Fighting with a bottom bracket

I've always been a "Know enough to be dangerous" kind of person. I have always been willing to jump into a situation without completely knowing what the heck it is that I'm doing. Sometimes that makes me look like a total badass...most of the time it makes me look like a total jackass.
The green bike I posted about earlier had a cottered crank, I wanted to replace the double crank with a slick Shimano triple I picked up. If you've never had to deal with one, consider yourself lucky. Some older bikes used wedged shaped fasteners called "cotters" to hold the cranks on the bottom bracket axle. They have a nut to hold them in place and they have to be driven or pressed in. If they've been in there for a while they are a real pain to get out.

The cottered crank on my Raleigh twenty

 The non drive side came out fine, "Super easy" I thought to myself. "I'll have this thing off and ready to climb steep hills with my triple in no time" The bicycle gods had a different idea of course. I worked on the drive side and the thing wouldn't budge. I used oil, penetrating oil, WD-40...I'd use WD-50 if they made it. I tried to get it out with a punch and hammer, I tried drilling it, I tried every trick in the book (except taking it to an old bike shop and having them use a cotter press, a tool used for just this purpose) I tried cutting it with my dremel...that was a waste of time. I finally had to take it to my bench grinder and grind and grind until it fell apart. 

Well, there was no going back now, the crank was trashed but at least I could get to that non adjustable cup. I tried to get it off with my wrench but it wouldn't budge. I took it to my favorite bike shop and they couldn't move it either. I took it to another bike shop and they decided to try it the other direction and it twisted right off. 

What we seemed to have there was a Swiss bottom bracket. What does that mean? It means that although it's threaded like a French BB at 25.4 TPI the fixed cup is threaded opposite of  the French by being threaded left handed. In other words I'm kinda screwed.

I later found there were other solutions. I could a) keep the cups (i was able to save them) and find an Japanese made square taper spindle that was intended for Italian bikes...still with me? I found one or two of them but I couldn't find the right size. b) purchase a new bb cartridge from Phil Wood for like $200 (ain't happening) or c) I can get threadless bottom bracket from VO (still a little pricey) or Sunlite ( cheap...now you're talkin). Why the price difference? because you always get what you pay for.

So I stripped the frame of all the components because by this time I got my Schwinn Continental (more on that bike in another post). I rattle canned the frame a nice dark green and was about to rebuild it yet again as as a single speed or possibly a fixie when we decided to sell our house. My whole summer was spent cleaning, throwing stuff out and getting things fixed that needed fixing for the past 10 years. There was no time for bike building or riding. All our work paid off because we sold the house in 3 days.

Once we got settled in I was able to start tinkering again. The new house left us a little cash poor for a bit so buying a flip flop wheel was out of the question. If I was going to rebuild this bike, I would have to do it with parts I had it laying around. Fortunately,  I had a lot of spare parts. I had a 26 inch wheel set - 3 speed coaster brake- so I was good there....sort of. The old green bike was intended for 27 inch wheels, that inch makes a difference. I needed short cranks, the shortest I could find was 152mm. If I spent a little more time I could have found a crankset with a slightly larger chain ring (this one only had 32 teeth) but I didn't want to spend a lot of money and this was super cheap. Remember when I said you get what you pay for? 

It couldn't be more true. I don't know if it was the cheap BB or the cheap crank but the non drive side crank would always come loose. I guess something was stripped or the crank didn't quite fit on the taper. Either way having to tighten it every few miles got old quick. It was a fun ride while it lasted though.

I kept the wheels and saddle but everything got donated to B-Works St. Louis thus ending my affair with this old green unspectacular 70's road bike. I think I learned more about wrenching a bike with this thing than any other bicycle. For that Mr Kalkhoff I thank you - whoever you are.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, keep your spanners where you can find them!

The many faces of that green bike

I once had a green bike that went through so many incarnations during the time I owned it my wife swore I bought 4 different bikes.

It started out with a craigslist ad about a Raleigh Sprite 5 speed. I dig British bikes and this one was right up my alley. When I got there the lady couldn't have been nicer. The bike was on the lawn, nice and shiny and the tires were filled up with air. I had the cash in hand and ready to park my hinder on some fine English steel. One problem though -  the frame was WAY too tall for me. I'm 5'11" which most would consider an average height but this bike was made for someone at least 6'4". I asked how tall her husband was and she said about my height. How he rode this contraption I'll never know. 
She had another bike out side too. It was your typical 70's import road bike - 10 speeds, suicide brake levers, vinyl bar tape- the whole megillah. I came to buy a bike and gosh darn it if I wasn't coming home with out one. The brand was Kalkhoff -made in West Germany. I never heard of them but apparently they are still in business. 

As you can see it's noting spectacular.
Just a 70's road bike. Steel, lugged frame with cottered cranks. It wasn't going to stay that way for long. 
First off, those drop bars had to go and so did that cheap plastic saddle. By this time I felt confident enough in my mechanic skills to re do the brakes and derailleurs so I yanked out all the cabling and got a new chain for it . 

 This was the result. It looks pretty good in a circus wagon kind of way. I got the reverse brake levers from Velo Orange, The saddle off Ebay and the white tires from china somewhere...I think I got those from Amazon. It rode pretty good and it was very unique. I should have left well enough alone but it's not in my nature.

I'm a fan of the blog Lovely bicycle and the author of the blog, who goes by the name "Velouria" got me thinking of some other improvements I can make to this campus green German creature.
I got a Brooks B-15 saddle off ebay cheap. B-15 you ask?

  I did some research and apparently B-15's were stock on some higher end Raleigh road bikes. I don't think they were available by themselves but I could be wrong.

 It was a little rough but I was assured it was rideable. After a little bit of proofhide the leather was soft and looked as good as a 40 year old saddle could look. This saddle has moved from bike to bike and I still use it on my main rider. I Heart Brooks saddles- but I'll cover those in another post.

Along with the saddle I got some "Belleville" bars from VO and some Planet Bike Fenders. On Lovely Bicycle, She posted about cork tape, twine and shellac. I figure i'd give it a try. 

Some people love it some people scratch their head at what came next. I liked the Bellville bars but they were kind of narrow. The bar tape was a little squishy for my taste but other than that I was happy with the results. I got a few canvas bags at the military surplus store and a frame pump and I rode it like this for a good while. 

My next goal was to get rid of the cottered cranks. That was an adventure in itself. I'll cover that next time.

until then - ride it like ya stole it