Is this frame ruined?

[8aaron8]

Originally Posted by Doug Fattic

Maybe. Take the skewer out of the hub and place the wheel in the dropout. Look carefully to see if the axle fits all the way into the dropout slot There may be something (like extra paint or a burr) keeping it from fitting all the way in.

It is also possible that the drive side seat stay is too long and the frame was not made properly. If you have no option to return the frame, the dropout can be carefully filed to make the slot longer. This will move the wheel by the seat stays to the center. However that will place the wheel off center by the chain stays since the slot is not perfectly vertical but rather angles back just a bit.

This seems about right, it looks as though the drive side dropout sits lower than the non-drive side causing the wheel to be angled in that direction. Doesn't seem right that it would leave the builder in that condition, there must be a story behind this.

[bewheels]

Originally Posted by 8aaron8

This seems about right, it looks as though the drive side dropout sits lower than the non-drive side causing the wheel to be angled in that direction. Doesn't seem right that it would leave the builder in that condition, there must be a story behind this.

Again - The builder is a high quality builder and at this point no one knows the back story about this frame.
Has it been owned by 5 other people who collectively put 800,000 miles with 7 major crashes on it?
Has it been "fixed" before for some other reason?

I understand the owner and OP of this thread is frustrated but out of respect for the for the builder, the course of action is communication between the owner and the builder.

I am sure sure any of the builders who frequent this forum would appreciate that things would be handled this way. Rather than speculation around what they should or should not have done based on some photos shared on the internet.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by bewheels

Again - The builder is a high quality builder and at this point no one knows the back story about this frame.
Has it been owned by 5 other people who collectively put 800,000 miles with 7 major crashes on it?
Has it been "fixed" before for some other reason?

I understand the owner and OP of this thread is frustrated but out of respect for the for the builder, the course of action is communication between the owner and the builder.

I am sure sure any of the builders who frequent this forum would appreciate that things would be handled this way. Rather than speculation around what they should or should not have done based on some photos shared on the internet.

Yup, the back story on this frame needs to be told. This builder has produced a scad of nice, aligned, frames..the suspense is killing me...

[8aaron8]

Originally Posted by bewheels

Again - The builder is a high quality builder and at this point no one knows the back story about this frame.
Has it been owned by 5 other people who collectively put 800,000 miles with 7 major crashes on it?
Has it been "fixed" before for some other reason?

I understand the owner and OP of this thread is frustrated but out of respect for the for the builder, the course of action is communication between the owner and the builder.

I am sure sure any of the builders who frequent this forum would appreciate that things would be handled this way. Rather than speculation around what they should or should not have done based on some photos shared on the internet.

I wasn't trying to insinuate anything regarding the builder, and if my post came off that way I do apologize. My last sentence was meant to question the history/mystery of the frame. I'm sure at some point this frame was nice and straight, but the mystery of what happened to it is intriguing.

[David Kirk]

I'll bump my question.....is the wheel off center between both the s-stays and c-stays?

If the wheel is off just between the s-stays but pretty good between the c-stays my bet is on and improper derailleur hanger pushing the axle down and the causing the wheel to tilt to the driveside.

If it is off similarly between the s-stays and c-stays then my money is on the rear of the frame being pushed off to the side. A simple 5 minute strong test would give a good idea if this is the case. If you aren't sure how to do this let me know and I can post a photo that should show of it's done.

dave

[sandyrs]

Based on the welds at the dropouts I think this is an older frame. I'm not sure if Craig is even really doing Gaulzetti anymore, since I never see anything from the brand's social media and nobody is posting new ones from the latest generation on any forums aside from mine and a couple road bikes. Of course, that's far from conclusive.

[R3awak3n]

not sure why we are talking about the builder. this was bought from another forum member so either it was problematic before it was sold or it got damaged in shipping (probably the later, don't think anyone would sell a frame like that).

[sandyrs]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

not sure why we are talking about the builder. this was bought from another forum member so either it was problematic before it was sold or it got damaged in shipping (probably the later, don't think anyone would sell a frame like that).

That wasn't clear from the original post- I also mentioned that the frame looked older as supporting evidence for the theory posited above that the frame was, as we now know, used

[William]

Ice can clear up the confusion, but if you search the classifieds it "looks" like he picked this up from another member.






William

[shovelhd]

Originally Posted by David Kirk

I'll bump my question.....is the wheel off center between both the s-stays and c-stays?

If the wheel is off just between the s-stays but pretty good between the c-stays my bet is on and improper derailleur hanger pushing the axle down and the causing the wheel to tilt to the driveside.

If it is off similarly between the s-stays and c-stays then my money is on the rear of the frame being pushed off to the side. A simple 5 minute strong test would give a good idea if this is the case. If you aren't sure how to do this let me know and I can post a photo that should show of it's done.

dave

I'm with Dave. I'd be surprised if the frame was tweaked that much. More likely the previous owner bent the original derailleur hanger and the replacement was installed without testing fit. It might not be the proper hanger.

I must have missed something, but why aren't these questions going to the previous owner?

[icepick_trotsky]

Update--

Thanks for all the feedback. It appears the derailleur hanger bolt I was using did not fit the hanger correctly. New bolt on its way from eBay. Seated better now, hopefully will fit even straighter with a better fitting set of hardware.

For the above question, wheel was seated between the chainstays evenly, but that may be a moot point now.

Just to clear the air, I never meant to cast aspersions on either the builder or the seller. I was worried the frame had been damaged by Fedex or the powdercoat guy, but looks like user error on my end.

[Pegoready]

The frame originally looked like this, so obviously the wheel sat in smooth at one point and obviously it's been painted since. Paint in the dropouts? Removed RD hanger during painting and used a different bolt to seat it? You can't tweak an aluminum frame that badly and not have some visible damage.

EDIT: looks like you posted before I saw your response. Glad it is cleared up! I know that era Gaulzetti used a weird size bolt.

[David Kirk]

Cool - now we are getting somewhere.

Have you tried fitting it without the hanger in place? How does it look like that?

dave

Originally Posted by icepick_trotsky

Update--

Thanks for all the feedback. It appears the derailleur hanger bolt I was using did not fit the hanger correctly. New bolt on its way from eBay. Seated better now, hopefully will fit even straighter with a better fitting set of hardware.

For the above question, wheel was seated between the chainstays evenly, but that may be a moot point now.

Just to clear the air, I never meant to cast aspersions on either the builder or the seller. I was worried the frame had been damaged by Fedex or the powdercoat guy, but looks like user error on my end.

[Timvan]

nothing the "huffy tool" cant fix

[Doug Fattic]

Just as a data point, it takes very little to move a wheel significantly off of center. For example if a power coating drip takes up 1 mm in the slot (and keeps the axle from going all the way in) that will move the wheel off center almost 3 mm by the stays. The ratio variation between the hub width and tire radius is what causes this difference.