So I had the bright idea yesterday that i'd spend a few hours putting a rear suspension set up on big red. For those unfamiliar with it, red's my 9 foot long chopper, a head turner for sure, but murder on my back even with the sprung seat. I was given a dual suspension mountain bike(about 2 months old) that had been backed into by a car. The rear wheel was tacoed and 1 brake boss had been bent, but it was essentially o.k. for what I wanted.
Heres red, and an identical 2nd bike I picked up afterwards for a song;
The rear yellow section is what I planned to transplant. I figured maybe 1/2 hr to strip the suspension, then i'd start hacking on red. :roll:
Well, 3 hours later, I finally managed to pop 1 pedal arm off. :x :x :x This particular bike has the new style 3 piece sealed bearing crank, where the arms are held on by bolts as opposed to nuts like i'm used to. I had presumed that being pretty much new, it would practically fall apart! Folks, you all know what happens when u assume something right?
Only U werent there, which left me feeling like the u know what!
Anyway, once I had 1 arm off I was able to remove the locknuts and bearings from the bare side, and with the help of my fave B.F.H., eventually persuade the crank axle to pop out of the crank arm. I still cant get the bearing race/retainer whatchamacallit out of the crank side. The ol hammer n screwdriver trick resulted in a chewed up driver, and it also mauled the teeth on both sides of the jaws of a pair of vice grips :!:
Heres the mock-up of what i'd hoped to get finished yesterday.
Needless to say the welder got put away unused, because this was the next problem, the mtn bikes frame is aluminum, and reds frame is steel, so now I need to find some steel pipe/stock to make the new pivot point out of.
So until I can persuade that cup outta there, and maguyver a new pivot, red is still gonna give my back dickens. :?
Tell me again why I think this is fun ?
Thanks for allowing the rant, and Happy Easter to you and yours,
Rick
Heres red, and an identical 2nd bike I picked up afterwards for a song;
The rear yellow section is what I planned to transplant. I figured maybe 1/2 hr to strip the suspension, then i'd start hacking on red. :roll:
Well, 3 hours later, I finally managed to pop 1 pedal arm off. :x :x :x This particular bike has the new style 3 piece sealed bearing crank, where the arms are held on by bolts as opposed to nuts like i'm used to. I had presumed that being pretty much new, it would practically fall apart! Folks, you all know what happens when u assume something right?
Only U werent there, which left me feeling like the u know what!Anyway, once I had 1 arm off I was able to remove the locknuts and bearings from the bare side, and with the help of my fave B.F.H., eventually persuade the crank axle to pop out of the crank arm. I still cant get the bearing race/retainer whatchamacallit out of the crank side.
The ol hammer n screwdriver trick resulted in a chewed up driver, and it also mauled the teeth on both sides of the jaws of a pair of vice grips :!:
Heres the mock-up of what i'd hoped to get finished yesterday.
Needless to say the welder got put away unused, because this was the next problem, the mtn bikes frame is aluminum, and reds frame is steel, so now I need to find some steel pipe/stock to make the new pivot point out of.
So until I can persuade that cup outta there, and maguyver a new pivot, red is still gonna give my back dickens. :?
Tell me again why I think this is fun ?
Thanks for allowing the rant, and Happy Easter to you and yours,
Rick
