Has anyone taken a file to clean up their Quickbeam or Simpleone track ends? I did, and it was a vast improvement after 14 years of hard use.
I just got a Paul high flange wheelset and a Dura Ace crankset, and set my green Quickbeam up as a two-speed fixed gear again. The Paul hubs attach with bolts and fancy washers. The washers are sleeved to go inside the dropout, and I had the dickens of a time getting them to move smoothly down the length of the track end. Care-free gear changes wheel installation rely on easy axle movement. I inspected how the washers slide down the track without the wheel, and I found that they simply didn't. They'd go a bit, and catch, binding badly in a couple points. The edges of the track ends, especially at the bottom, were pretty ragged. In the center of each axle track (the inside part of the dropout), there's still green paint, as if the edges are higher than the centers. The edges were worn, rough, and scuffed. After a bit of hesitation, I took a sharp file to the top and bottom of each dropout's axle track. I filed as flat as I could, but the steel is very tough, and I didn't remove much material. I didn't even remove the paint inside the dropouts. I checked the free movement of the bolt washers several times, and cleaned up each tough spot. After about 15 minutes of filing and checking, the washers slid up and down the axle track pretty freely. I put the wheel back in, and sure enough, it was now very easy to set the chain tension, and switch between the high and low gears. On this two-speed "dingle" setup, you change gears by moving the axle forward, derailing the chain onto the little ring and big cog, then move the axle back to tighten. Before the dropout cleanup, this was frustrating, and the axle wanted to "index" into particular spots. After the cleanup, it was easy and kind of fun. So - Quickbeam track end cleanup is now on my 14-year maintenance cycle. Side note: The new 120mm Paul axle is hollow, aluminum, and relieved. It is 111g lighter than the old steel 130mm solid axle! $40 to save a quarter of a pound seems justifiable. Philip Santa Rosa, CA -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
