I have a few of these older european steel frames and always wondered what these holes are next to the dropouts? Could they in theory work with some kind of rudimentary through axle?
by badatdecisio
I have a few of these older european steel frames and always wondered what these holes are next to the dropouts? Could they in theory work with some kind of rudimentary through axle?
by badatdecisio
8 Comments
Speed holes, they make you go faster
Weight savings.
The right one is weight saving probably. The left one is for the chain guard.
They are for racks and old school mud guards
Nothing is lighter than a hole.
But the eyelets at back are for guards and rack.
Since the big hole is right in the middle of the “arc” between the stays, I’d say it’s just a basic way of removing material without compromising the strength, to save weight. It looks placed exactly like the more refined holes you can see in the pic here :https://www.sheldonbrown.com/no-derailers.html in the “vertical dropouts” section
The smaller hole is for mounting a fender and/or rack, but you probably weren’t asking about that.
As for it accommodating something akin to a through axle, I don’t see it. Especially since you’d have no way of setting the chain tension
I love how old “race” frames still cut holes for mounting racks and fenders.
Need to put tape over the big hole, to make it aero as well as light.