Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Too Much of a Good Thing



I am rebuilding an old fixed gear for a friend to use when he visits in a week or two. I removed the freewheel from an old high flange Record hub, and tossed a 16t cog on. I cannot find red Loctite anywhere in this town. Sjur came to the rescue by offering red DT Spoke Prep. He claimed it was essentially the same as red Loctite. I was skeptical, but tried it anyway.

I built up the rest of the bike and took it out for a ride a few weeks ago-- when there was a very loud "foam party" in the neighborhood. I discovered the rear hub's bearing were destroyed. In the US I picked up the Formula hub. The flange is similar enough to the Campy that I should be able to simply rebuild the wheel. The other night I began the project. I debated whether I should remove the rim tape, and started loosening one of the spokes. Then I remembered: it would be impossible to remove the cog if I removed the spokes first. I grabbed the chain whip and worked on the cog. It would not budge. For the record, red Spoke Prep is as good as welding it on. I will need to use heat--- either a propane torch (the manly man's method)-- or as a friend suggested, using a creme brulee torch.

I think I will hit the hardware store after work. Lise can use the propane torch for creme brulees--- if it ever comes down to that. Besides, she generally disapproves of kitchen gadgets being used as bicycle tools.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

had a similar issue with my track bike, broke two chain whips in the process. The solution was to wrap some old chain around the cog and put it in a vise and used the wheel as leverage, just make sure you get the rotational direction right when you turn the wheel upside down.