Mark,
As you say, a good resource for those impossible to find parts.
One thing that I question and the person didn't address in his eBay listing description was what about bearings that are not through hardened.
Many lower quality and some top quality bicycle cups and cones are not through hardened.
You can do the best grind job in the world but once you get under the 58-60+ RC layer you're into softer metal.
The deeper you grind the softer it gets even in many through hardened parts.
Also the last time I read his listing he seemed to indicate that he could regrind anything... I have some BB spindles with 1/4" chunks missing... ;-)
Keep us updated how your regrinds last.
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
Mark Bulgier wrote:
> I found this ebay seller "g4hlrc1", a.k.a. David Gioia, of
> Albrightsville, PA, offering to re-grind and polish damaged bicycle
> bearing races, any two races (both ends of a BB spindle for example) for
> $37. A bit much maybe for something that's readily available, but
> reasonable for something that's extra-rare or precious.
>
> I gave him a try, sent him the two bottom races (1 cup and 1 cone) of my
> '61 Bianchi Specialissima headset (which many of you know are a unique
> proprietary design, and spares are very hard to find). I didn't take
> "before" pictures, but they were very deeply dimpled, one of the worst
> cases I've ever seen.
>
> Got 'em back today, and they are beyond my expectations, better than
> new. I installed the headset and it's very smooth, with no
> tight-and-loose spots that would indicate inaccurate grinding. They
> came back very well packaged, and I was more than satisfied with his
> communication throughout (almost to a fault - he gave me more status
> updates than I really needed!)
>
>>From when he received them from USPS to when he had them back into the
> mail to me was 3 days, and he had to make a custom centering cone for
> one of my races because it was an odd shape he hadn't encountered
> before. (He didn't charge me any more because of that, it was still
> that flat-rate $37.)
>
> Here's the "after" picture:
>
> http://bulgier.net/
>
> (Anything in the picture that looks like dimpling is an artifact of my
> amateur photography skillz and weird lighting - they're really
> nice'n'smooth)
>
> Here's his ebay auction:
>
> http://ebay.com/
>
> It's ended, but I think he just creates a new one any time someone buys
> his services by winning an auction.
>
> It might be OK to contact him directly outside of ebay, but I suppose
> there are advantages to going through eBay, like more protection for you
> if he flakes out. He seemed very conscientious to me, but I am not in a
> position to vouch for him, beyond the fact that he did this one job for
> me without screwing up. Use him at your own risk. If you want to email
> him directly, it's dmgwhbldg@frontiernet.net
>
> Has anyone else in CR-land used this guy, or anyone else offering
> similar services?
>
> Mark Bulgier
> Seattle, WA USA