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I have an old 27" road bike in a long, lazy and cheapish process of restoration. I'd like to put 28" wheels on, which requires 4mm longer brake reach. The bicycle used to have fenders and the existing 27" rim is already a bit far from the fork crown (and from the caliper bolt).

I had an idea to try to deepen the fork dropout in order to get the wheel closer to the crown, there seems to be enough space to do that, and still keep enough to get the axle bolt tightened.

Is there any reason I shouldn't do that?

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Yes- structural integrity and your own well being. 4mm is a lot of metal to remove in the scheme of things. If I were you I would be looking for a long reach brake caliper instead of modifying the dropout by removing material.

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    Especially on a fork where a potential failure would result in a pretty bad crash, even at slow speeds.
    – WTHarper
    Jul 10, 2013 at 20:29
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    If the above comments aren't enough the likely hood of you modifying both sides identical are slim. The result would be a wheel with a positive camber or tilt that will affect handling.
    – mikes
    Jul 10, 2013 at 21:49
  • @mikes also a very good point!
    – joelmdev
    Jul 10, 2013 at 22:10
  • @jm2: Well, I am aware that, theoretically speaking, messing with a fork can result in a failure. However, you can't tell that for sure before assessing the particular case, right? As for the symmetry issue, that's valid concern at any case.
    – Mladen Jablanović
    Jul 11, 2013 at 8:17
  • Maybe you could add a photo of this particular fork? But if it's not already using long reach brakes, that would seem the obvious answer.
    – armb
    Jul 11, 2013 at 9:27

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