Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Washington County, Vermont, USA
Posts: 3,778
Bikes: 1966 Dawes Double Blue, 1976 Raleigh Gran Sport, 1975 Raleigh Sprite 27, 1980 Univega Viva Sport, 1971 Gitane Tour de France, 1984 Lotus Classique, 1976 Motobecane Grand Record
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I like the hydraulic press idea. I think I'm going to try a local machine shop in Barre.
The photo certainly makes it look as if the spindle is bent, but I'm pretty sure that's a distortion in the image. I haven't removed the bent arm yet so can only rotate it around 200 degrees before it hits the frame, but it seems to rotate normally that far--no sign of any binding or unevenness. More important, it doesn't look bent when you look at the actual bike. The spindle is a very hard, stiff piece of steel--I'd think that any impact forceful enough to bend it would have twisted the frame, too, which seems not to be the case.
But then again, maybe the frame is slightly bent. I sure hope not. When I get around to it, I'll do a quick-and-dirty frame alignment check with a piece of string.
It could have been a lot worse. And of course, it's only a bike.
Last edited by jonwvara; 08-08-14 at 05:57 AM.