STI on an older frame?

i'm pretty good about fixing my ride, but can't really seem to get a straight answer anywhere online on this. sheldon sorta goes into it, but even he's not too clear...i want to drop an STI lever and rear derailleur on my 70s raleigh. it has horizontal drops - does anyone know if i'll run into issues with the alignment and/or adjustments? - because the rear wheel will be in a slightly different place whenever it's taken off and put back on...i know all the mechanics of putting the gear on it, i just want to know if anyone has done this and if it will work. thanks

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Permalink Reply by on2wheels on May 26, 2009 at 9:01am

I don't think you will have a problem. I converted my late 80's trek that has horizontal dropouts to STI 10 speed.

What you basically need to think about is that moving the wheel front and back wont change the sprockets position relative to the chain line. The derailleur will take up any slack in the chain in front/back positioning. And since the dropouts are a fixed width, the sprockets in the cassette will always be the same distance from the mounting point of the derailleur in the side to side direction.