14. Hubba, Hubba

One of the things I did this week was tear into the front wheel, actually it was in quite good shape, considering the rest of the machine. Though, as with most older bikes, the spokes have been neglected, dirty and rusted tight. The tire was also contaminated with the hideous dry rot disease.

Out came the tire irons, and in a matter of minutes I had that dry tire heaved into the "get rid of" pile, along with the tube. The rim tape was given a wash and is in condition to be reused, although the same cannot be said of the rim lock which split in two when I went to do a proper inspection, so new tube, and rim lock are needed. I did get three brand new tires thrown in when I purchased this project, a sand, a soft and an intermediate, at least I will only need to procure a rear tire.

To loosen the tight spokes a squirt of Blaster oil did the trick, and after pulling all thirty six, I decided they needed a bath and shine as I would be reusing them.
A dollar spent for some "CLR" was well worth it, all the nuts, bolts and spokes take a bath in this stuff to rid the rust.

















This is not going to be fun, thirty six dirty spokes.













Everybody in the pool. By the way, remember there are two different lengths and bends, don't get them confused.











After spending about an hour in the chemical pool, a vigorous scrubbing with a wire brush is needed, then a dip into some rinse water then they must be dried promptly.










Here is what you can achieve with some steel wool and "Mothers" polish.












A close up of a before and after.













So, a few blisters and some arm pump, why? Well, 36 spokes times once with a wire brush, once with steel wool and once with polish, 36x3=108. And, each "once" was not one time, but a series of repeated, rapid, rubbing motions, thus a few blisters and some arm fatigue.

Next on the to do list was the hub, after carefully prying off the dust seals, which are in great shape, I pulled the inner snap ring and set out to remove the bearings. For this I used one of my old maple drumsticks that had been converted into a sort of punch or drift, one time use only. Inserted into the hub, I reached for a deadblow hammer and drove out the first side, flipped the hub over and wrapped out the second. Like I said, this wheel was in okay shape, and the bearings came out with no problem. As with any bearing one removes a new must take its place, and with a couple of hours research I found two for $5.25 with free shipping, you know what the dealer gets for those. A lot more.

All the bits, minus the bearings.













Time to get cleaned up.













You again.













I like photos, so I am including many of them, enjoy. The nylon brush made another appearance.











Much cleaner than before.













Another view.













In the spray booth ready for primer.













Primed.













Painted and getting laced.













A rim that has been washed and steel wooled, laced with hand rubbed spokes and a freshly painted hub.











Ready to jam some bearings home.













In the next post, bearings installed and truing the wheel, should be a hoot.