Rounded flats on drive side bb cup
 

UPDATE: BB removed by LBS with campy 793/A. I may re-use the cup after filing it down, but for now it’s gonna sit in the parts bin since I have another bb I can use. Reason for removing was to use on another bike, as I was selling this frame but wanted the bb.

Is this fubar, able to even be removed, re-usable? Flats stripped when I attempted to remove with too much force. Non-drive side came out fine, and rest of bb is perfect.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bb605011e.jpeg
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there's a way.

Get a large bolt, nut, and assortment of washers to approximate the Sheldon Brown tool.

Quoting sheldon here - pic below

The tool consists of a large bolt, a nut or two, and a few washers. I use a 5/8-inch 18 TPI hex bolt 1 1/2inches long, with a nut, a flat washer, and four lockwashers. The 5/8-inch size is the largest standard size that will fit through the hole in the cup. This bolt and nut both take a 15/16-inch wrench. With my 1/2 inch drive Craftsman six-point socket set, the 15/16-inch socket is also the largest size that will fit into a normal bottom bracket shell.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4bdcad6b79.jpg
Then tighten it down and use a big wrench or your bench vise to back the cup out.

Be sure you know which way it is threaded. Italian will be right hand thread (lefty loosey)

/markp

You should be alright, try clamping your wrench so it can’t slip over the edge. There are a few methods. Sometimes I use a J-clamp.

If you have access to a bench-mounted vice, clamp the cup in the jaws and turn the frame (from the head tube end). As others have mentioned, be sure to triple check the correct direction to loosen.

per the markings on the cup, it's Italian thread so convention RH threads. lefty loosey

my opinion is that the wrench flats are shot. Use the bolt method - it never fails.

/markp

1. The Sheldon Brown nut-washers-bolt method (see above) is the best.
2. You could always use a Dremel to reshape the flats on the cup.
3. Sometimes applying just a bit of (in your Italian case) clockwise force, followed immediately by an abrupt jerk anticlockwise will do the trick.
4. I wonder if a prior owner applied Loctite to the threads, as I have had to do on a couple of French and Italian bikes I have owned. (There is a good reason the Brits, Swiss, and everyone else use a LH thread on the drive side.)

Agreed. Just one thing to add, on the off chance that Loctite was used, you might want to try adding heat. That will complicate things, since the alu expands more than the steel, it will tighten the fit. But (just maybe) the Loctite being weakened might overcome that disadvantage.

So I'd try the Sheldon bolt first and if it doesn't come free right away, then try heat. A hair blow-dryer will suffice if you put it on high and let the heat soak in for a long time. A heat gun, typically used for shrinking heat-shrink tubing, is hotter and works faster but those can damage paint, so don't go for maximum heating. Propane blow-torch is a no-no! Rusty farm equipment yes, nice painted bike frame no.

There's always the option to just leave it in, and clean/regrease in-situ. Put off removing it, until the bearing race is pitted -- maybe by then you'll be ready for a repaint anyway, so you can even melt it out. I'm not joking, alu parts can actually be melted out of a steel frame, doesn't hurt the steel or the braze if done carefully. I've never had to do it on a BB cup though, only stems and seatposts.

Took to my LBS, they got it out with a big headset press type thing and a pipe on the end for extra leverage. I guess similar concept to the Sheldon brown mechanism. BB shell threads are clean thankfully, was just wedged in there for 35 years and in storage.

BB cup races are super clean (white marks are just reflection from the ceiling light). Threads are good, but the flats are rounded, more so on one side. Is it salvageable (it’s early c-record that takes 3/16” bearings so a little harder to find as just a cup).

photos below:

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You could try restoring the flats with a file, but I doubt it would work because being an Italian BB it needs to be installed very tight.

I've just removed a fixed cup using the Sheldon Brown method.
It had been in place for about 71 years.
Soaked it in penetrtaing oil for 4 days and then used 4 foot of scaffolding pole as a cheater bar.

Got the scaffolding pole from a builder working on the house next door, asked and got it for free.
Do yourself a favour and get one :)

I would not re-use that part.

but you do you

/markp

File new flats at 90 degrees.

They don't even have to be equal, just parallel.

That is why I leave well enough well alone if the bearing tracks are good!

Something like this?
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...883635488c.jpg
Well, they call it a "fixed cup" for a reason: there's no compelling need to remove it from the frame for routine maintenance. Just clean it up in place the next time you repack the bottom bracket. If/when it becomes worn enough to justify replacement, take it back to that shop with the proper tool, or use the bolt method others have described above, to remove it.

This. The cup is battered already so filing flats on it won’t hurt its “vintage value”. I’d go back to the shop with the Campy 793/A tool and use it to mark where the new flats should be.

You folks that would reuse that are bolder than I am.

This is an easy, half hour, repair. File the once flat flats flat again. Do your best to get the reflatted flats parallel to one another. Use a 12" or 15" adjustable wrench for torque. Then get a big bolt (I used a 5/8" coarse thread bolt, nut and appropriate washers). Feed the big bolt into a washer, then into the non-drive side of the cup and through the cup on the other side. Fit the adjustable, snug the bolt nut finger tight and washer up against the wrench and bob's your uncle - almost. Of all the stuck bb cups, this method has failed me only once. Bonne chance...
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...404867508f.jpg
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And for everyone who might run into the tight cup syndrome, always always start with the big bolt procedure or you just might be the next guy or gal to screw up the flats. Trust me on this.

:thumb: but as others've posted, there's enough of the rim left intact onto which you can carefully file new flats for next time.

Still, I'd be looking for a replacement simply out of a lack of trust in just how long that cup will hold up to your usage habits.

May want to have your LBS reface that BB end too, it looks a little abused in your pic.

Note to self: Avoid C-Record BB with that ridiculous tapered face of the fixed cup.

Ya that’s the tool they used.

I was taking it off a frame I’m selling and was planning on using the bb for another bike of mine. Had no prob taking off a chorus Italian threaded fixed cup of the same vintage from my other bike, didn’t expect this c-record one to seize up and strip the flats like that, but I didn’t know it was aluminum vs. steel one like the chorus. Lesson learned : /

Or cut with a dremel to a distance a wrench comes in.

or cut them with a dremel, maybe even to a size wrench you have

The tool the LBS used was probably something like the old Kingsbridge fixed cup tool, which is a shop version of Sheldon's BB&N (Big Bolt & Nut). I have always been glad that I bought mine decades ago, as it has never failed. Be careful if using an adjustable wrench held tight against the BB, as many of these have a taper to the jaws and are difficult to keep fully engaged with the flats. I have used the Kingsbridge tool to get out frozen adjustable cups. I've had frames handed to me where the mechanic can't get enough purchase with a pin spanner to get the adjustable cup out. What I'll do is to pull the fixed cup by putting a flat wrench on it (if I have the size), and holding the wrench against the BB by adding a Regina freewheel body, held in place by a crankarm bolt and large washers. Once I get the fixed cup out, I'll use the Kingsbridge tool on the adjustable cup. I've had to use a cheater bar to get the tool clamped down tight enough, but it's never failed or destroyed the cup.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4c0982b134.jpg
Long end goes into the BB shell. You turn the tool on whichever side will turn the cup in the required direction, clockwise.

Fixed cup = no adjustment, not leave in place forever or because you don't want to deal with it.

You were lucky they had the tool and still know how to use it. ;)