In a message dated 10/18/2002 8:26:22 AM Eastern Daylight Time, mail@woodworkingboy.com writes:
<< No doubt a lame question, but aside from the common sense of precision from the makers perspective, I'm curious how a frame a few millimeters out of dropout alignment will affect the way the bike handles? Would it be something rather noticeable in comparison to a perfectly true frame? Before going to the trouble to remove the bbs on my bikes to check, I`d wondering what I might be missing. Someone is going to say that if you have to ask, then there is no point in doing it? >>
I always remember this episode from my sordid past:
Back in the late 1970s, I bought my first Moulton small wheeled bike. It was
a mouse gray Speed 4 (SA hub) that apparently Huffy (shades of Airborne!)
imported in the 60s. There were quite a few of those floating around in our
region at that time. Rubber bumper in the back, shock in front, 16 x 1 3/8"
wheels shod with Dunlop HP tires.
http://www.classicrendezvous.com./
Anyway, I rode it all over the place, even in two Metric Century club rides.. Everyone including myself were amazed that this goofy, heavy little bike was as capable as it was! The only problem was it's straight line stability, or the lack thereof! Take your hands off the bars and the bike would dive for the ditch! I realized that it must have been due to the lack of gyroscopic effect in those little wheels.. It was logical, those tiny hoops just didn't generate enough spin to allow them to self correct and keep the bike upright like a normal bike.....
Well about a year into using the Moulton, I found I had broken a spoke in the rear and stayed very late one night at the shop (Toga!) replacing the spoke truing the wheels all around and checking the dish....
The next day, on it's first ride, I was astounded to find the bike went straight as an arrow! No hands all day long! The dish in the wheels had been pretty much out of whack, and correcting that made a HUGE difference! ...... So much for my cock-and-bull theory about gyroscopic effect! So in my mind, wheels traveling in the same line, tracking properly so to speak, is very important to the bikes ability to ride securely and predictably. This would be a double edged requirement, both the frame must be aligned and the wheels built and dished properly....
Dale Brown cycles de ORO, Inc. 1410 Mill Street Greensboro, North Carolina USA 27408 336-274-5959 Fax 336-274-6360 <A HREF="http://www.cyclesdeoro.com">cyclesdeORO.com</A> <A HREF="http://www.classicrendezvous.com/main.htm">Classic Rendezvous</A>