Destructive Freewheel Removal

There is a way to remove most freewheels without a special tool. By removing the ratcheting gear cluster you can access the inner piece that is screwed tightly onto the hub. This freewheel is an old Suntour "Perfect" unit, and I don't have a 2 prong removal tool:

Notice the two small holes on the face of the freewheel? You can use a hammer and centerpunch on these holes to unscrew the front cover plate (this piece is actually a bearing race, and it's the only thing holding your freewheel together). The cover plate is reverse threaded, so angle your punch in a clockwise motion to unscrew it:

Now be very careful as you remove the cover plate if you intend to reuse the freewheel. Put a big towel under the wheel to catch the little ball bearings because they will spill out all over the place once you remove the gear mechanism. Here is the cover removed:

Now you can lift off the gear cluster (prepare for an avalanche of ball bearings):

That core piece is the part you need to unscrew from the hub. Remove the washers, pawls, and springs (if possible. The pawls weren't easy to remove on this particular freewheel so I just left them in place). Now clamp the flat parts securely in a bench vise and use the entire wheel as leverage to unscrew the core piece:

Here is the bare wheel hub:

Now comes the tedious part. You need to add a little grease around the races that the ball bearings used to spin on, and stick each ball bearing back into place. This might take a while:

Once the bearings are all back in place you can reassemble the freewheel. Contrary to many popular sources, this is usually possible without any tools whatsoever. You just need to slide the core piece into the gear cluster with a turning motion. It's easiest if you angle the core piece so that you engage one pawl first, then twist the gear cluster while pressing the halves together until the second pawl slips into place (you might need to persuade it with a small flat screwdriver):

Once the two pieces are back together you just need to screw the cover piece back on. Use your hammer and punch again to make it nice and tight, since you don't want it to come loose while you ride. I also like to drip lots of oil onto the ball bearings just before replacing the cover piece in order to thin out the grease. This way the bearings will still spin freely in very cold weather. Here is the completed freewheel:

This is quite a bit of work if you don't have the correct removal tool, but at least your freewheel will be in better working order due to the fresh grease inside.

Vintage Suntour Rear Derailleur

I finally came across a bike with a Suntour rear derailleur. These are a bit strange looking, but they really do shift nice. I took this one apart to clean and lubricate the moving parts, and I'll show you how to do the same. This particular derailleur is a Suntour 7 GT.

You can remove the tension pulley for cleaning with a 9mm wrench:

In order to remove the guide pulley you first have to unscrew the cage stop. It's a little cylinder that keeps the cage from springing too far back:

Next there is a large philips head screw holding the plastic cover over the tension spring. It might be on tight, so make sure you use a big philips screwdriver to avoid stripping it (#3 size):

With the cover off you can see the spring that puts tension on the chain. There are several grooves that the spring can attach to, so you have lots of choices for setting the spring tension. There is also a washer inside that you don't want to lose:

 

  

With the stop unscrewed you can let the cage unwind until there is no more tension on the spring. The spring should now slide right off. You'll want to keep track of where the spring originally clipped onto the pivot so that you can get the correct tension later. The next step is to unscrew this piece:

 

You'll want to use your biggest flat bladed screwdriver for it. This one was really tight though, so I ended up using a small vise grip. The last step is to remove the guide pulley bolt with an 8mm wrench:

That one is pretty tight as well, so make sure your wrench is a good fit on the 2 flat sides. Here is the derailleur disassembled:

Now you can clean everything, oil the pulley bushings, and grease anything else that rotates or slides. Reassembly is the opposite of removal, so keep track of where all the little pieces go. The trickiest part is screwing in the cage stop barrel with the cage under tension from the spring. Rotate the cage back far enough to reinstall the cage stop. You need to hold the cage back with one hand while screwing the stop in with your other.

There's no spring around the mounting bolt to worry about (just like a modern Sram derailleur). Another nice feature is the split pulley cage design because you don't need to break the chain to install the derailleur on your bike.

Destroyed Hub Bearings

I found a bike with a wheel bearing so loose that the tire would rub the frame. I took the bearings apart to see if anything was wrong and found something pretty surprising. Every ball bearing on the drivetrain side was chipped and the grease inside the hub was filled with fine metal shavings (it actually resembled Arctic Silver thermal paste). After I cleaned everything out I found that a deep groove had worn into the right side bearing cup inside the hub. Here are some pics of the damage:

Here is what the left side of the hub looked like (this is a normal wear pattern):

 

Here's the super worn out right side (notice the shiny grooves):

 

Unfortunately all the little scratches and jagged edges along the bearing surfaces didn't show up well, but here's another view:

Finally I tried to reassemble the hub but found out the groove was deep enough to do this:

That's ten ball bearings where only nine should fit. Unfortunately the bearing cone no longer fits inside the ball bearings due to the increased diameter of the bearing cup, so this hub is now trash (I did rebuild it with seven 5/16" ball bearings instead of the usual 1/4" size just to see if it would work, it didn't). Moral of the story is if your wheels are wobbly, fix them sooner rather than later. If you catch the problem early you might just have to replace one ball bearing. If you wait, you might have to replace the entire hub. Here's a link for repacking hub bearings in case you have a similar problem.

Patching Inner Tubes

This is going to be a simple tutorial today. If you have a flat tire you can usually just patch the inner tube without having to replace it (that would get pretty expensive). First you need to remove the wheel from the bike, then remove the tire from the rim:

You will need a pair of tire levers to remove a snug fitting tire, and many patch kits already come with a set of levers so get those. Just try to remove one side at a time. I usually slip 2 tire levers in like shown, then slide one lever around the rim underneath the tire bead to remove the first side. If the tire lever won't slide easily, try using some baby powder or soapy water on the sidewall. The second side of the tire should come off by hand. Once you've pried the tire off the rim you can remove the inner tube and track down the leak. I like to inflate the tube a bit and run my hand around it to feel for air escaping. If that doesn't work then just dunk it in some water and look for bubbles. This hole was pretty easy to find however:

You'll notice I marked where the hole is. Even though it's visible now, it will be hard to find once it's covered in glue so the lines help me center the patch later. The next step is to scuff the surface around the hole:

The more you scratch it up, the better. Now you can apply a thin layer of glue and wait for it to dry (about 2 minutes):

Once the glue is tacky you can peel off the backing layer on the patch and press it on very hard (don't touch the bottom of the patch). I like to hold it for about 30 seconds just to be sure it's strong:

Before reinstalling the tube check the tire for debris. In this case it was pretty obvious what happened:

I like to inflate the tube slightly and stuff it into the tire before mounting it onto the rim. Putting baby powder on the tube can help you to avoid pinching it as you mount the tire.

Next I stick the valve through the valve hole and lift one side of the tire onto the rim:

Finally I deflate the tube completely and lift the second side of the tire onto the rim. I try to do this completely by hand, but some tires can be super tight. In those cases it's ok to use your tire levers to lift the last part of the tire onto the rim. Just be careful not to pinch the inner tube or else you get to start all over.

A properly patched tube should be just as good as a new one. You'll have the best results if you wait several hours before inflating the tire to its full pressure.

Singlespeed Chain Tensioning

The chain on a singlespeed bike needs to be tensioned manually since there's no spring loaded derailleur to automatically add tension. If you find your chain too loose after installing your rear wheel, here's a quick way to tension it. First loosen both axle nuts. Now angle the wheel in the dropouts so that it's closer to the non-drive side:

 

Now tighten the non-drive side axle nut only. Next you should pull the wheel toward the center of the frame and tighten the other axle nut:

This will increase the tension on the chain. Check that the chain doesn't bind as you turn the pedals. If you feel any extra resistance then loosen the non-drive side locknut and retighten it again to relieve some of the tension. A binding chain will likely snap if you ride it like that. Generally you want a little bit of slack, but not so much that the chain can actually fall off by itself. Here's a decent setup:

 

Also keep in mind that chainrings usually aren't perfectly round so a chain that appears loose in one spot can still bind as you turn the pedals. If you're lucky you can get the perfect chain tension in your first try, if not then you just have to play around with the locknuts a bit until it's right.

Schwinn Varsity Overhaul

I recently got a nice old Schwinn Varsity that needed some serious restoration work. I basically did a full mechanical overhaul on it, repacking every bearing with fresh grease, cleaning the cables and drivetrain, and retensioning the spokes. I also took some pictures in case you're interested. First I removed the handlebars, brakes, fork, seatpost, wheels, pedals, chain, and cranks:

Yes, I'm using an old exercise bike as a stand. After cleaning out the dried up grease (more like dirt) in the headset cups I reinstalled the fork and shifters:

 
That solid steel fork weighs a ton by the way. Next I put the handlebars and saddle back in (I made sure to grease them first) so I could work on the bike upside down:

You don't want to do this on old road bikes if the cables stick out the top of the brake levers since this will kink the brake cables. I took the cables out though, so in this case it's ok. I then cleaned out the bottom bracket cups and reinstalled the cranks:

That solid steel crankset also weighs a ton. Next I repacked the wheel bearings with fresh grease and replaced the torn up rim strips underneath the tires. Here are the wheels back on the frame:

It's starting to look like a bike again. I then reinstalled the pedals (those needed a ton of oil in them to make them stop squeaking) as well as the chain (which I soaked in detergent and then motor oil). I also reinstalled the front derailleur's cable, which was caked in grime and wouldn't move:

Finally I reinstalled the brakes after replacing the frayed rear cable:

 

Here's the completed bike again. I will replace that dry rotted rear tire soon, but for now it rides great.

Cables

Bike cables consist of an inner steel wire and an outer cable housing. The inner wire is free to slide back and forth inside the housing, while the housing serves to keep the inner wire in place. The cable assembly needs to be clean and free of sharp kinks in order to function properly. I'll show you how to clean and lubricate your cables for best braking and shifting performance. I will use a brake cable on a Schwinn Varsity for reference.

On some bikes you don't have to unbolt the cable from your brakes or derailleurs in order to clean it. If the cable stops on the frame have a cutout in them you can slacken the cable, pull the housing out of the cable stop, and slide the inner wire through the cutout:

Now you can just slide the housings over and then clean and oil the part of the inner wire that rests inside the housings. If your bike doesn't have split housing stops the you have to unbolt the cable first:

If you're replacing the cable then you'll have to do this part anyway. Once the cable is free, just slide the inner wire out of each housing piece, then unhook it from the brake or shift lever:

Now you can clean the cable or just replace it if it's frayed or really rusty. Make sure to oil the inner wire a lot before you reinstall it. On these old road bike levers you need to hook the cable end into a rotating barrel inside the lever for installation:

 Here's another shot showing how the cable attaches to an old style brake lever:

 

Once it's attached to the lever, just thread the cable through the housing pieces and reattach it to the brake (or derailleur if you're doing a shift cable). I like to hold the brake pads to the rim, then pull the slack out of the cable and bolt the brake cable down:

Test if the bolt is tight enough by pulling on the brake lever as hard as you can. If the cable slips then tighten it up some more (be careful though, these little bolts break really easily). You can use the barrel adjuster to fine tune the brake feel once it's bolted down.

Freewheel Removal

I've mentioned freewheels in earlier posts, but I thought some pictures would clarify things a bit. If your bike has a freewheel you'll probably need a special tool to remove it. Unfortunately almost every brand uses a different tool. Even freewheels of the same brand can use different tools, so have fun with this part. There's also a method of removing a freewheel without the special tool. I've done that method many times, but reassembling freewheels gets pretty tedious so I'm glad I finally have the right tool. Well let's get started:

Here's the rear wheel with the freewheel still attached. Remove any quick release skewers or axle nuts first, then slide the tool into the freewheel's splines. With the tool in place, it's a good idea the screw the axle nut or quick release skewer back on to brace the tool and prevent it from slipping off:

Now put a big wrench around the tool and give it some serious force. You can also lock the tool in a bench vise and turn the wheel by the rim to unscrew the freewheel, this works well for the really stubborn ones.

Once the freewheel breaks loose you can unscrew the nut/skewer and then unscrew the freewheel the rest of the way. Here's the freewheel after removal:

That's all there is to it. Just make sure to put some grease or oil on the threads before you reinstall the freewheel, and make sure you don't cross thread it when you screw it back on.