Originally Posted by
boneshaker78
I recently picked up an old Nashbar Toure MT in great shape. It has what I believe to be a Suntour VX bottom bracket sealed cartridge style. I would like to remove it so that I can apply frame saver. I would also like to use it because I'm sure they are of good quality. I'd like to find the tool for this part but I'm guessing I'm screwed. Any suggestions?
I had a Suntour VX bottom bracket on an old Ritchey. Nice unit: the bearings (cartridges) are relatively standard spec, and are easy to replace. The VX BB is of high quality construction, and features a hollow steel spindle. Well worth saving. Cost for each cartridge: about $3 online.
I (reluctantly) visit a bike shop about once every 5 years for repair work, and on this occasion, I asked them to fix or replace my crunchy Suntour BB. When I got my bike back, they had replaced it with a nasty, cheap & heavy Shimano cartridge unit, and thrown away all of the old parts. I asked them to return the remnants of my old BB, which they did with much complaining. Of course they didn't have the proper tool, so had removed the VX with a hammer and metal chisel. I assume that is why they needed my bike for a week. Turns out one of the 2 cartridges was bad, the other was in great shape. So this fiasco cost me 2 trips to the shop and an $80 bill.