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Recently purchased a cheap second hand road bike, and I found out that the rear axle was broken - no problem it is 20+ years old and cost £40.
Off to the LBS I went, and asked for a new axle(with the old one for comparison), I was informed it would be more cost effective to buy a new wheel (£30) - so that was purchased.
They put on my old 6 speed cassette, and I took it home to fit the wheel. However, when I got back there was no rim tape (minus 1 tube), and the axle would not fit in the frame as it was too wide (maybe 100 wider than the old one). I took the frame and new wheel back and was told the frame just needed splaying - he then grabbed both chainstays and bent them apart.
Now the axle fits in, but the drive side of the axle extends well beyond the extent of the cassette, and means that no matter how far the L screw is unscrewed the rear mech cannot move over the largest two sprockets.
Questions:
Should the wheel have come with rim tape?
Should you bend a frame to fit???? If not what should I say?
Is the axle too long as it is designed for 8/9/10 speed and these cassettes are wider (mine is 6), hence the protrusion of the bolt?
The LBS has made 3 fundamental errors there. However, the bending of the frame shouldn't be too much of a problem to rectify if it's steel. But it will mess up the chainline. Get him to put it back to how it was and give you your money back. His solution will never work.
The frame is steel - just been reading about cold setting on Sheldon Brown, so not too much of a problem there then - hopefully.
metal road frames can be bent with very little worry. pretty common practise and ive managed to bend a rear triangle straight after being t-boned by a car.
😯
I've eased an old steel frame before, but with a decent long lever and quite a lot of care. Check the stays for any obvious creasing if he overdid the splaying
your LBS sounds shite