A bit of dropout bending action

As you remember, I've recently picked up a light blue Viscount, the one with the lovely mudguards and straight handlebars. I was wondering why the shifting was a bit stiff when I rode it home from Marylebone, putting it down to age or neglect. On taking it apart, however, I discovered that the dropout, where the derailleur is attached, was rather bent. That it was shifting at all is almost a miracle.

Looks a bit like a laughing face to me

How did that axle stay in place?

But here I was, trouble shooting the how to get that hanger bend back without damaging it. After all, there was a good chance for it to snap. The bike may have been only 15 quid, or 35 including the cost of the train fare, but I really didn't want to buy a frame to strip it, I want to rebuild it, so my panic was probably understandable.

My first approach was to clamp it in the vice and bend the frame down. That didn't work out so well as the frame slipped even though my mate Tom tightened it for me.

As my quirky brain decided that the simple way seems to be fruitless, it came up with a somewhat more complicated solution, albeit possibly workable: take a block of wood, carve out the bit where the hanger is situated, feed some sort of solid rod through the hole where the derailleur is screwed in and do the vice trick again, pressing the dropout back into place. Yes, I know, rather complex for a simple procedure (you're allowed to laugh), and it's certainly not ripe for testing. I had some other funky ideas which I won't share as you'd probably laugh right until the next century.

So what do you do if you need a good plan and fresh mind? Exactly, you go to someone who has the knowledge. And it was a good thing I did, because the dropouts are now back in place, nothing's snapped, and the frame can be shot blasted before coming back in a new coat. How cool is that? And I didn't need a vice, a second pair of strong hands or even a workshop. Noah had suggested to use a long seat post/pole, but in the absence of having that in my flat, I came up with something that would do the trick: a socket and an adjustable spanner for leverage. Oh, and my legs, feet, and some elbow grease. Simples. 

Here's what I did:

Secured frame upside down between my legs and feet so it won't move.

I then placed a socket over the dropout. The advantage of that over a smooth pole is that it has a splined inside which prevents the hanger from rotating under pressure. 

I then clamped the adjustable spanner onto the socket and carefully bent it down (towards me in this case). I stopped and checked a few times so I didn't over-bend it, then used the adjustable spanner to straighten the hanger.

And the whole shebang in pictures:

There you go, and that's how you fix bent dropouts after the derailleur (most likely) gets caught in the wheel. Me, I'm just really glad it's not broken as small Aerospace frames like this don't crop up often. But, kids, don't try that at home with alloy frames. It may be possible if there's not much damage, but alloy is more likely to snap. I've seen it on brakes, calipers don't take to well to the adjustable spanner approach with brute force.