I dont doubt LGF - after all he's the king of reworking & recycling. I just added caution based on my experience. It was a thick dropout - alumin frame. Also, my mech was bought in the early 90's and might have hailed from the days when 8 speed didnt exist and so was built for 7, but I managed to squeeze it to an 8. 9 spd would have been no more than a concept in some marketeers mind.