Bicycle Mechanics - Oooold steel frame with crank prob

Fellow bike mates,
it was just two days ago when i found this lovely steel frame attached to some garbage at a garage sale. It is a grey Mercier (french, at the time the main competition to Peugeot bikes, I guess back in the 70s and 80s). You know the type with a partial chrome plated fork, lugs and tubes brazed together, no welds. To cut a long story short: My new to-be-refurbished-and-converted-to-singlespeed-frame...

Stripped it down neatly and kept some parts as they were really nicely done with a love for the detail such as the brakes, the pump holder, ... had some problems removing the headset though.

Now the problems remains with the cranks which gave me some hard time. I got loose the locking nuts but the cranks are still fastend with what is called by Barnett's bicycle manual a "cottered crank pin". It seems the guy that owned the bike before he put it on the pile of junk where I found it must have ridden the bike with the cotter pins loose and the crank arms dangling back and forth with every revolution. The pins ar now nicely bent out of shape and curved it seems. Barnett recommends plenty of oil and praying and some tool I don't have nor want to buy. Has anyone had a similar problem and found a way to solve it other than Barnett? I already tried a big fat hammer...

Would be grateful for any help on this guys!!

Amox

Sorry was too focussed on the problem before looking up the problem in the forum ...

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=28101&highlight=cotter

Never mind.

The cotter pins are very soft and easy to drill through. Start with a small drill and drill the length of the cotter pin. Go up in size until you've removed as much of the pin as you can. If the crank arms are junk then drill big and don't worry about damaging them further. I had a Mercier back in the mid 70's and wish I still owned it.

Hey, we didn't mind it at all. There's no such thing as a stupid question. Steel is real. And old is Gold. Just make sure you post some pics of this gem when you get it done. I'd love to see it!

Cottered cranks are no fun. Good luck. Sheldon describes his hammer method. I've used that; never drilled.

Ha haaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Hammering seems to be to hard on the bottom bracket itself... wouldn't do it. So I asked around in a couple of bike shops in the area and in one the owner came up with an antique tool (i mean antique) that was designated for just that task. Hard to decribe that thing. Looked like a bolt cutter, but shorter and instead of the blades it had a system to push the pins in or out, as you wished. Out was my joice, the first one popped right out, the other was a real b****. 10 min working back and forth but in the end he gave up on a sharp blow from a hammer-backed center punch. So: They're out!! YEEEEE-HAAAAA!! Dentists must feel the same after a tooth extraction ...

Now... which way to turn the cup? RH or LH? Fun never ends...

Keeping you posted...

Later

the drive side (rightside ) come out clockwise and the non drive side (left side ) come out counterclockwise . good luck .

What Bikeman715 wrote is not correct for your machine. Older French bikes like your Mercier have 35mm x 1mm RIGHT HAND threading on both sides of the bottom bracket.

I just ordered one of these:

http://bikesmithdesign.com/CotterPress/index.html

That was a VAR cotter press that Amoxocillan was talking about. I haven't seen one of those in 20 years.

Yeah, it's gorgeous, but pricey for a limited-use tool.

No it's not the one i was talking about but I wanted to get one at the local bike shop supplier... was told 1 month of delivery... but i will consider getting one of these. The other was too heavy and awkward to handle, there is a picture here, it is #7 http://www.sheldonbrown.com/var/pages/var0012.html

Re johnlyons53's comment: the threads, yes I believe it is RH on both sides. Thanks!