I recently got into wrenching on bikes and upgrading old bikes with new stuff. Recently meaning since Christmas when my wonderful wife got me a workstand and bike tools. So as you know, sometimes the new doesn't work well on the old and sometimes the old doesn't want to give up it's BB, seatpost, or quill stem. What do you do when you find yourself changing a BB for an hour and a half and it should have taken 5 minutes and it's still not coming off or going on right? Take a break, throw things around the garage, stiff drink, suck it up and deal with it. . .? I love this new obession, but sometimes I think I need a hobby to distract me from my obession when things get frustrating.

Been there. I drink or otherwise self-medicate, and when necessary, I break things to relieve the stress. Nothing like smashing a plastic chair to cool you off a bit.

Don't be afraid to take a stubborn job to the LBS. It beats wrecking a delicate part or mashing up threads...

I post on BFs......

LBS...also, sometimes by taking a break, and reflecting on the situation an alternate approach or solution will come to you. The last stuck bottom bracket fixed cup I had, I ended up securing the tool and rotating the frame about it, which worked.

Took it to the lbs last time. Had the mechanic work half a day on the sucker . Best news is, despite the fact that he is in his twenties and works at a speicalized dealership selling only supermodern carbon bikes with the s-word branded components on them he still prefers old campy ball bearing bb's for their smooth operation and built to last philosophy over the shimano system.

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If you weren't wrenching on old bikes you wouldn't have a chance to spend so much time wrenching!

I've got one project I got so pissed off at that I put it out in the driveway to get rained on for a couple of weeks as punishment for its insolence

"And you stay out there and think about what you've done! Come back when you're ready to cooperate."

I just go to work on one of my 3-speeds, and then I forget all the troubles I had with the 10-speeds.

For stuck BBs I go to LBS. they have a VAR BB fixed cup remover
and a 4 ft. cheater bar, works a treat as our british cousins say.
Last one I took in was my 1st Zieleman, after about 5 minutes of
gorilla work on the BB it gave out with a loud crack which I thought
was the frame giving up the ghost, never knew rust made noise.
I then went out bought a 6 pack of Shiner long necks and gave
them to the mechanic, well worth the cost as I think I'd still
be working on it.

Marty

precisely

Temperatures cooled off a bunch, so I can give it a go this evening and this weekend without too much sweating.
I get pissed off faster if I'm getting really sweaty while failing at something

I have another post for the LBS - What do you do when your local bike store charges $$$ and then lectures you about how what your doing isn't going to work. I wish we had a good LBS around here, I do have a robbietunes, but he's busy wrenching on his own bikes.

When I encountered a super seized BB cup on a bike I was overhauling, I took the frame to a friend's house and had him use his welding torch on it. All it took was a brief (5-15 seconds) application of heat, which caused the aluminum to expand and then shrink as it cooled. The expansion and shrinking caused it to loosen enough for me to slide it off with a hand tool.

It was a frame I was already planning on powdercoating, so the slight blackening to the paint didn't end my love for the bike. Obviously for a detail/restoration job, where repainting wasn't an option, this method may not be advisable.

Listen to the lecture....you paid for it. You might learn something...or you might not, but you definitely won't if you don't take the time to hear 'em out. You can decide on your own time whether or not the lecture had any merit or application to what you're doing.

Just don't bother arguing with em and don't turn a well-intentioned lecture into a show of wits. Its pointless.

I agree. I love to learn and listen really well. But I think your qualifier "well intentioned lecture" is the key. My experience with LBS has been less than pleasant, but I'm sure there are some great LBS's around just haven't found the right one.

I had a great LBS until the owner sold it off and wrenches moved on. I'd bring something in, along with a 6 pack of some microbrew, that either I didn't have correct tool or was just really buggered and they would be "WTF are you up to now Dan?" They would see the beer and drop what they were doing to take care of whatever problem I have. The new owner is a nice enough guy and while it is still a "local" shop it doesn't have the same character as a place that you can barter services for beer.

Buy more tools.




But I do have a couple LBSs that don't mind pulling a stubborn cup, or retapping the BB shell whn the threads are buggered. I still haven't been able to justify the level of expense for some of these.

I usually just put it aside for a while a come back with fresh perspective (or at least refreshed patience).

+1 "take it to the pros if it's really buggered" but be aware that if you're handy, they might not have any better luck than you.

I once took a really frozen auto suspension bolt to a machine shop after I failed to remove it with all my options. I paid $30 for their time despite failing to remove it... but that didn't even start to pay for the 2 Snap-On impact sockets they broke while trying. (In the end a junkyard owner burned it out lengthwise with a torch for me... and didn't even melt the rubber bushing surrounding it. Torch skills are amazing.)

I second the buy more tools.. I like collecting tools almost as much as the bikes! Being a mechanic already having the right tool for the job (or making one) is hard wired into my system.

I third the buy-more-tools option. I'm of the mind that any bike-related job is do-able given the right tools. Of course, fixing that $20 bike by purchasing a $100 tool doesn't make any fiscal sense, but I've never had much of that.

Neal

+1 for the LBS over caveman 'heat it & beat it" brute force if you're not sure.

I just got schooled by a young punk at my lbs for the first time a couple weeks back. I decided it was time to get my wife's favorite bike back in working order instead of trying to talk her into riding the mixte that would eventually be the better bike. Since I didn't ever get round to building a new coaster brake rear wheel for her cruiser I did the sensible thing and just bought one so the bike would be ready for her on her birthday(which fell on Mother's day).

Unfortunately I didn't bring the tire in when I bought the wheel and when I tried to mount the still fairly new tire it wouldn't seat properly. I thought I'd get it, then the tube would blow out and it'd go all hula bike. I took it and the wheel in to see if I had gotten the wrong size, but then I watched this young whipper snapper inflate the tire just a tad, rotate it, center it, inflate a little more, repeat, repeat, repeat. Patience won the day, although he did have a bit of an easier time because he could more easily keep the tire centered while adding air from the compressor whereas I have to use the hand pump. Still I was glad to learn something. Icing on the cake was that they didn't charge me, which was unusual, but maybe it was because I had just bought the wheel from them the day before.

i remember that the drive side bottom bracket is reverse threaded.
i loosen the quill stem bolt and give the bolt (if it's hex) or the top of the hex wrench (if it's a recessed bolt) a rap with the hammer.
i pour some ammonia on the seat post.

Zaphod and Colonel you guys crack me up! I had to read your stuff aloud to my wife.

I'm of the opinion that if I ever need to do something more than once in my life to just buy the tool. Often it pays for itself in the end and I don't like to have to depend on someone else whether I'm paying for the work or not. Then again I have a tool fetish. I do like my cheap tools and HF knockoffs. If I can make a tool myself rather than buying one that is even better.

Lately I've purchased a Bendix 2-speed Automatic kickback coaster-brake hub. Now WAY I'm going to just put it on any bike without tearing that bad boy apart and seeing what makes it click inside! I need to make myself one of those special cone tools out of either a rod coupling or a 3/8" gas pipe. Wouldn't think of buying the actual tool when I can make my own

Love my home-made $16 cotter press. Just used it yesterday to press out some 50-year old cotters that came out with no fuss after cranking on my socket wrench to just push them out.

Yup -I have a tool fetish and I like the cheap trampy tools just as much as the high-class society tools.

Lay hands on the offending part and have a healing service? Call in the elders and seek their counsel? Take it to the next blessing of the bikes?

Call in the Clan Mothers to have a prayer walk...