dropout spacing on a 6 speed Cannondale?

Hi, Anyone know what the dropout spacing is on a six speed Cannondale? 120mm? There isn't anyway to
re-space these aluminum frames, is there?

Thanks in advance! Lyle

"res09c5t" <res09c5t@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:<_Epua.6704$Zb5.4473@nwrddc02.gnilink.net>...
> Hi, Anyone know what the dropout spacing is on a six speed Cannondale? 120mm? There isn't anyway
> to re-space these aluminum frames, is there?
>
> Thanks in advance! Lyle

126mm spacing. No way can you respace. You're stuck with 6 or 7 speeds.

On Thu, 8 May 2003, Bill K. wrote:

> "res09c5t" <res09c5t@verizon.net> wrote in message
> news:<_Epua.6704$Zb5.4473@nwrddc02.gnilink.net>...
> > Hi, Anyone know what the dropout spacing is on a six speed Cannondale? 120mm? There isn't anyway
> > to re-space these aluminum frames, is there?
> >
> > Thanks in advance! Lyle
>
> 126mm spacing. No way can you respace. You're stuck with 6 or 7 speeds.
>
Or 8 speeds with a 9 speed spaced cassette shifting with a nine speed shifter or a friction shifter.
That worked very well for me using the top seven cogs cogs of an 11-32 nine speed cassette and a 12
cog from a 12-25 seven speed cassette.

Mark <http://www.cs.unca.edu/~boyd/bicycling.html

It would be really hard to respace an aluminum frame without cracking a weld, but with the right
combination of spacers including a thingie to straddle the opposing chain/seat stay, a trained
pressman could do it. He'd block the stay near a weld, then press outwards near the frame diamond,
say an inch or two from the weld. Then he'd flip it, and block from the inside......

Oh, hell, call it impossible and be done with it.

Yours,

Doug Goncz, Replikon Research, Seven Corners, VA http://users.aol.com/DGoncz If a computer won't do
what needs to be done, lie to it. Don't try this trick on people.

Doug Goncz <dgoncz@aol.com> wrote:
> It would be really hard to respace an aluminum frame without cracking a weld, but with the right
> combination of spacers including a thingie to straddle the opposing chain/seat stay, a trained
> pressman could do it. He'd block the stay near a weld, then press outwards near the frame diamond,
> say an inch or two from the weld. Then he'd flip it, and block from the inside......

> Oh, hell, call it impossible and be done with it.

To respace a steel frame, you have to pull the dropouts farther apart than the desired spacing,
since they spring back. Quite a bit farther actually. Basically you have to take the stays past the
plastic yield point. It is quite likely that doing that to a welded aluminum frame would damage it,
probably eventually cracking a weld at the chainstay or seatstay bridge. I'd expect you'd also have
undone the benefits of the heat treating. It would also be really difficult on an old Cannondale as
they had very fat stays.

On the other hand, if you just take a 130mm wheel and spring the dropouts just far enough apart to
get the wheel in there, you're only moving the stays a tiny amount and not plastically deforming
them. I bet that this does not run much risk of damaging the frame. I have done this and it seemed
to work, although it's now running 126mm since I had a spare 7s wheel. Sheldon has said that he's
done this without long-term problems. Spring the frame, but don't cold set.

Benjamin Weiner wrote:
>Doug Goncz <dgoncz@aol.com> wrote:
>> It would be really hard to respace an aluminum frame without cracking a weld, but with the right
>> combination of spacers including a thingie to straddle the opposing chain/seat stay, a trained
>> pressman could do it. He'd block the stay near a weld, then press outwards near the frame
>> diamond, say an inch or two from the weld. Then he'd flip it, and block from the inside......
>
>> Oh, hell, call it impossible and be done with it.
>
>To respace a steel frame, you have to pull the dropouts farther apart than the desired spacing,
>since they spring back. Quite a bit farther actually. Basically you have to take the stays past the
>plastic yield point. It is quite likely that doing that to a welded aluminum frame would damage it,
>probably eventually cracking a weld at the chainstay or seatstay bridge. I'd expect you'd also have
>undone the benefits of the heat treating. It would also be really difficult on an old Cannondale as
>they had very fat stays.
>
>On the other hand, if you just take a 130mm wheel and spring the dropouts just far enough apart to
>get the wheel in there, you're only moving the stays a tiny amount and not plastically deforming
>them. I bet that this does not run much risk of damaging the frame. I have done this and it seemed
>to work, although it's now running 126mm since I had a spare 7s wheel. Sheldon has said that he's
>done this without long-term problems. Spring the frame, but don't cold set.

I've been doing this for a few months on my 126mm spaced Cannondale. It's a pain mounting the 9sp
rear wheel compared to a frame with 130mm spacing, but you'll get over it.

Same here, I put thousands of miles on a Cannondale Criterium with a 9 speed wheel in the rear
dropouts. I never wanted to have to change that wheel; but I changed it many times as there was one
stretch of road I had to travel on with lots of thorn trees. The worry of scratching the frame or
having to wrestle with the wheel to get it in the dropouts for me, was worse than the actual task. I
know aluminum may be stiff and brittle, but it didn't appear to me that I was taking much risk in
stretching 4mm from 126mm to 130mm.

> I've been doing this for a few months on my 126mm spaced Cannondale. It's a pain mounting the 9sp
> rear wheel compared to a frame with 130mm spacing, but you'll get over it.