Fork dropout won't fit over spindle?

[cycletothesea]

I have a repainted Sun Snipe frame. However when I came to fit the repainted forks onto some refurbished wheels, I found it impossible to get the forks to slot over the wheel axle spindles? I tried filing the new paint away from the inside of the dropouts but it still seems to small. Is it not one size fits all when it comes to dropouts and wheel axles or were there different specs? Maybe it just needs some serious filing? Anybody experienced this before?

 

[suburbanreuben]

Re:

Hope hubs?

 

[cycletothesea]

Re: Re:

Hope hubs?

No, just standard Shimano vintage on Mavic rims

 

[Midlife]

Are the forks for spindles with flats on?

http://i.stack.imgur.com/8tJjy.jpg

Shaun

 

[dyna-ti]

Check to see if the axle fits in lower down, not through thee opening but try to push one side on the other dropout from the outside, this will maybe show the mouth has closed slightly
I think it might happen if the wheel is in there a long time :? Certainly ive come across them before and used a file to open it a bit at the mouth.
If it appears to be a tiny bit or just the mouth then just file it

 

[cycletothesea]

Are the forks for spindles with flats on?
http://i.stack.imgur.com/8tJjy.jpg
Shaun

Not sure, not seen that type of spindle before. The forks are just your standard Carlton Reynolds 531 from 70s. Is it likely they would be make for flat spindles? The forks have a round cross section, it's just that the 'entrance' (if you call it that) seems a bit narrower than the inner circle. Maybe it just needs some serious filing, but wanted to check before doing that.

 

[Midlife]

Standard 70's would take round spindles........wasn't the snipe 15 years earlier?

Dyna-ti's suggestion next, take the nut off and try and push the wheel on from the outside of the fork at the top of the dropout.....

Shaun

 

[cycletothesea]

Found out what the problem is.

I dug out some old Maillard hubs on Weinmann rims and these forks fitted over the spindle (which is round) easily. But same forks will not fit over any other type of hub axle (shimano or campag the only other older hubs I have).

Did Maillard have narrower wheel axles? Well . . . it's obvious that they did, but it's news to me.

 

[keithglos]

Re:

Before Campagnolo QRs became popular in the mid 50s bicycle hub spindles were 5/16 front and 3/8 rear, apart from Raleigh (both 5/16). The Campagnolo were 9 mm and 10mm. British Hub used 3/8 front and rear for their QR.
Options were to file out the fork ends, or file a little off the tops of the threads where they are exposed only.
Keith

 

[Jonny69]

As Keith said, there are two sizes and the old imperial size doesn't go over the size that replaced it. I used a file to lightly take the tops off the threads on the axle since they were new easy to come by hubs on a rare fork. In my opinion it is completely save to do this because those wheels have been in daily use for about 4 years and my roads are rough enough to show up any weakness