's a Flickr album that I threw together that shows some differences in the brands of forged dropouts from the 60s and 70s.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/282672...57624014562729

Flickr keeps changing their format so you will have to click on the pictures to read the explanations...

verktyg

Chas.

John E

Lots of exceptions all around. All three of my Capos, including the top-of-the-line Siegers, have ornate stamped dropouts and integral derailleur tabs. The Siegers have a clever U-shaped braze-on that provides the appearance and function of a forged dropout.

My newly-acquired Carlton has thick Cyclo dropouts which I just proved to myself are made of mild steel, rather than forged. (This is a "before" picture. I was able to straighten the lower arm of the drive side drop out very easily in my bench vise.)

oneclick 

Stamped - constant thickness; forged - raised axle (and possibly mech mount) area.
Stamped - square edges; forged - rounded edges.

Better/worse? All is compromise.

Hangers are better for derailleur mechs; claw lets you use anything.
Forged stiffer and likely stronger, but may break rather then bend; stamped ones can be bent back.

KenNC

To offer some contrasts, here is a forged Simplex dropout, WITHOUT integral hanger, that is on an early 70s Jeunet 630 (the hanger was not cut off, this dropout appears in "The Dancing Chain" book). The Jeunet came with Simplex derailleurs, which I switched to Heuret with a claw. And here is a stamped dropout, with integral hanger, that came on a 1985 Peugeot PX80. The Peugeot came with a Simplex derailleur, but the hanger looks ready to receive a Suntour or Shimano, so I will probably switch that in, and save the Simplex derailleur for a bike that comes with a Simplex-only hanger:

Murray Missile 

Lower end Fujis have similar "embossed" stamped dropouts, they look like forged DO's at a casual glance. In my early days of vintage bikes when I though25 In. frames were harder to find than they in fact are I grabbed a clean 1983 Fuji Espree thinking it would be a good platform for upgrading with components from a wrecked bike I got from a friend because it had what I thought were forged dropouts. Imagine my disappointment when I popped the rear wheel off and discovered my error. Lesson learned, all is not as it appears.... and Fujis and Schwinns with tall frames are not hard to find.

John E

Yes, mine fooled me initially, which is why I panicked a bit when I discovered how bent the drive side unit was. Fortunately for me, it was stamped, rather than forged, which enabled me to cold set it back into alignment in my bench vise. Given that it had been rotated a few degrees clockwise / forward and that its jaw had been spread, I speculated on my "calling Carlton experts" thread that some previous owner had jammed a derailleur into the rear wheel. Anyway, it seems none the worse for wear, and my restoration project continues.