I Beat the crap out of my Cervelo with a hammer

Triathlon Forum
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Really. Somehow my P3C developed a creak inside the headtube whenever I put weight on the aerobars. The headset’s upper bearing cover was perma-rusted to the fork’s steerer tube. So I lubed it up the best I could, used a wood block and beat the crap out of the fork for an hour until it finally came out. (is there a better way!?) Headset bearings are pretty shot, but I lubed it up, thoroughly cleaned everything, put it all back together, and the CREAK IS ELIMINATED! Racing this weekend, but I definitely need new headset bearings soon.

http://i56.tinypic.com/30t5569.jpg

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You’re a braver man than I.

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What size hammer u use
.

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Seems like a pretty cheap lesson. Next time don’t let it get that bad. (And cover that area when you’re on the trainer so sweat doesn’t get in there.)

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What size hammer u use

It’s the blue hammer at the bottom of the pic. Just a standard Cobalt brand hammer from Lowe’s. I had to go get my wife hold the frame up so I could BEAT IT HARDER. That was the trick!!!

6

Seems like a pretty cheap lesson. Next time don’t let it get that bad. (And cover that area when you’re on the trainer so sweat doesn’t get in there.)

Definitely noted! Lesson learned.

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I know how you feel. Luckily I built up my Cervelo myself. I’m sure it weighs at least a kilo heavier than advertised, thanks to all the grease I put everywhere. LOL At least stuff comes apart easily when I work on it.

I had a steel KHS I’d used for commuting for about 8 years. It was in an accident so I got a new bike. Carbon, but not as nice to ride as the steel steed. Anyway, all the bits came off the KHS pretty easily except for the BB. I had the correct BB tool and a long wrench and gave it death. Nuthin’! Bugger. I tried several times over a week, using WD-40, penetrating oil, dishsoap and all sorts of things. Nuthin’ but skinned nuckles. Why all the hard work? I wanted to strip the frame down, bend the slight curve in the downtube back to straight and if possible, turn it into a single speed after a nice paint job.

Well, after just about giving up, my son suggested the air powered rattle gun he has. Eureka moment.

Well, I lay the frame down, put the BB tool onto the impact gun put my ample weight onto it and rattled away until the air tank ran dry. Let it build up pressure and go again. After 45 minutes of on again off again rattling, swearing, lubing and such, it turned about 1/10th of 1 degree and then without warning, spun out completely! Voila, a perfect BB came out and a perfect BB shell was left! Wahoo!

So then I attached the other side :frowning:

You guessed it, another 45 minutes of going nuts on it and it too buzzed out leaving both bits perfect! I cleaned up the BB and the shell, and lubed them both. The BB became a donation to a friend building up a bike for the trainer, and my frame got sanded and is awaiting paint.

The BB had been in for 8 years and over 75,000km of summer and winter riding in salt laden sea spray soaked rides, but was still turning smoothly. Gotta love sealed Ultegra BB’s :slight_smile:

A few weeks later I visited a mate as he was building up a P3 (old ali one) and I said lube the hell out of it. He took a Q-Tip and dabbed on a tiny bit of grease and wiped it around with his finger. I bet that BB never comes out…ever! (Dissimilar metals will sieze together faster than the lips of two 17 year olds at a school dance!)

(it sounded from your post that you put the old headset bearings back in? WTF? :slight_smile:

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it sounded from your post that you put the old headset bearings back in? WTF? :slight_smile:

Yep, I put the old bearings back in, but only because I’m racing it in 2 days, and won’t have time tomorrow to get new ones. This bike mechanic stuff sucks. I much prefer to ride.

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I was really expecting some office space style pictures of vented frustration on a carbon frame. So disappointed.

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it sounded from your post that you put the old headset bearings back in? WTF? :slight_smile:

Yep, I put the old bearings back in, but only because I’m racing it in 2 days, and won’t have time tomorrow to get new ones. This bike mechanic stuff sucks. I much prefer to ride.

Im a mechanical engineer. I think I prefer messing with bikes over riding them. I just wish I could get more time to work on my bikes. House renovations suck!

Recently I was going on holiday so didn’t have time or the inclination to true a horrible rear wheel that came with my bike. Mavic Aksium, their entry level race wheel. Never again. Nuthin but trouble with them.

Anyway, I decided to give it to my bike mechanic (who calls himself “the bike whisperer”…and yes, he’s awesome!) to true while I was away. Anyway, he took the wheel apart, and put it back together with locktite on the nipple threads. FARK!!!

Of course, it’s gone out of true again and now it’s almost impossible to adjust a spoke without twisting the bladed spokes out of alignment. The old wheels (open Pro rims on Ultegra hubs with DT Stainless non-butted spokes I’ve rebuilt, just to learn how to build wheels, are assembled with lube on the threads. I assumed it would go out of true so got it close, but not really close, when I built it. Then after several months I realized it was just as bad as I’d built it. I went to tweak it properly true and it was an absolute joy to adjust and since being tweaked that last 1% has stayed true ever since.

I don’t know what Mavic use for the Aksium spokes, but I’m starting to suspect they use stringy cheese or something else completely useless for spokes. None of my DT spokes have ever had a problem, regardless of the amount of abuse I give them as a clydesdale.

LOOOOOOOOB is the answer to so many questions :slight_smile:

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I was really expecting some office space style pictures of vented frustration on a carbon frame. So disappointed.

Sorry to disappoint. Maybe someone can photoshop my bike in here:
http://i51.tinypic.com/21or9li.jpg

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Samir has some wicked loose hamstrings to pull off that kick.

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Nick,

Glad it worked out for you. I have the same issue and tried to get the fork out without success. I put a 2x4 on top of the fork rake and after three hits I ran out of courage. Guess I need to keep at it.

Good luck this week end, guessing you are racing at the LKN Tri at the Davidson Y.

Best,
GS

14

Next time try heating it with some boiling water to expand the joint. Then you will only need to wack it for a couple minutes.

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Samir has some wicked loose hamstrings to pull off that kick.

Well done.

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Next time try heating it with some boiling water to expand the joint. Then you will only need to wack it for a couple minutes.

Could you expand on this? Not sure I understand how I’d pull this off.

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Just get a tea kettle and pour boiling water over the head tube slowly. It should expand the head tube slightly(heat makes things expand) and allow penetrating oil to better get into the space created. It can also break those rusty bonds from the stearer tube. Conversely, you may be able to cool the steerer tube to shrink it.

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The rust on your Wolf TT fork steerer is scaring me…

Kevin

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Seems like a pretty cheap lesson. Next time don’t let it get that bad.

So how does one do that? Remove the fork regularly and lube things up? Are steerer tubes always metal (as in: carbon vs non-carbon bikes). Interesting to see the rust… Steel part I guess?

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Samir has some wicked loose hamstrings to pull off that kick.

Well done.

Coulda been a pro punter…