busted my ride
 

Title says it all. On my ride home from work today, i sheared my BB spindle off at were the square taper meets the bushing. Talk about depressing.

My bike is an older Panasonic sport deluxe that I have been working on for 6 months. My question is, where do I go from here? Is it possible to find a new spindle? How hard would it be (money wise and labor wise) to get a whole new bottom bracket, cups and all? I also live right outside philly ... should I be giving VIA a call?

cheers, I need all the help I can get now, i need to get my bike up and working before work again on saturday afternoon on a limited budget, so thanks much in advance.

you can get a new BB for $20. Chin up!

What Mouton said - maybe $10 for an install depending on where you go. If you have the tools, you can do it yourself. Measure the spindle and go get the closest or appropriate length. Probably something in the 68x115 range if it's an older bike and you're using a double crank.

115 is a bit huge... I'd suggest 107-109.5 - you might improve your chainline is you were merely making do with what you originally had with the bike.

I've never even heard of a 115.

My roommate's old bike and her boyfriend's ran 68x115 and 68x120 (!) respectively. They had 126mm rear spacing. The first frame (Bridgestone 400) was a 68x115 and perfect chainline was achieved with that with the ring on the outside (Sugino RT crank). The other was a Schwinn Traveler and with the ring on the inside, chainline worked well with a 68x120. Since a shop put that on his bike, I think it was wrong since the drive side was where that extra 5mm appeared. Ridiculously wide looking but felt fine with the frames and the rear spacing and most importantly, the cranks.

Find a bike co-op in the area and get that baby repaired for free.

40th and locust walk on UPENN's campus: the bike church, run by neighborhood bike works... Google should tell you when they're open, I haven't been there in at least a year.

39th and locust walk. (6:30-9 tues. thurs. sun.) look for the blue sign bike. we have bottom brackets so we probably have what you need. get there a little early. if you're there on sunday i can help you out.