Rebuilding my Pista Hub
 

Before I say anything else, I want to make it very clear that I did not buy my Pista from WebCyclery, and anything I have to say about my lbs does not apply to WebCyclery.
Kevin, at WebCyclery, has impressed me as extraordinarily knowledgeable and possessed of good judgement.

That said:

During some recent bike maintenance, in which I had my rear wheel off my Pista, I noticed the axle felt gritty and rumbly when turned by my fingers.
With the wheel on the bike, whether on the workstand or while riding, I don't notice anything, except, on the workstand, the wheel doesn't seem to spin freely for as long as I think it should.

I suspect my lbs overtightened the cones of my Pista hub, and, here I show my ignorance, because I assume my Pista has conventional cup and cone bearings.
Now, someone please put me out of my newbie misery if I have that wrong (it won't hurt my feelings).

Anyway, during my recent recovery from an accident, I gave my Pista to my lbs for a post-accident inspection/repair, and because I wanted the frame internally treated with rust-preventative.
I mean, I couldn't ride it for a month and, given the amount of pain-killers I had on board, I didn't have much incentive or wherewithall to work on it myself, so I gave my precious to my lbs.

When I got it back, I put it on the workstand, not having ridden it yet, and noticed that the rear wheel would not spin freely.
If I pedaled by hand and then let go of the pedal, the rear wheel came to an almost instant stop.
I called my lbs and they acted surprised, since they had "test-ridden" it.
I could see that they had "test-ridden" it because they had adjusted the saddle to the other end of the rails from where I keep it.
That suggested a fairly long test-ride, to me.
Anyway, my lbs said, over the phone, that I probably had an overly-tight chain, and to bring it back in to them for adjustment.
An overly-tight chain?
Oh well.
I took it back in and left it for a few hours, and when I got it back the rear wheel spun more freely.

OK.

Well, during recent maintenance, after reassembling the Pista and putting my new MKS chaintugs on it, as an experiment I tried to tighten the chain to where the chain itself would bind the rear wheel, but it had little or no effect.
Ah.
I started to put the mental pieces together.
I read Sheldon Brown's essay on cup and cone bearings, and I think my lbs simply way over-tightened the cones and then rode around on the bike, perhaps around the block, or perhaps for a few days, given the saddle adjustment.

It has occurred to me, then, that it might make sense to replace the bearings and cones on my Pista.
What a worthy learning project.

So, I need info.
Do I have a cup and cone hub?
How can I tell, externally?
If cup and cone, what size ball bearings do I need and does one cone fit all?
Tools?
Solvent?

I have read Sheldon Brown's article on cup and cone overhaul, and it seems like a reasonable afternoon job, assuming no cup damage from the over-tightening.
However, the article, although well-written, does get a a little vague, to me, at points.
Any input before I shoot myself in my foot?

Short version:

Does the Bianchi Pista have cartridge bearing hubs, or cup and cone bearing hubs?

Yes, but which one?

ken, i found this http://66.102.7.104/custom?q=cache:6...hl=en&ie=UTF-8 on the harris cyclery site, which seems to indicate that they have cartridge bearings.

hth.

They might be different though since the Harris page lists the 2004. I have the front wheel from a 04 and the rear wheel from a 05. The rear is the survivor of my accident. The 04 front is a donation from Stickerguy from his Pista. I am selling off the bike.

What's odd and this doesn't answer your question (sorry) Ken is that the front hub looks very much like a DuraAce hub sans the black decal/marking - it has the cutout for it even. Supposedly it's a Shimano hub.

The newer ones have a nice high flange shell as well but are not the same hubs - they are fixed/fixed which is really nice. I do suspect they are catridge though as I've looked at it and they're similar from a glance to the bearings on my Phils.

YMMV.

I really like the Park Tool hub overhaul article. Never can read too much technical stuff, eh? http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/howfix_hub.shtml

Their method for tightening one side of the axle into the dropouts to test play and adjust is very useful, I find.

I believe they're cartridge bearings. That said, having the cones overly tight will affect the wheel's spin with cartridges also. I've had the same problem with a Miche hub (cartridge) and an inept mechanic. Get some cone wrenches and take it apart. If it's loose ball, you know what to do. If it's cartridge, just adjust the cones so they're not so tight. And if that doesn't solve your problem replace the cartridges.

And don't use that LBS anymore. There's nothing they can do for your fix that you can't do better yourself given the proper tools, and after paying them to screw your ride up a few times you will have spent enough to buy the tools you need.

Wilcru wrote:

"...after paying them to screw your ride up a few times you will have spent enough to buy the tools you need."

I agree.

it is quite possible to overtighten your chain to thye point where it does not spin freely. if there is absolutely no vertical play in your chain whatsoever then its too tight and will make it much harder for the wheel to, for lack of a better term, "coast." im not sure if thats still the matter at hand but i thought i might throw that out there

its a sealed cartridge bearing hub. it should take you or your LBS less than $12 and 11 minutes to make the change. Per wheel.

Interesting link, but has absolutley nothing to do with overhauling sealed cartridge bearings, like mr. cox has on his pista...

Next time I'll quote more. Since the two previous posts were definite maybes, and the second and third pictures in that article show the visual differences, it was relevant.

Since it's now been established they're cartridge bearings, here's an overhaul description from the mechanics' forum.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...09&postcount=2

Also consider that it may very well have been an overtightened chain. If you really pull it tight at the loosest spot in the crank's rotation (they aren't perfectly round) then it can bind at the tightest spot. However, if this is the case, it is fairly obvious, as it only binds or gets really hard to move at one spot in the rotation. Also, you can just put your finger on the chain and see how tight it is yourself.
Although this may be a moot point now.