Anyone got any idea how much it would cost to convert a geared steel frame to sliding dropouts? I wouldn't need a full respray.
If you Google 'bicycle frame repairs' it should bring up a few companies. I checked out Argos cycles in Bristol & it was about £120 or something. Found a couple of others & they were very similar - cheapest was about £100. More than I was expecting, but on reflection to supply fit & ensure they're straight probably takes a bit of skill & equipment, so maybe not too bad.
cheers for that, Argos has a good reputation so £120 supply an fit sounds ok. Did you go ahead and get them done?
The drop outs (Rohloff and Paragon Machine Works both do some) cost between £75-125 (£/Euro or £/$ dependant)
You do mean "sliding drop outs" and not "track ends"?
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Sliders
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Track ends
£100-120 for the work as they normally need to respace the rear end as the frame part of the sliders sit wider than normal dropouts. £100-120 all in sounds like track ends IMHO.
SSP
thanks SSP, yeah I was talking about sliders as per Paragon. Didn't realise the frame had to be re-jigged.
hmm... back to considering a pre-done frame.
Slighly OT: whats peoples thoughts on EBB's? Phil Wood ones.
The Phil Wood EBB's are lovely, although retro-fitting it to a frame would be a royal PITA. A better bet might be getting the rear wheel rebuilt with a White Ind ENO eccentric hub. Try hubjub.co.uk
When I ran Solitude Cycles the choice was Paragons or Phil EBB but those were all new frames, not retro fits.
SSP
Ah, I was talking track ends actually! Sorry. No didn't get them done in the end. I have an old Raleigh with horizontal dropouts & one side had enough space but the drive side was a very short drop out & couldn't tension the chain enough after converting to fixed. Solution was me & my mate with a big drill! Worked ok though. 🙂