Denting Chainstays for Tire Clearance
Richard Sachs had a photo album over on Yahoo! Photos, but due to that shutting down and closing, he's migrated all of his 6000+ photos to Flickr. This has allowed me to re-find his photos detailing how he dents chainstays near the BB juncture for tire clearance. I want to try doing this on my Fuji cross bike so I can run my 38mm-wide WTB tires with a little more clearance and increased peace of mind.
posted by jim g at 12:03 PM
4 Comments:
How do you do this on the bike when it is built? We used to ping the chainstays with a ballpeen hammer to make chainring clearance on already built bikes with kelly. Just slap some duct tape on to protect the paint and wallop away! But the inner chainstays are a bit tricky when the bike is built.
I was thinking of using a C-clamp with something like a 1-1.5" section of steel rod on the inside to do the denting, and either a half-round wood block or a crosscut piece of 1" conduit on the outside to protect the chainstay.
I've heard of other folks using a bench vise, too.
However, several folks on the framebuilders' list (including R.Sachs) have recommended against denting thinwall oval chainstays, saying the minimal extra clearance you might get isn't worth the risk of chainstay failure. Hmm.
I've heard a baseball bat works well, since it's variable in diameter you just choose the size you want, wedge it between the stays and drive it in with a hammer. I haven't tried it... I too would like to open my stays just a wee bit on my Hakkalugi as I would like to have the option to run 42's and have some mud clearance. I'm chicken, I guess. Let me know if you try it Jim.
Gary Blakley
See also:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boxdogbikes/5547052691/in/photostream/
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