Neill Currie wrote:
>
(cut)
> Question #2.
> I have an old bike which has been ridden for
> decades, which has long horizontal steel dropouts
> on the rear. Over the decades, and probably as
> the result of too zealous tightening of the rear
> wheel, there has been some deformation of the
> faces where the rear axle sits in the frame,
> making it somewhat difficult to achieve correct
> chain tension(it is set up as a fixie), as the
> wheel want to move when tightened to the thinnest
> part of the dropout.
One solution would be to use chain tension adjuster bolts. Now a days, fixed gear guys call them "chain tugs". There were various styles years ago; some worked with track ends and some worked with road dropouts.
Lots of advantages: You can make small adjustments in the chain tension, you can remove and replace the wheel and still keep your original adjustment, and they keep the wheel from being pulled over from the torque of pedaling which is indispensible when using wing nuts instead of a QR or track nuts.
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, CA
.