I got a Cervelo S1 that was in bad shape and the mechanic said it was not worth repairing. The crank was broken. Wheels, brakes, cassette. It was all garbage. But, I could not let it go. It was my first love. So, the challenge was: How difficult would it be to restore it myself? And to make the challenge slightly more interesting, I wanted to repair as much as possible and use second hand parts.
Short answer: It took about 5 short days and a lot of youtube to get it to this point:
Lessons?
- Park Tools has a lot of good videos. Thanks!
- It was surprisingly easy to change the cables on the S1 despite the internal routing (well, half-internal)
- Get a proper tool box and a bench (and good light!)
- It is a lot of fun.
- And obviously you learn a lot and it gives the very justifiable feeling of superiority that also allows you to look down on those who cannot repair their own bikes. Not to speak of those who cannot adjust gears and brakes! (Never mind I was almost like that a week ago)
Now, the rant.
Can somebody please, please create a revolution and standardize the bottom bracket mess. The S1 has a threaded bottom bracket. English, not Italian. Fine. I am happy it is not one of the million press fit systems (which would require expensive tooling and be a pain). So I get a Shimano Bottom Bracket that fits and a crank that has the same dimensions (68 mm) and looked a lot like the old crank. Discover that the tools I have do not fit this BB, and that the adapter does not work. Not only are there lots of BB, there are lots of different tools to install even those that are similar. Come on, Shimano, was miniscule weight you saved by introducing a smaller external BB really necessary? Anyway. Back to the shop to get a tool. Ended up buying a box (of course). Installed the BB.
But there was some play? Not a lot, but more than acceptable. Was it my mistake? Not tightening it enough? Experimented with this for a few hours. Turns out that some cranks that fit the English threaded BBs have asymmetric dimensions (24mm/22 mm), while some have 24/24 mm. The crank required the asymmetric BB. Great, now I have to buy SRAM BB! Did that and it finally worked.
In short, there are three parts here: The bike has to fit the bottom bracket, that has to fit the crank, and the work can only be done with specialized tools that may or may not fit with the other systems. The compatibility charts take a few hours to work out if you are unlucky or stupid like me.
The rest was just ok. Except for one issue, which unfortunately may make me give it away. The seatpost is stuck! Violence might solve it, but the seatpost on the S1 is the one part that is very difficult to get if it gets broken. So unless ST has magical advice, it will go back to my tall brother who has this crazy seat position.
Anyway. It was (mostly) fun.
Short answer: It took about 5 short days and a lot of youtube to get it to this point:
Lessons?
- Park Tools has a lot of good videos. Thanks!
- It was surprisingly easy to change the cables on the S1 despite the internal routing (well, half-internal)
- Get a proper tool box and a bench (and good light!)
- It is a lot of fun.
- And obviously you learn a lot and it gives the very justifiable feeling of superiority that also allows you to look down on those who cannot repair their own bikes. Not to speak of those who cannot adjust gears and brakes! (Never mind I was almost like that a week ago)
Now, the rant.
Can somebody please, please create a revolution and standardize the bottom bracket mess. The S1 has a threaded bottom bracket. English, not Italian. Fine. I am happy it is not one of the million press fit systems (which would require expensive tooling and be a pain). So I get a Shimano Bottom Bracket that fits and a crank that has the same dimensions (68 mm) and looked a lot like the old crank. Discover that the tools I have do not fit this BB, and that the adapter does not work. Not only are there lots of BB, there are lots of different tools to install even those that are similar. Come on, Shimano, was miniscule weight you saved by introducing a smaller external BB really necessary? Anyway. Back to the shop to get a tool. Ended up buying a box (of course). Installed the BB.
But there was some play? Not a lot, but more than acceptable. Was it my mistake? Not tightening it enough? Experimented with this for a few hours. Turns out that some cranks that fit the English threaded BBs have asymmetric dimensions (24mm/22 mm), while some have 24/24 mm. The crank required the asymmetric BB. Great, now I have to buy SRAM BB! Did that and it finally worked.
In short, there are three parts here: The bike has to fit the bottom bracket, that has to fit the crank, and the work can only be done with specialized tools that may or may not fit with the other systems. The compatibility charts take a few hours to work out if you are unlucky or stupid like me.
The rest was just ok. Except for one issue, which unfortunately may make me give it away. The seatpost is stuck! Violence might solve it, but the seatpost on the S1 is the one part that is very difficult to get if it gets broken. So unless ST has magical advice, it will go back to my tall brother who has this crazy seat position.
Anyway. It was (mostly) fun.