XTR hub to 130mm

[Neves]

I was hoping someone could help me here. I have a rear M952 hub that I'd like to convert to 130mm spacing. I was under the impression that all I had to do was remove the 5mm spacer from the non drive side of the axle. But there's no 5mm spacer to remove.

[kramnnim]

Is there a wider spacer than you can swap out?

[Neves]

There's a 8mm spacer on the ND side that I could cut down, but then I believe the locknut would rest inside the plastic cover causing it to rest on the inside face of the dropout. I could also cut the plastic cover down as well.

[kramnnim]

Hmm, looking at a picture of one such hub, and yeah...I see what you mean.

[oliver1850]

I had to do the same thing with the last wheel I built, but that hub had a cone shaped rubber seal instead of plastic cap. I was able to remove 5mm with a razor blade and still keep the seal functional. I don't know if you can trim the XTR cap and keep the seal intact.

[ergott]

The axle will be too long. You need to swap that too.

[oldpotatoe]

There's a 8mm spacer on the ND side that I could cut down, but then I believe the locknut would rest inside the plastic cover causing it to rest on the inside face of the dropout. I could also cut the plastic cover down as well.

Yep, that plastic cover will prevent you from just wacking 5mm off the LH side and keeping that cap. In addition, is the wheel built? Moving the rim to the left that much will require adding quite a ot of tension to the RH side to get the rim dished...

Why do you need to do this? Frame issue? Steel? coldset to 135mm?

[kramnnim]

I might have a rubber seal from a lower end hub of that era I could send...

[Neves]

They are just hubs right now. I guess I could just sell them and get something else, but they are what I have on hand and I was trying to avoid spending additional funds right now.

I also picked up a Wheel Manufacture's axle to cut down. My goal was to possibly have this be a non destructive change over just in case I wanted to move it back to 135mm in the future. It's looking like that won't happen.

[oldpotatoe]

They are just hubs right now. I guess I could just sell them and get something else, but they are what I have on hand and I was trying to avoid spending additional funds right now.

I also picked up a Wheel Manufacture's axle to cut down. My goal was to possibly have this be a non destructive change over just in case I wanted to move it back to 135mm in the future. It's looking like that won't happen.

You can do it, just won't have that plastic cover on the LH side...Also, I'd try to remove some spacers from the RH side, w/o getting the highest gear to close to the frame..makes the build easier..maybe 2mm from the RH side, 3mm from the left..which frame again?

[kramnnim]

Is the axle a normal steel one, or a fancy larger diameter alloy?

You could keep the same axle length, and use washers as spacers on the outsides of the dropout faces...not that it would be a very good solution...lol.

[Neves]

Thanks for the suggestion OP. I was planning on using these on a old IF, circa 1999. I got it in a trade with my buddy a few years ago.

I'm not really sure about the axle. It doesn't seem over sized, but I haven't measured it. It could be ti although, it feels relatively light. The Wheel Manufactured axle is 4130.

I will post up some pictures tonight.

[Neves]

Well I went to the shop to pick up some axle spacers this evening. I didn't know what I'd need so I just picked up one of each size, maybe 6 spacers in all. I ended up removing the 1.5mm spacers from the drive side and replacing the 13.46mm spacer with 11mm of spacer on the non drive side. I also removed the 1mm spacer from the ND side as well. I don't have a 15mm cone wrench so it's a little rough, but I'm good to go as far as the spacing goes. As you can see I didn't have to butcher the plastic cover in the process.

[CiclistiCliff]

I believe these had Ti axles. Anyways, I cut mine down, killing a blade in the process, and spaced it down to 130mm. Works like a charm.

[Peter P.]

Before you build up the wheel, you should install a cassette and verify it clears the dropout and you can use the small cog. Oftentimes the specs are so tight that mods such as yours will cause the cassette body to contact the dropout face.

[CiclistiCliff]

He's not changing the spacing between the DS axle nut and the frame. This is all done on the NDS. Doesn't affect anything about the cassette.

I've used older MTB cassettes on road bikes for years (all 135 converted to 130) due to wider flange spacing/better bracing angles.

Never once had an issue.

:beer:

[Gummee]

Before you build up the wheel, you should install a cassette and verify it clears the dropout and you can use the small cog. Oftentimes the specs are so tight that mods such as yours will cause the cassette body to contact the dropout face.

There's not a lot of room on the drive side of any cassette hub I've ever played with. Taking mm-s out of the DS is risky at best.

Buddy of mine has my 952 hub that's been cut down to 132.5 right now. ...least till he sells it back to me.

M

[Neves]

I did take out a 1mm spacer from the drive side. I will throw a cassette on there to make sure there isn't any problems.