Friday, January 2, 2009

Progress

I got the call from Colonel's this afternoon letting me know that my wife's frame was ready. I listened to my gut this time and decided to let the professionals deal with the task of removing the crankset, bottom bracket, and headset. The seatpost was stuck but I was fully expecting to require the services of a metal shop to remove it for me. 

When I arrived at the shop I was surprised to see that the seatpost had been removed. I was told that it took lots of time and effort to get that sucker out of the frame but they were successful. I was also told that they were unable to get the driveside crank arm to budge. They had to remove the opposite side arm and then remove the bottom bracket and drive side crankarm together as one piece.

The person who previously owned this bike had dogs as there were white dog hairs in the grease and around the spindle.



Nasty! Make sure you have plenty of grease on your seatpost!


I couldn't find a manufacturers name stamped anywhere on the headset. 



If I had tried to handle these things myself I would have been pulling my hair out. I've learned that sometimes you have to listen to your gut. 

After I clean up the frame a little more it will be ready for powder coating. I'm taking it to Enduro Coatings in Mesquite, Texas. They coat the frame and fork for $65 plus $10 for a clear coat. Thats less than half the price of other places in the D/FW area and everything I've heard about their work has been positive. I hope to have the frame over there sometime next week.

7 comments:

  1. That is a nasty looking seatpost. The bikeshop earned their pay getting it out of the seat tube.
    Rick Ankrum
    www.texbiker.net

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  2. That crank arm looks like a job for a good ol' can of Coke... that stuff will eat through rust and anything else on there.

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  3. Rick-Nice website. I'll be adding a link.

    Dogwood-I read about the Coke trick. I'll give it a try. If it doesn't work I'll soak it in ammonia.

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  4. That BB looks really nasty, even worse than mine. Great blog by the way, I'm really interested to see how the further restoration goes as I'm hoping to do something similar this year

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  5. Hey Andy, glad you like the blog. I was checking out your Xtracycle. I would love to have one. That may be my next big project. I'll be adding a link to your blog.

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  6. hellow xavalote , a good blog !!!!

    salut from catalonia !!!

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