Well, despite herculean
efforts, primal grunting and copious amounts of penetrant spray, the EAI Gold
Medal Premium sprocket was right royally stuck.
Thankfully, John was around that morning, so I dashed down, inbred hub
in hand. Locked within his vice, the usual, measured force was applied.
Extra long, custom brewed
chain whips, hammer and punch shifted the lock-ring. Persuading the sprocket
free ultimately lead to intelligently engineered force.
Having established the hub was
at the end of its long and useful life, we donned ear defenders and he cuts the
opposite flange square with his angle grinder. Flat flanges are easily gripped
within the vice jaws, making lock-ring and sprocket extraction that bit easier...In
theory. Practice proved a bit more involved...
The former required some blunt
persistence, from his hammer and punch. A gentle tinkling as it bounced across
the floor announced successful liberation.
Launching the final assault,
John grabs his prodigious, home brewed chain whip and wraps it anaconda fashion
around my prized, titanium oxide coated stainless steel sprocket. Starting
gently, he steadily increases the pressure, working counter clockwise until it
eases free-mission complete!
A reminder to strip, inspect
and re-grease components regularly, especially those under a lot of force and
in the firing line of dodgy water. John was trained by his father to strip his
bikes on a monthly basis.
The argument is very
persuasive. From a mechanic’s perspective, it enables easy evaluation of
component health and any potential problems to be blitzed before bigger
problems present.
Team mechanics will perform
this at the end of each stage race, given the money and potential losses at
stake. Seasonal strips are arguably the
best balance, especially on bikes seeing hard service. When testing really
“stiff” greases etc, I may exceed this.
Given the amount of waxy frame
preserve sloshing around inside my frames, bottom brackets and seatposts will usually
relent with nominal effort-even after 12months or so. Fixed transmissions are
low maintenance.
Beyond keeping an eye on
tension and drizzling lube on the chain, sprockets are usually forgotten, until
replacement, or some other remedial work needs doing.
White Lightning Crystal grease,
as used on the Halo hub threads was my default. https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/white-lightning-crystal-grease
However, I’d managed to misplace
the tube in all this excitement. Hence, the new hub threads received a liberal
basting of Park PPL1.
Galvanic corrosion (where
metals of different parentage seize) is to be avoided, at all costs. Lessons
have been re-enforced, so I vow to strip, inspect and replenish every three
months. Watch this space... https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/wheel-building-part-one-theory-and-
Otherwise some rim tape and a
30mm tyre later, we are ready for road testing. John reckons there might be some bedding in
and spoke stretch during the formative miles. Frankly, this is to be expected
and will necessitate another quick tweak on the jig but nothing out of the
ordinary. A bit like rot around Mk1 KA filler
caps...
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