Stripped naked

One frame stripped and cleaned with the exception of the the bottom bracket and the headset. The reason for this is that both are moving smoothly and I have no desire to introduce dust and dirt into the bearings without reason. Looking at the cantis I decided that they could do with a good clean. There was a lot of road crud round the mounting bosses and while everything is off it made sense to clean right down.

Of course this causes a little confusion as when confronted with assembling something that you have got so used to seeing daily there is a moment of "how does it go?". A little bit of logic thinking though solves most problems and it was easy to see how the cantilevers fitted together. I was a bit thrown by the cable routing for a moment but that is because the line runs across of the back of the seat tube.


The cassette was really the only issue for the strip down. I have a Shimano lock ring tool for removing the lock ring (obviously). It is not a particularly expensive one coming as it did as part of a Halford's basic maintance kit. It does work though as it was used to do the work on the cassette of the P3 (Cassettes and Remasters). This time though it would not budge and was in danger of stripping all the splines off the tool. In fact it has done enough damage that I am going to have to get a new one.

Well and truly beyond the shifting with my short arm ratchet spanner and my middle aged bulk, after soaking in GT85 and a tap or two with a hammer to break and magnetised bond. I was down to a blowtorch (I don't have one), a longer spanner (I don't have one) or an angle grinder (I don't have one). Rather than fork out more than £40 for one of the above I thought I will give a local bike shop a call and see if they will take on the job. Having not got anywhere positive with one "local" bike shop. I say local because as you know they are a significant drive from central Croydon. I tried the other in Beckenham - "yes" said Deen's Garage in Beckenham. Not only did they happily apply a longer lever to the problem they also didn't charge a workshop fee because it was a quick job.

They say it easier to destroy than create. Now is the time when I find out if this is true. A bike that has served as a faithful servant riding across the West country along the Bristol to Plymouth route and over Welsh hillsides, as well as recent commuting to and from Greenwich, is about to have a make over.