Anybody ever converted to h-drops?

[jmkimmel]

As I'm graduating in not very long, and I have access to my school's machine shop right now, I'm going to convert my BT Raven 4.0 to horizontal drops in the next few weeks. The dropouts are basically solid aluminum sheet (maybe 3/8"?) so I'm not worried about them failing. However, if anyone has experience with this, I'm wondering: which way should I file a groove, forward or back? I have probably 1/4" more I could move my tire forward (effectively shortening the chainstays!) but I'm wondering if that would even work. It seems like I wouldn't have "dropouts" anymore, but more like track ends. Dunno. Experience? Advice?

[Cryo-Cube]

ehmm i have only one question... why?

[bwagner]

My thought is that it sounds like a bad idea. The drop-outs on your BT are not designed to be horizontal, there isn't enough material there to effectively be cut into a different design without ruining the frame. Is all of this so you can run SS with no tensioner? Just get a mod bike dude, or a custom stock frame, you're going to ruin the BT and then have no bike at all. Just make a small plate to take the place of your hanger, and then run the eccentric hub. Ruining your frame is going to be bad in the long run

[netto]

if u had horizontal drop outs wouldnt your geometry change all the time?

i think its ok on a mod because the stays are so short even when the wheel is all the way out

[CoppellStereo]

ive only seen this done with steel, but do it, it will be awesome! i want to know the outcome!

[jmkimmel]

Yeah - the reason is so I can run SS without a tensioner. As far as the dropouts themselves, they're basically a fat chunk of aluminum plate. It's a little bigger than the ones on the 5.0 you see here: http://www.observedtrials.net/vb/showthread.php?t=12959

As far as ruining the frame, how exactly would it be ruined? It's looking like I can get away with less than 1/4" of hand-filing to get 18-16 to fit perfectly. I'm currently using QR's but would probably go for funbolts if I do this. All basically pointless until my cranks show up in the mail so I can test-fit everything.

[Cryo-Cube]

See i still dont get it, there is no logic in that.
Why would you go through so much trouble just to get rid of a Tensioner?
Thats like someone rewelding the headtube to a higher position to rise the stem abit instead of just putting spacers under the stem.
If you are technically skilled like you say, making a bomb proof Tensioner or hanger would be less work and saver!

[jmkimmel]

Why would you go through so much trouble just to get rid of a Tensioner?

The trouble in hand-filing like 1/4" of aluminum would take me a max of 45 minutes including cleanup. Making a tensioner I'm stoked about would take me much longer than that. Whatevs - I'll prolly just get lazy and stick with my singleator for a while.

[bwagner]

I know how big the dropouts are. I have a 5.0 right now, and have ridden a 4.0 also. My opinion(and thats all it is) is just that the bike will change, everything will be different. The geometry on these bikes is perfect, they feel so good, why would you want to mess with it? It's cool to modify things, and personalise them but I think it's a bad idea to do irreversable damage to your frame. Also, filing slots into the material on your current dropouts will take much longer than 45 minutes. Maybe 45 minutes for each slot, and two tired ass hands when you're done! You also can't control a file like a normal machine and the slots will not be aligned perfectly causing your rear end to be out of alignment. Just my opinions, but think this over before you go changing anything that you cannot change back!! Good luck in this endeavor!

[bylsma]

donald trump likes risk takers

[TooSicKs]

I extended the horizontal drops on my Spuntnik with good results. The way i did it was by drilling a new hole 1/2" forward of the end of the existing dropout, then hacksawing the little piece that was left. Finally with a bit of patience and a big file i took the tits that were left right down even with the existing dropout. Everything axlewise fit perfect, and it brought my stays in to 16".

The problems i encountered were with brake alighnment and tire clearance. The pads were all the way up to hit the rim, the cable rubbed with my michelin 2.5 and my brake booster no longer fit. That was issues with a full 1/2" of geoemtry change though,,,,

How much do you need to move it? Probably not much. Use a halflink if you have to and get it as close as possible, and there will be at most, 1/4" of material you'd need to file. You might only have to go 1/8", so you really don't need to do anything drastic.

My Sputnik did snap finally, but that was not related to the mod, it held up fine until the seatstays snapped.