1954 English 3-speed

[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.

[Popoki_Nui]

Is it just me, or do the forks have an unusual bend/rake in them? Any sign the bike was in a front end collision?
Usually the forks keep more-or-less the same rake as the head tube....

[DebW]

It is an unusual rake. When I first saw it, I thought the same thing, but convinced myself it was made that way. Now that I've got the fork out of the frame, I can see that the steering tube is bent. Thanks for making me take another look at that. Most of the reason the fork looks bent back is because the steering tube is bowed. But the fork blades are slightly out of line also. I did take a short ride on this bike before dismantling it, and it rode straight. Usually you can tell if a fork is bent by the way it rides. Now the question is whether I should try and straighten it or leave it as is.

[margo49]

There is a tool specially for that - an old guy in a little Swiss valley fixed mine with it in 1982. Looks like something out of a gynecololgists's consulting room.
[thought : maybe Lise has got one LOL]
It is problematic to do tho' and generally not recommended I thought - metal fatigue and all that. The forks have to equally bent out of shape to start with as I recall (like when you ride straight into something and you endo and the bike forks get bent backwards (ie towards the frame))
Might pay to get advice

[DebW]

There is a tool specially for that - an old guy in a little Swiss valley fixed mine with it in 1982. Looks like something out of a gynecololgists's consulting room.
[thought : maybe Lise has got one LOL]
It is problematic to do tho' and generally not recommended I thought - metal fatigue and all that. The forks have to equally bent out of shape to start with as I recall (like when you ride straight into something and you endo and the bike forks get bent backwards (ie towards the frame))
Might pay to get advice

That's quite the story, Margo. And quite the imago of the gyno room and the old Swiss guy. Can you elaborate? What happened to your bike to require this service?

Here's a picture showing the bends in the 3-speed fork. Almost a crimp in the steerer 1/4 way up from the bottom. And a definite push-back on the blades too. I'm aware of metal fatigue, but unsure where the fatigue point would be on this fork. It's made of such heavy-gage steel that I doubt I could bend it without an 8 foot lever arm anyway. So probably best to leave it alone or take it to a pro, as you suggest. The stem on this bike is also damaged - difference of 1.5 mm in the diameter 90 degrees apart. The headset locknut had to be tapped off the stem.

[mimitabby]

Oh, that is a cool crank!!

what a surprise!

[SouthernBelle]

Went back and looked at the chainring, I love little details like that.

[DebW]

I printed out several internet pages on disassembling the Sturmey Archer AW 3-speed hub and I've gotten started. Removed the sprocket, spacers, and outer dust cap from the RHS. Removed the lock nut and cone from the LHS. Next step is to unscrew, with a hammer and punch, the ball ring that is screwed very tightly into the hub body and has been there for 53 years. The first attempt was unsuccessful, so liquid wrench is now working it's magic, I hope.

edit: It worked the next try. The hub is apart. ***applause*** Low gears pawls are out. Pawl springs are incredibly thin and delicate. Pawl pins are robust. I'm taking pictures as I go, so I try to post some soon. But now my dinner is ready.