Unpopular opinion: frame filing is overrated for most bike builds

At the shop in Austin last Tuesday, I watched a guy spend 45 minutes filing his dropouts smooth before a wheel swap, and honestly it made zero difference once the axle was tightened down. Has anyone else found that layer of paint to be totally harmless?

2 comments

2 Comments

tarar2711d ago

People get way too precious about stuff like that... I've seen folks stress over a thousandth of an inch when the frame itself is probably off by more than that from the factory. That layer of paint is maybe a few microns thick and it'll just squish down once you torque the wheel on. 45 minutes is wild though, could have been out riding instead of staring at a dropout with a file.

jennysullivan10d ago

Haha oh man, I felt this one in my soul. I'm pretty sure I once spent a whole afternoon filing down a dropout only to realize I'd been working on the wrong side the whole time.