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- From: richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk)
- Subject: How to check frame alignment:
- Message-ID: <1993Jan1.032348.991@pegasus.com>
- Organization: Pegasus, Honolulu
- Date: Fri, 1 Jan 93 03:23:48 GMT
- Lines: 29
-
- Here's a paragraph out of a book I just bought on frame building that
- answers a question posed here some time back about checking a frame
- for alignment. The book is Designing and Building Your Own Frameset (An
- Illustrated Guide For The Amateur Bicycle Builder), by Richard P. Talbot.
-
- The ``acid'' test is to check the tracking. To perform this test,
- snap a 30 foot long chalk line onto a smooth surface such as a gymnasium
- floor. Mount a stem and handlebar on the frameset. Center the front
- and rear wheels on one end of the chalk line and hold the frameset so it
- is vertical to the floor. (A carpenter's spirit level taped onto the
- handlebar drops will help here.) Now, slowly push the wheeled frameset
- along, keeping its front wheel centered on the line while maintaining
- perpendicularity. After traveling about 15 feet check the position of
- the rear wheel. It should still be centered on the line. If it is not,
- the frameset is out of alignment. It could be due to misalignment in
- the fork, the frame, or a combination of the two. If the rear wheel is
- still on the line after 30 feet, you can be assured your frameset is
- aligned. ...
-
- As soon as I can find where I hid my chalk line I'm going to give it a
- try on my old ten speed ...
-
- BTW: I recommend the book. I haven't read any others on the subject yet,
- and I haven't built my first frame yet, but the book is very thorough in
- the particular techniques it covers.
-
-
- --
- Richard Foulk richard@pegasus.com
-