Thanks for the advice, guys, but you obviously didn't read my description of the situation. It's not a complete bike; it's just a frameset with nothing on it, except maybe the front wheel. There's no chain, no derailleur, et cetera. Since I only have two hands, I can't spread the dropouts and simultaneously lift the wheel in. And I'm not the slightest bit interested in how far other people are able to flex the frames of other bikes, as this is not at all relevant. I don't doubt that you're able to spread the dropouts of the frames in question as you describe. It would be nice if you would give me the same courtesy of accepting the truth of my statement that I have tried the same thing on the frame in question, and I cannot accomplish the feat.
Before leaning on the frame with all my weight to jam the wheel in the dropouts, I tried spreading it with my hands and lowering it onto the wheel, but my fingers can only get so close to the dropouts with the wheel in there, and whether I grab the seatstays or the chainstays, I can't spread it far enough (if I grab it right at the dropouts, I can, but that's not at all useful). I tried several methods, and the only one that resulted in a wheel all the way in both dropouts was leaning on the frame with most of my weight. Even after this scraped off virtually all the paint on the forward edge of the inside surfaces of the dropouts, this was still the only thing that worked. As for how big 1.5mm is, I know full well. As I wrote before, I measured the space between the dropouts with calipers. Lest I sound too ungrateful, I do appreciate that you guys are (more or less) trying to be helpful. I just want you all to understand that how easy something *should* be in theory -- or even in your own experience -- is not relevant. What is relevant in this case is *my* experience with *this* frame. And in this case, I paid $2000 for a frame with 135mm dropouts, and I got one with 132mm dropouts, which I would have been willing to put up with if I could have been confident that I could get the wheel in and out of on the road without risking hurting myself. Fortunately for me, when I discussed the matter with the very excellent people at Rivendell, they decided to replace the frame with one that has the correct dimensions. I am grateful, although I have misgivings about how much this is costing them; I would have much prefered it if we could have found a less expensive way to solve the problem (none of the local bike shops seem to be confident that they can spread and align the dropouts on a steel frame). Alas, this was not to be. Now, since I am not a three-armed Arnold Swarzenegger, I would appreciate it if people would stop telling me what I "should" be able to accomplish. --MR On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 6:50 PM, Jim M. <mather...@gmail.com> wrote: > Agreed. You should stand behind the bike to spread the dropouts and pull the > wheel up into them. I put a 130 in 126, and a 126 in a 122 all the time. You > won't damage the frame -- another benefit of steel. > > jim > > > On Wednesday, September 19, 2012 4:40:47 PM UTC-7, ttoshi wrote: >> >> You don't put the wheel on the frame by pushing down on it with your >> weight. You need to spread the frame with your hands and then slide >> the wheel in. >> >> 3 mm means you just need to spread the frame by 1.5 mm on each side. >> It shouldn't require much force. You can see this by flexing the frame >> with your hands (with no wheel). Check with a ruler to see how small >> 1.5 mm is. >> >> The wheel may not go on the drive side too easily because your rear >> derailer (RD) is not aligned properly. Put your RD in the smallest >> cog in the rear cassette and put the chain onto the smallest cog >> before you try to slide it into the dropouts. If you don't do this >> already, then it's a great method for fixing flats. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
