Messed with the 80 cruiser clone today. Noticed it has 115mm drop out spacing too.
Since the coaster hub is too narrow to fill that space, I grabbed a tandem wheel that I know is true and has proper offset to the wheel.
This picture is with the axle pushed all the way back in the drop outs. The wheel should not sit that close to the seat stay. The wheel does sit fairly centered to the chain stays though.
The RH seat stay has a bit of an S bend in it, so I'm sure that's where the original damage happened. Broke out the string to try and adjust the drop outs left to right. They were off alright.
Something to note, when you set up the string, be certain to lay it in the same place on each side outside of the drop out, and that the chain guard screw or tab isn't in the way to throw off your measurement.
I have the string wrapped around the headtube and the unfortunate thing is that the cantilever bars do deflect the string a bit. I'm trusting here that when Schwinn electroforged them to the frame, their depths are even.
Insert 2x4 and pry in the direction you need to go. It does take a fair amount of flex to get the stays to bend, but be gingerly and check your string placement and measure again after each flex until you get the centering that you want. Then measure your drop out spacing as compared to the hub you are installing.
I put a wheel back in and it's still waaay off at the seat stays, HHHMMMM! Anyone else ever fixed this issue? If so, let me know what you did to get the frame back to true.
I made the drop outs parallel and noticed just how off the seat stays are. I ordered some 1/2" frame blocks and will probably be making some sort of gauge or jig from a known good frame to help true this set of seat stays. Here is a pic with a little better focus on the kinky stays.
thecabe.com
