First I cleaned the spindle. This is it after removing the hard, baked-on grease.
Then I chased the threads using my Campagnolo 721 BB tap set. French threaded. Forgot to take any photos, so this is the cleaned threads when I finished.
Barnetts recommends locktite 242 (medium thread lock) for the fixed cup. Given the French drive side is a right-hand thread, and will be loosened by cycling (unlike British and Italian), this seems doubly important. I couldn't find locktite thread locker at the hardware store, but got this instead.
Used the VAR BP-03000 tool to install the BB cup. I used the tool to make it as tight as my meager strength would allow. Hopefully this and the thread-locker will suffice.
Detailing the strip, clean, and reassembly of this bicycle. The bike is a BGA, which stands for Blanchard-Grange Armes. It was made in St Etienne in around 1935. The derailleur and brakes are ”Velectrik” which seems to be the house brand of Blanchard-Grange. The most interesting thing about the bike is the rear deralieur which is operated by a long leaver by the downtube, which in turn is linked to a rod which moves the derailleur CLICK ON THE PHOTOS IN EACH POST TO SEE THEM FULL SIZE.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
bicycle bell "ad-hoc depouse"
I think the bell is really cool on this bike.
Here it is before cleaning
Here it is after an overnight soak in Evapo-rust, and a good clean with a toothbrush, rag, and WD40
I am not going to try and polish the exterior, I like it just the way it is.
Just discovered one of these bells sold on Ebay for US $150 (more than I paid for the whole bike)
Here it is before cleaning
Here it is after an overnight soak in Evapo-rust, and a good clean with a toothbrush, rag, and WD40
AD-HOC DEPOSE |
MODELE DEPOSE |
I am not going to try and polish the exterior, I like it just the way it is.
Just discovered one of these bells sold on Ebay for US $150 (more than I paid for the whole bike)
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Crankset rust removal
I am getting very close to building the bike back up. First I need to remove the rust from my crankset.
Here are the products I used. I imported a 25 liter container of Evapo-Rust from Ireland, and tiped about 5 liters into the bucket shown. The crankset went into the bucket overnight.
The next morning I removed the crankset and it looked pretty black and ugly. I then dried it off with a rag and doused it in WD40. I then scrubbed the wet-with-WD40 crankset with 00 grade steal wool, and it came out looking pretty good. Then I painted on Rustol to hopefully prevent rust from reforming.
Here is a closeup where you can see the pitting, but at least the rust is gone.
Here are the products I used. I imported a 25 liter container of Evapo-Rust from Ireland, and tiped about 5 liters into the bucket shown. The crankset went into the bucket overnight.
The next morning I removed the crankset and it looked pretty black and ugly. I then dried it off with a rag and doused it in WD40. I then scrubbed the wet-with-WD40 crankset with 00 grade steal wool, and it came out looking pretty good. Then I painted on Rustol to hopefully prevent rust from reforming.
Before |
After |
Here is a closeup where you can see the pitting, but at least the rust is gone.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Frame Cleaning
I had thought the frame was pretty clean, but on closer inspection......
So, out with the Muc-off and tooth brushes
A bit of elbow grease and it looked much better
The Chainstays were very rough though
After it was clean, I used the french method of Steel wool and metal polish (Belgom ALU) to smooth out the chainstays a bit.
I then applied Pre-lim Surface Cleaner, and then 3 coats of Renaissance wax polish Its looking pretty good now.
Frame repair
Monday, August 19, 2013
Greasing derailleur pulleys
I wanted to get grease into the pulleys on the derailleur from my BGA velectrik
I Was able to dissasemble the small pulley by using unscrewing the cones, using a large screwdriver on one side to hold them, and using the points of a pair of large Ikea scissors to turn the other side.
Hers are the parts after being soaked in white spirits and cleaned.
TIP: don't leave parts in white spirits too long. They go rusty. I left these in for a few days, and had to clean the rust off afterwards (I was going to replace the bearings anyway)
Below is the pulley with the cone from one side in, and packed with bearings and Morningstar feehub soup grease.
Challenge: Where does the washer go? The picture above shows a small copper-colored split-ring washer that came out of the pulley. I cannot figure where/why to put it back in. It seems strange to put it in on one side only; and it seems like it would only interfear with the action of the bearings/cones. I have left it out.
Here is the pully packed with grease again.
Below are the 2 faces of the larger pulley
Challenge: How to dissasemble this pulley? I could isolate the face of the pulley on one side, and turn the face on the other side, but it just rotated, and did not screw off. I think they must be pressed in. I did not want to risk destroying it by levering it out.
My solution was to spray penetrating grease around the sides of the pulley. This actually seemed to get some grease in there. I didn't put the pulley in solvent before regreasing it... perhaps that was a mistake?
Monday, August 12, 2013
Rack repair needed.
I am still trying to find someone who can do a good job repairing the rear rack.
I have a private message on TonTon Forums asking for pictures of the damage, so I am posting them here.
I have a private message on TonTon Forums asking for pictures of the damage, so I am posting them here.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
problem with derailleur lever/rod connection
My problem is that there does not seem to be any way to secure the connection between the lever and the bolt shown in the bottom of this picture |
Here is the cleaned up bolt assembly. It now slides up and down the rod, and I do not think the derailleur will work unless I can secure it to the rod. |
I posted a request for assistance and a link to this posting on the comments section of the Bicycle Specialties blog post that mentions working on one of these bikes.
UPDATE - It turns out that this bolt is not one piece as I thought, but that it works just like any fender bolt, in that the nut pushes the washer onto the rod. Problem solved.
Reassembling the rear derailleur
all the parts ready for reassembly |
I am not sure how to lubricate these pullys. They sound dry and gritty. predictably, I was not able to get any of this grease to the bearings. |
I might try the actions described in this thread to clean the pullys above (I posted a question to this thread asking if this was a good idea);
Also this link has good information on lubricating freewheels
The spring and rod cleaned up OK. The spring still looks dirty, but I have scrubed and soaked as much as I want to. |
The metal parts are stained, but they are clean now. I greased the interface between the hanger and the derailleur mount, and the diagional sliding section is now very smooth. |
The reassembled mechanism |
The other side of the reassembled mechanism |
I wish I had taken more notice of this section when dissasembling. It seems the pully cage is pulled back by the spring until it touches the rod; this acts as a stop. |
Monday, August 5, 2013
Dissasembling and cleaning rear derailleur (part 2)
August 5 2013
Cleaned lots of the parts shown in these photos in white spirits.
The rod and spring are soaking in oxalic acid overnight.
Removed derailleur hanger from linkage strut |
Starting to clean derailleur wheel |
Cleaned |
Leading edge of strut mounting bolt is at 10mm. Leading edge of spring mounting bolt is at 111mm. Mounting bolts are at 180 degrees from each other |
spring mounting bolt detail. This was very hard to remove, even with lots of WD40. Was difficult to turn all the way to the end. |
Lever mounting bolt detail |
Lever mounting bolt removed. |
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