Crimp in DS chainstay

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Yet another old rescue bike, a Windsor "International", I
think. The decals are mostly worn off. It pulls left. I
thought it might be the headset or the fork; the headset
does feel like it has a notch to the left. However, I just
noticed a crimp in the right-side chainstay, parallel to
the chainstay.

Extra-crude ASCII drawing; excuse the un-round chainrings,
short crank arms, and off-center pedals:
=====
==o== <--
=pedal
___BR__________/_____ /
____________/____ \ / /
/ \ \ -----------------------
--------/--/---------- /
\ \ chainstay - - - -
-|- |- - - BB | | -----------------------
--------\--\----------/
/ / \
\__SR____/________/ /
\_________/___________/
/
==o== <--pedal
=====
BR==Big Ring SR==Small Ring

The '- - - - - - - - - -' is the crimp.

The crimp appears to be there on purpose; is that the
case, or is it just a very neat accidental crimp? If it's
not supposed to be there, could that cause the bike to
pull left? I imagine it would slightly shorten the
chainstay, causing the bike to pull right.

As long as the wheel is straight forward, it won't pull at
all; it just won't be at the same place in both dropouts.

--
Dave Kerber Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return
address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

"Rick Onanian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Yet another old rescue bike, a Windsor "International", I
think. The decals are mostly worn off. It pulls left. I
thought it might be the headset or the fork; the headset
does feel like it has a notch to the left. However, I just
noticed a crimp in the right-side chainstay, parallel to
the chainstay.

Many bikes crimp the seat stay to clear the crankset and
that's probably what you have here. If it looks intentional,
no sharp corners or creases, it's probably fine. Probably
the fork that's bent.

Cheers,

Scott..

Rick Onanian said:

Yet another old rescue bike, a Windsor "International", I
think. The decals are mostly worn off. It pulls left. I
thought it might be the headset or the fork; the headset
does feel like it has a notch to the left. However, I just
noticed a crimp in the right-side chainstay, parallel to
the chainstay.

Extra-crude ASCII drawing; excuse the un-round chainrings,
short crank arms, and off-center pedals:
=====
==o== <--
=pedal
___BR__________/_____ /
____________/____ \ / /
/ \ \ -----------------------
--------/--/---------- /
\ \ chainstay - - - -
-|- |- - - BB | | -----------------------
--------\--\----------/
/ / \
\__SR____/________/ /
\_________/___________/
/
==o== <--pedal
=====
BR==Big Ring SR==Small Ring

The '- - - - - - - - - -' is the crimp.

The crimp appears to be there on purpose; is that the
case, or is it just a very neat accidental crimp? If it's
not supposed to be there, could that cause the bike to
pull left? I imagine it would slightly shorten the
chainstay, causing the bike to pull right.
--
Rick Onanian

That sounds like a normal crimp to clear the chain rings.
You may also find a pair on the inside of the chainstays for
tire clearance.

I would check the frame with a string from one dropout
around the head tube to the other dropout. If the distance
from the string to the seat tube is the same side to side it
is OK for basic alignment. I would then look to the fork for
alignment problems.

HTH

Marcus

PS Great ASCII art.

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 19:01:53 -0500 Rick Onanian <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

The crimp appears to be there on purpose; is that the case,
or is it just a very neat accidental crimp? If it's not
supposed to be there, could that cause the bike to pull
left? I imagine it would slightly shorten the chainstay,
causing the bike to pull right.

The crimp is there on purpose. It was either made by the
tubing manufacturer or by the frame builder. There is no
change in length since it was made before the tube was
brazed into the frame.

That tube is quite heavy walled and would be VERY difficult
to crimp accidentally. The crimp there is to provide extra
clearance for the chainwheels; there are probably similar
crimps inside BOTH chainstays to give extra tire clearance.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney [email hidden] Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

Rick Onanian <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Yet another old rescue bike, a Windsor "International", I
think. The decals are mostly worn off. It pulls left. I
thought it might be the headset or the fork; the headset
does feel like it has a notch to the left. However, I just
noticed a crimp in the right-side chainstay, parallel to
the chainstay.

Extra-crude ASCII drawing; excuse the un-round chainrings,
short crank arms, and off-center pedals:
=====
==o== <--
=pedal
___BR__________/_____ /
____________/____ \ / /
/ \ \ -----------------------
--------/--/---------- /
\ \ chainstay - - - -
-|- |- - - BB | | -----------------------
--------\--\----------/
/ / \
\__SR____/________/ /
\_________/___________/
/
==o== <--pedal
=====
BR==Big Ring SR==Small Ring

The '- - - - - - - - - -' is the crimp.

The crimp appears to be there on purpose; is that the
case, or is it just a very neat accidental crimp? If it's
not supposed to be there, could that cause the bike to
pull left? I imagine it would slightly shorten the
chainstay, causing the bike to pull right.

the crimp is there to provide clearance for the inner
chainring.

As for the bike pulling to the left, there are any number of
potential causes. If it were me, I'd check the alignment of
the fork, first.

Rick Onanian said:

Yet another old rescue bike, a Windsor "International", I
think. The decals are mostly worn off. It pulls left. I
thought it might be the headset or the fork; the headset
does feel like it has a notch to the left. However, I just
noticed a crimp in the right-side chainstay, parallel to
the chainstay.

[...]

Quoted message said:

The crimp appears to be there on purpose; is that the
case, or is it just a very neat accidental crimp? If it's
not supposed to be there, could that cause the bike to
pull left? I imagine it would slightly shorten the
chainstay, causing the bike to pull right.

No. The crimp is there to provide clearance for the inner
chainring. Tubesets can be had in a variety of
configurations. Windsor, as I recall, used Columbus tubing,
which was available with either round or pre-crimped
chainstays. If you got the round ones, you'd either flatten
them slightly in a vice to provide the needed clearance or
crimp them in a press. Or you could use them as fork blades
on your track fork and order a set of pre-crimped stays for
the chain stays.

Reynolds usually came with flattened chainstays, and
Ishiwata came round, so we'd flatten them ourselves. I
don't remember about Tange, but I think they'd send
whatever you want.

--

-John ([email hidden])