Rub a Dud Hub......Shifting the Seized Sprocket

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...          

Fixed (Almost Claims) Finger

This is one of those urban myth turns disturbingly real moments on a par with the infamous worn shoe cleat incident back in 2008. Having reverted to some 25mm thick slicks and given the Ilpompino a quick blow over with this here Purple Harry bike wash, I was cleansing the transmission with a cloth dipped in Shell’s finest when a moment’s distraction saw my index fingers sandwiched between revolving 1/8^th half-link track chain and razor sharp EAI sprocket.

Those initial seconds of panic suggested partially severed digit but ten hours in accident and emergency revealed “severe crush injuries”-fractured fingertip, badly damaged nail bed and related complications. To their credit, the empathy and professionalism shown by surgical and nursing staff was truly phenomenal and serves to illustrate how fortunate we in the UK are to have a national health service of this calibre. However, successive administrations have been eroding this precious resource, or undermining its credibility with frightening stealth.

Subsequent visit meant seven hours wait, thirty-five minutes under local anaesthetic as the surgeon skilfully flush the wounded area with saline and disinfectant before removing the nail bed, suturing damaged tissues. Since then I’ve partaken in a cathartic “hair of the dog” ritual, drizzling fresh lube into each and every link in much he same fashion as we might hop back on following a spill to prevent aversion/irrational fear taking hold. Having repatriated bike, workstand and assorted potions to their rightful place in the garage, it occurs to me that for the most part magic bike wash formulas are variations upon a relatively similar theme.

More aggressive types contain greater intensities of ionic surfactants, commonly found in domestic detergents, which while effective, can ultimately lead to streaking and in some cases corrosion around eyelets, sometimes plated/polished sections too. That said, this is easily countered with periodic furniture polish/polymer wax treatments. Gentler formulas are kinder, albeit higher maintenance-especially when witches’ brews of road specific grime’s involved.   

So, what have we learned from this particular tale of woe? Always use a long handled brush and turn the wheel, as apposed to cranks cautiously when fettling chains-that goes for single-speeds too- you have been warned. Hope this episode hasn’t spooked Joshua since he’s been revelling in two-wheeled freedom these past few weeks.

Incident aside, the majority of that week was spent aboard the Teenage Dream, which is as rewarding as ever to ride once I’d cured the Regina screw on block’s protesting pawl springs with a few drops of winter weight Weldtite wet lube and substituted the Prolite Cles for this droop snoot Selle SMP strike plus cutaway. The otherwise technically superlative grey polymer bar wrap has started looking decidedly jaded-hence will be superseded by these rather ravishing Ritchey reels but that’s about the extent of modification. Oldie but goodie, we dropped two macho boys who drew alongside with a competitive stance while said twenty something and I whizzed serenely through the twisties. Regular Thursday nighter’s who’ve shown laden Univega and I a clean set of hoops on several occasions, they seemed more than a little surprised when I cruised past, giving considerably greater clearance than they typically afford me.

 One clung to my rear wheel in a desperate attempt to save face (overtaken by a fella riding a friction shift-oh the shame!) but rapidly relented as tempo and gradients increased. I’m all for a bit of friendly competition but don’t take kindly to etiquette that belongs in bunch sprints, not sleepy backwaters. 

Overtake so as not to almost nudge bars, or causing the “slower” rider to brake sharply to avoid collision. Shame I wasn’t wearing the wingman that evening- would’ve made good footage. Speak of the devil, slightly wibble prone handlebar bracket and irksome micro (as opposed to fully fledged) SD card aside, I’m really chuffed by the little camera, which delivers audio/visual feedback on par with Go Pro’s hero and has as many mounts as one could possibly crave.

Will try and upload some evidence in the coming weeks once a 32gb card arrives and my braking hand has healed satisfactorily. Continuing this disciplined theme comes the book’s resurrection with a provisional Christmas completion date. Approaches to established publishers have reaped relatively little reward, historically and currently so I may succumb to the lure of Amazon’s e-book platform, if only to ensure its tangible existence.