Colorado Concept tubing & frame alignment

[Monsieur Toast]

I recently acquired a Serotta Colorado Legend CRL frame for a friend, but unfortunately the frame is out of alignment. Checked with a Park frame alignment guide and we're looking at 5-10mm out of true in the rear triangle.

Does anyone have any experience with frame alignments and Colorado Concept tubing? Trying to see whether or not this is a project worth pursuing ... thanks!


http://zerominuszero.net/000/bici/serotta_colorado_2.jpg

http://zerominuszero.net/000/bici/serotta_colorado_3.jpg

[Hilltopperny]

The wheel is definitely centered in the dropouts? That seems like quite a bit to be out of true, but its steel, so you should be able to get it a little closer to true somehow.

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[Monsieur Toast]

Yep, the wheel is definitely centered in the dropouts. When we saw that, we grabbed the frame alignment guide and checked the bike twice to make sure it was the frame and not something/anything else.

Really just trying to see what sort of experiences anyone might have had attempting to do frame alignment with Serotta's in-house steel blend. I'm assuming no issues, but thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

[Hilltopperny]

I dont think that it'll be an issue. The main tubes are swaged and the stays are s-bend, but the tubes are likely Tange, Columbus or Reynolds and should be able to be bent back a bit with some care.

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[charliedid]

I'm not expert at this stuff by any means but where is the bend? Do you know how it was bent?

[Monsieur Toast]

I'm not expert at this stuff by any means but where is the bend? Do you know how it was bent?

Best guess is it got bent in shipping somewhere along the ways. No visible dents or impacts to the frame. No weird cracking around any of the lugs. Rear triangle is just not true with the frame.

[ultraman6970]

IMO the 1st thing you guys need to do is to put the drop outs allignment tool and check that out. Then do the alligment of the rear.... Saying this because the wheel doesnt seem to be too far off from looking at the seat tube, it could be an effect from the angle the picture was taken too.

Check out the rear wheel axle aswell because it might have some weirdness you know.

Not hard to fix, just look at the tube, a few really well videos.

My friends put the frames in a vice and then pulled/pushed the stays one by one. We used the string method btw but since you have the gauge, even better.

Material is steel, u should not have any problem.

[charliedid]

Best guess is it got bent in shipping somewhere along the ways. No visible dents or impacts to the frame. No weird cracking around any of the lugs. Rear triangle is just not true with the frame.

I was wondering if it had been t-boned since drops are square.

I dunno just thinking out loud.

[parris]

I would check the rear wheel first with a dishing tool. If you don't have one flip the wheel and if it's still out then look at frame work.

[Black Dog]

Are the brake pads parallel to the rim?

[pbarry]

Check the dropouts for parallel first. Campy or the better Park tools required. If they are not parallel, correct that issue first before going forward.

[Brian Smith]

Yep, the wheel is definitely centered in the dropouts. When we saw that, we grabbed the frame alignment guide and checked the bike twice to make sure it was the frame and not something/anything else.

Really just trying to see what sort of experiences anyone might have had attempting to do frame alignment with Serotta's in-house steel blend. I'm assuming no issues, but thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

I've aligned, by estimate, thousands of Serottas. Flip that rear wheel around so that the cogs are on the "wrong" side and re-inspect.

What your FAG alignment gauge measurement indicates to me is that more likely the FRONT end of the frame is misaligned than is the rear. Perhaps even more likely is that neither are the source of the problem seen with the position of your tire between the stays. Anything's possible, and the rear *could* be out that much, but especially given that King hub flange offset, I'd want a better reference than the position of that tire in the frame with the wheel inserted only in the usual manner before passing judgment.

There's nothing particularly difficult about bending these frames around into alignment, although I'd be more worried about some of the welded stuff. It may not be the best fodder for a garage project, but for anyone quite familiar with doing frame alignments there is nothing to fear here.
Just make sure, I'd suggest, that the frame does actually need it before performing unnecessary frame bending.

[ultraman6970]

Reno... hmm.. any bike builders still in reno and with an alignment table?

[Monsieur Toast]

Just to give some resolution to this post. First off, thanks to everyone for all the valuable input provided. I passed everything along to my friend and he was able to get the frame aligned within a millimeter or so of true at the LBS with this info & their jig/help.

I missed out on the fun, and haven't had a chance to ride with him yet, but supposedly the frame is tracking straight and shifting without issue now. Thanks again, greatly appreciated!

[Ralph]

Flip the wheel around to be sure. If that shows same issue, and you don't want to bend the frame, just get out a rat tail file, and go to work on a drop out. Sometimes some paint from a repaint builds up inside a drop out. Easy to fix....BTW. Many frame builders make final adjustment with a file before paint.