The trouble

Act one is where I ran into trouble. First, thw pedals were stuck. Every form of persuasion was futile, chemical and physical. Finally I took the pedal apart from the dust cap back. I wanted to get these pedals repacked so my pop could have fresh pedals. If they were stuck.. whatever.


I sunk to what has been called “bruit force and ignorance”. I used a large pedal wrench and repeatedly banged it on my anvil section on my vice. The wrench is untouched, my vice is a little banged up but I got the pedals off! So not that hard, just a little time consuming.

The cockpit was not a breeze. Nothing other than the cables/housing was original. Which is ok. But left for some decisions. Even though it was too long, the ambrosio stem was cool enough to make the cut. The modern nitto bars and super record levers were just not right for this bike. I am happy to use the levers for a cool super record build someday, and after buying a Nuovo record parts bundle here, and picking up orphan levers at meets, I have enough to make a good set! Which fit the bike much better than super record. All is good there, and I was also able to find an older cinelli bar at my co-op! It was pretty hammered and has a bad Harry Potter scar but it’s his size, the right vintage and was dirt cheap. So all is set there too.. but the trouble came when the ambrosio stem started to show its true colors.



I went along with breaking down the cockpit. But when I got to the bar clamp bolt, it was bent to all hell. Of course the clamp was bent and the bars were very stuck. This was my sign. “Just use a stem that you have that will fit him.. this stem is not worth it fitting badly and looking off(too long)”.

The stem I had isn’t the correct stem, but fits my pop great. And we’ll hunt for the correct “old logo” stem at the next swap.



The bump in the road was the freewheel! According to fleetvelo: the 26-14 Regina was what came from the factory on this bike. I came to the conclusion that is was better to install a SunTour perfect 28-14 and have him ride it more than keeping the Regina and not being able to get up the hills here without a lot of strain. I’ve been hoarding freewheels like a dragon when I realized I could outlive my ability to get more cogs. Story for another time. Needless to say I picked my best one and prepped for a good “wheel day”.

I got ready to remove the Regina freewheel: I removed the skewer spring on the nut side, set the freewheel tool in the slot, tightened the nut so there was only enough room to break the freewheel loose, not for the tool to move, I set the tool in my vise, pushed downwards as I turned the bus left…




I think I have enough material for one more try. But that will be for after Christmas. For now, I’m happy to let my pop use the wheels from my International and mothball her until I can get this Regina off. They are campy high flange (recently repacked) and mavic MA2 so plenty of good and periodish correct. So problem solved for now!