Steve asked:
I have a 1955 James Fothergill, it is built from Reynolds 531 Butted, it was repainted by Bob Jackson's in the mid 70's at the same time it had the rear spread to accept a 6 speed, it also had several stops brazed on and was kitted out with high end quality mainly Japanese components of the time i.e. Dura-Ace, Suntour Cyclone, Grande Compe brakes etc so really it isn't original at all but it is extremely well made and has beautiful lug work (it can be seen on the Classic Lightweight site). Now can I get the rear end reset to take a hub gear? or would I be better fitting it out in its second and far more useable incarnation?
Steve Chambers. Chesterfield, Derbyshire
Steve,
It is not a problem for a framebuilder to reset your rear spacing from it's current width of 125 or 6 back to 120. Well actually they would probably put it at 120.5mm. At the same time it might be a good idea to recheck it's entire alignment.
Good luck,
Doug Fattic
Niles, Michigan, USA