130mm wheel in a 135mm frame

[CTK]

I've just bought a touring frame which I was planning on building up with Campag 11 speed. I have some lovely wheels that are 130mm but the frame is 135mm. What is the best way to go about making it work?

Just stick em in and squeeze the frame?
Spacer on either side of the axle?
Cold setting frame?
Any other options?

 

[hamster]

It depends a lot on the hubs and wheels. Personally I would build a wheel to take advantage of the 135mm spacing (e.g. with Hope MTB with the driver switched to Campag). Campag rears have pretty severe dish at the best of times and I don;t think I would tour happily with one.
Of course credit card touring with nothing more than a saddlebag is different from a camping load, so it's not an absolute.

 

[hookooekoo]

In my opinion 5mm is too much to just stick it in as it is.

If it's a steel frame then cold set it or respace the spindles. If it's aluminium then respace the spindles.

Don't do what my friend did on an MTB frame. He just stuck a wheel in that was 5mm OLN too wide, and the frame failed at the seatpost-seatstay join some time later.

If it was me I'd respace the spindles.

 

[hookooekoo]

In my opinion 5mm is too much to just stick it in as it is.

If it's a steel frame then cold set it or respace the spindles. If it's aluminium then respace the spindles.

Don't do what my friend did on an MTB frame. He just stuck a wheel in that was 5mm OLN too wide, and the frame failed at the seatpost-seatstay join some time later.

If it was me I'd respace the spindles.

For reference, the frame failure was a Raleigh MTB frame with Reynolds tubing. The frame failed on both sides where the brazing attaches the seatpost to the seatstays. At the time it happened we were ten miles from home, and quite some distance up a dirt track. He had to walk to the main road, then call someone and get them to pick him up.

These old, brazed steel frames are fairly strong, but not when the rear triangle is being continuously being forced apart. They're simply not designed for the combination of stresses that arises when the wheel doesn't fit the frame properly.

 

[CTK]

Thankyou both @hamster credit card touring at worst! no plans for fully laden touring. I just fancied trying a slightly longer wheelbase on a road bike.

Chainstays are both the same- both have a dimple for tyre clearance. I can squeeze the stays to what seems like 5mm pretty easily. Moving the other way much more difficult.

 

[CTK]

Will give it a blast

 

[CTK]

Probably made by Venom? Nice neat welds.

 

[hamster]

Nice bike the Harrier, a pal has one.

 

[Nabeaquam]

Steel frames with high quality tubing are quite difficult to cold set, but I have done it a few times. Bikes with gas pipe quality tubing are very easy to cold set and dimple for larger tires. The good thing is that the steel frame could be reset back to 130 If you ever needed to. I had to use a furniture clamp to spread Columbus tubing, I had to gap it that far to get it to return to what I needed. If you cold spread you need to make the drops parallel, if you don’t your hub axles will eventually bend. I don’t like the string method to check the evenness of the spread. I made a tool by welding but one made from scrap wood would work.

A gas pipe poor quality tubing frame below is easy to spread or reduce. No furniture clamp required.
This frame has Columbus tubing and required a furniture clamp and massive spreading to get it to only bounce back with a 5 mm spread. The drops are no longer parallel. Homemade tool to check the drops and to bend them back to parallel. Notice the paint scratches on the drops from the repeated furniture clamp spreads.


Homemade tool to check frame alignment before and after spreading.

 

[CTK]

I did it the same way as you @Nabeaquam. I got it to 132mm rather than 130 but I think that will do. I had to tighten dropouts to 115mm to get it to move. I wasn't comfortable going further! Frame stayed aligned, I tested as in above picture.