I'm posting because searching for the above results in lots and lots of ways to remove everything except the item I want.

I have several single speed and very pretty crank rings that I'd like to make wind chimes out of, but the crank arm almost seems hot pressed to the arm. I wanted to check before I hit this thing with a grinder, what is the best way to remove the crank ring from the crank arm? Below I have pictured what I'm talking about, most of the ones I have are on old cotter pinned arms.



Thanks for any suggestions you can provide.

The ring around the center is metal in the crankarm, forged over the chainring.. to make it function like 1 piece ..

if you use a big enough drill in a drill press , you can cut through what is essentially a rivet, Aka, Swaged connection ..

Forget the drill, you'll need too large a countersink to do the job. Simply use a bench grinder to grind off the retaining flange and pop off the chainring.

BUT, before you do that, think about how you'll attach it's replacement.

Good info for others, I'm making wind chimes so being destructive to the arm is fine. These are the top ring holder of the chimes, the gears from the free wheel in different sizes are the chimes. Wife is using fishwire and beads to hang them. Another neat way to use scrap bike parts.

So the plan is hang the ring then dangle more stuff from the 3 bolt holes.. ?

whatever works .. got no idea of tool's there..


bench grinders also throw whats being ground across the room, so use caution.

Probably 9 on this one based on the ends of the small openings and a tooth and the center of the large opening and a tooth. The 3 holes will probably act as the top strings the hold the whole thing up.

I'll just take a hand grinder to it then given there is no magic method it is as it appears. Thanks for the help guys. I'll post a picture when its done.