1954 English 3-speed

[mimitabby]

hey did you try putting some leather treatment on that saddle? It looks like the top surface is cracked but maybe not all the way through?

[DebW]

hey did you try putting some leather treatment on that saddle? It looks like the top surface is cracked but maybe not all the way through?

I haven't done anything to it. It's close to pulling through a few of the back rivets and one or more of the front ones.

[Popoki_Nui]

NEAT bike! Enjoy the rebuild, especially the SA hub. Never been brave enough to tackle one of those, myself....

[DebW]

The steel rims on this bike are very rusty and the spoke tension rather poor. So it will get rebuilt wheels. Needs 26 x 1 3/8 (590 mm) rims, 40 spoke rear, 32 spoke front. Sheldon Brown, bless his heart, stocks alloy rims in this size with 32, 36, and 40 holes. So I'll be making a pilgrimage to West Newton at some point. Not sure if I want to keep the front dynamo hub as is because it's really heavy and creates drag. I could just remove the magnet (it's like a 3 lb annular rock) or replace it with a non-dynamo hub or maybe look at modern dyanamo hubs.

The BB lock ring came off easily. Not so for the cups. I've sprayed on some Liquid Wrench and will try again later. This project is using lots of Liquid Wrench.

I'm definitely going to follow Popoki_Nui's instructions on rust treating this frame. Portions of the exterior are showing more rust than I'd like.

[Popoki_Nui]

The steel rims on this bike are very rusty and the spoke tension rather poor. So it will get rebuilt wheels.

Do you have a chroming company near you? Just a thought, but if you wanted to keep the bike close to stock, you could have the rims re-chromed, and rebuild them with new spokes.

The BB lock ring came off easily. No so for the cups. I've sprayed on some Liquid Wrench and will try again later. This project is using lots of Liquid Wrench.

Liquid Wrench is a girl's best friend. Hope you can get the cups out with it. I usually try twice with LW; if that doesn't work I head for the torch. A little heat on the cups and a tap with a mallet does wonders.

[DebW]

Do you have a chroming company near you? Just a thought, but if you wanted to keep the bike close to stock, you could have the rims re-chromed, and rebuild them with new spokes.

I've always considered rims something that will wear out and need to be replaced, so I don't mind losing the originals for something lighter. Though if you ride on steel rims and get them banged up and dented, you can just take a hammer to them and straighten them out again.

Liquid Wrench is a girl's best friend. Hope you can get the cups out with it. I usually try twice with LW; if that doesn't work I head for the torch. A little heat on the cups and a tap with a mallet does wonders.

Thanks for the advise. Hopefully I won't need the torch, but we'll see...

I may be asking your advise about dealing with the external rust. You do your own frame repainting, right?

[DebW]

Here's an update. The 3-speed is down to bare frame except for the bottom bracket, which is quite frozen. Removing the stem required visegrips, as the stem bolt was very munged. Hope I can find a replacement stem bolt. This bike looks like it's never been disassembled for maintenance, but oiled regularly. The headset has cupped bearing surfaces to hold oil, so it was obviously intended for oil, but had some very old grease in there as well.

I've posted more pictures here:
http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r...&addtype=local

New pictures include: the funky vertical springs of the Brooks B72 saddle, a pic of the Sturmey Archer AW hub, more pics of the bottom bracket, the fork after removal, the bare frame with bottom bracket.

My best efforts with liquid wrench and a 12 inch crescent have failed to budge the bottom bracket. See picture below of my "through the frame" wrenching technique, which as the only way to get a good purchase on the narrow wrench flats of the cup. Next I'll be trying the torch, after getting some pointers from Popoki_Nui. Wish me luck.