[CR] Thanks to all who responded off and on list to help me with the Italian bb

(Example: Racing)

To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: "Bianca Pratorius" <biankita@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2006 15:09:38 -0400
Subject: [CR] Thanks to all who responded off and on list to help me with the Italian bb

Thanks to Ted Ernst, Lou Deeter, Sheldon Brown, and Fred Rednor who helped me to determine that I had a lefty loosey Italian fixed cup. I attempted to remove it using the Sheldon Brown trick of using a 5/8" bolt, nut and lock washers, but no matter how hard I tightened the bolt, it loosened when I applied counter clockwise force to remove the fixed cup. I also tried two nuts, with a bolt, but it still loosened under counter clockwise force. Finally I took a 36 mm wrench and bolted it to the fixed cup, using the same 5/8" bolt with washers and nuts. I applied what I consider to be an inordinate amount of force for anything on a delicate bicycle. It came loose and now it's off. Sweating and applying muscle bulging force to any bolt seems brutal, and it's the real reason I stopped working on cars. They're dirty and bolts are frozen on and require torches, breaker bars, liquid wrench, assistance, prayer, knuckle busting and cursing. Bicycles are so much more civilized. You can work on them wearing your good tee shirt, indoors listening to music and with air conditioning. You can stop at any time, have a meal, take a nap or answer the phone without having to strip naked and shower down with a tub of Gojo, and without turning the shower stall tiles black.

I will be contacting members who offered to purchase an Italian 70 mm bottom bracket with standard Japanese style axle taper and 117 mm or so total axle width symetrical.

This list is great, and I don't care if I hear about Tuffoing my rims for the next hundred years. Are tubulars really that much better?

Garth Libre in Miami Fl.