i agree. i've also cold set an aluminum frame with no apparent ill effects.
I'd appreciate if you could share exactly how you were able to cold set the rear triangle of aluminum frame. If you can outline the tools and procedure used, and in particular, the make of the frame (and the alloy 6xxx or 7xxx, if known), that would be great.
Aluminum is just metal, and the mild alloys (e.g. 6061, 7005) used in most aluminum bike frames are even reasonably ductile. The main reason to refrain from small amounts of cold setting is that the stays of some aluminum bikes are very stiff due to their large diameter, and that a high amount of force may be required to accomplish the permanent set is difficult to control precisely. It's also difficult to anchor a frame against high amounts of bending force without subjecting it to the risk of dents or crimps elsewhere on the frame (where it is being held).
Chalo
All this is true, but you failed to mention ductility as changed by (frame) heat treatment. Even on non-Cannondale (i.e. "normal" cookie-cutter aluminum) frames I've never seen anyone successfully cold set the rear triangle on a finished frame. And I've seen plenty people try, with finesse and brute force (and levers of all kinds), to no avail.
I want, for no very good reason (okay, vertical dropouts) to upgrade from my current very funny CX bike (Japanese-made early-80s Canadian "Bianchi"😉 to something cheap. I don't need any parts, so a frame-upgrading we go.
The other part of this is I want to be able to use the same wheels as I use all summer on my road bike, so 130mm spacing is a must.
cannondale optimo 9? i've been considering one.
No, but they're fine bikes. Cannondale sponsored my club until this year, and the bikes are admirably sweet. I don't think there've been any substantial problems.
My road bike is a Fetish Cycles SAC, which is their value-leader AL frame, which I picked up rather cheaply.
-- Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/ "I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos
Even on non-Cannondale (i.e. "normal" cookie-cutter aluminum) frames I've never seen anyone successfully cold set the rear triangle on a finished frame. And I've seen plenty people try, with finesse and brute force (and levers of all kinds), to no avail.
I have squished a small few aluminum frames to narrow them from 135mm spacing to near 110mm, for use with coaster brakes. I did not find the operation particularly difficult, and I was able to do it by hand without resort to tools (except a crescent wrench to bend the dropouts parallel afterwards). All were ordinary Taiwanese welded 7005 aluminum frames with vertically ovalized chainstays and round seatstays.
So, has anyone taken a vise to Cannondale chainstays?
Ball peen hammer, actually. The frame I have with this modification is still in service after some 15 years of regular use.
Good to know. Thanks.
I thought I'd mention that I used the (polished) ball peen hammer as a punch, holding it in place and driving it with another hammer. This allowed much better precision and control than would have been possible by just banging on it.
On 21 Dec 2006 16:04:25 -0800, [email hidden] wrote:
[snip]
Quoted message said:
When my family and I rode coast to coast a few years ago, I started with nominal 37 mm tires (actual width, closer to 32mm) on my C'dale touring bike, since part of our planned route was off-road, on the C&O trail. They fit fine at the seat stays, but barely cleared the chainstays, which had between 36 & 37 mm clearance. Still, I started the ride with those tires.
Oddly enough, the tires grew; after a couple weeks, they'd expanded to where they scraped the chainstays. I didn't know tires would grow. I switched to nominal 32 mm tires for the rest of the trip...
