Yesterday for the second time in a month I came across a strange situation. After stripping an old rigid frame Hard Rock and taking the cranks off I was in the process of removing the bearings and the bearings on the drive side would not come out. Thinking the bearing race was stuck I reached in with a small pick and tried to pull it out. No movement. I squirted some solvent in the cavity and cleaned it out thoroughly then looked inside. there was something not right about the bearing race . Figuring it had been welded in place by rust, I tried removing the bearing cup only to fail . that sucker was in there tight! finally, my friend Jack took a long screw driver and inserted in through the hole in the cup and caught the edge of the race and hit it hard with a hammer. Something fell out but it wasn't a bearing race. What we found was a cup shaped "washer" that was apparently used during assembly to hold loose bearings in the drive side bearing cup. That is only the second time in 10 years working at the bike Exchange that I have seen this. The first time I was successful in removing the cup and just replaced it with a new one and caged bearings.


Has anyone else ever encountered this. any insight appreciated.