taking part in the # CHEAP BIKE BUILD OFF #CHEAPBIKEBUILDOFF by mull3tmechanic and promoted by 2ND LIFE BIKES I am building a bike along the build-off parameters (total expenditure 150,- £, finish by Feb 28th, etc.)
Base is a severely challenged 70-ties ATALA Steel Touring bike frame. I will build a single speed Gravel Bike
Disassembling, washing, regrease-ing the Italian Bottom Bracket. Also chasing the treads again
Good morning Saturday 24th uh of February which means we have now 5 days left for the challenge and uh I’m continuing and there’s so many many many things one needs to do if um one basically builds a bicycle that is made from Parts which are complete rejected and every single item needs
Attention so today I’m going to attempt to put into practice something that I learned yesterday on YouTube by some very friendly YouTuber and that means I’m going to wash out the sealed bottom bracket by taking the seals out washing the grease out and putting fresh grease in and for that I
Need to try and get this out of this bracket which I’m going to do in this very sophisticated way that everyone can do without destroying anything and that was that that was easy that’s not what I wanted to do I need this out damn damn damn damn okay
So that’s not what I was planning to do but you see what I’m trying to get to I’m going to poke out these ceilings was the tried and tested kitchen knife method so I’m going to mark this this was H yes let’s not get confused here let’s
Let’s take this back here so what do we have what do we have now this is the drive side let’s just mark this H let me think let me think okay so we got the drive side that’s the one with the little ring that’s from metal and the the
Thread so this is the drive side as it came out yeah this is how it was together okay so let me Mark this with drive and drive and drive and drive so this is the non Drive yeah yes this is the drive side sorry should really turn this around let me make a
Drawing and this would be the thread and then we get the Drive sign looking like so okay I’m actually wow I’m getting a bit annoyed at this cardboard the story about this cardboard is it gets wet on one side and then when it dries off it’s not flat anymore how this annoys
Me good morning okay this cardboard will die and I use another one but for now we’ll need to live with it do we do we no it’s just too annoying let’s let’s change it here we go new and improved don’t need this at the moment and the only thing
Yep H okay so one thing so much better now where was I I’m going to make a drawing of this or a photograph or drawing okay let’s make a drawing so this would be what we have on the drive side and that is where it steps in
Twice and if you look at it from this side it obviously has teeth for the two of them okay so we have this right there so that means that this ceiling is from the non Drive side and what I have here at this moment with the long drive side where this is already
Off and this is the outside and that’s the inside and now I’m going to measure some where he my brother-in-law or sorry divorc now ex brother-in-law I so we’re going to measure in this very highly sophisticated manner so this is the one that’s welded on and this is uh 37
Mm 37 mm and that we do not know but we can guess take a while guess oh no we cannot we can so this is actually 40 39 this is also different so here we go 4039 good now this should be easier to put back in
Order and we can then go around cleaning now I think we’re done with the hammer too don’t need a hammer I just like to have my table sparse have on the table what I need at this very moment in time oh oh oh oh oh oh that I need to take it
Out how do I do that let’s find a socket 17 14 they have very limited amount of sockets here you know what let’s just not do this right now I’m going to complete this one here this is so ropey uhhuh but for the heck ofhe we’re going to clean this and then
See what we can achieve so this is thin Yep this mle bit goes to the inside metal to the inside let me make a note of that yeah this is golden bit to the inside and what do we have here same thing all right so that’s the same information for both
Sides and now we can do some scrubbing out some old grease I leave this on the seat so there is no confusion this is definitely dry it’s definitely not nice let’s get some assortment of toothbrushes and they’re all fit to die yeah let’s see whether this is enough why is this
Wet oh is this toothbrush is still wet huh interesting I’m just digging out the most in a drrive fashion before I introduce any cleansing fluids what is this why is this all so wet and greasy don’t get it who would have thought I mean let’s just tell the story of that thing
Here this is obviously a replacement part that was put in a very old I think I still have half of that frame I cut the rear triangle off because it was too ugly which was a mistake out of today’s perspective that’s for sure and somebody builds a a hipster
Bike to live in a big Italian tourist place where there’s no cars allowed inside you have to have a bicycle so this gets built into a hipster bike with a rack on it and so on and somebody replaces the bottom bracket so this is obviously Italian threaded frame so you need an Italian
Threaded bottom bracket and that’s this one here let’s just say this was done 20 years ago the bike gets a rack and some comfortable handlebars and some weirdo cranks and some single speed wheels and this water brackets so now you just live here you’re cheap you probably been made
It the brand is nickel made in Taiwan okay Taiwan I have no big issues with Taiwan they seem to be a decent job definitely better than China in my books but the grease obviously not too much well now as I’m cleaning it there’s still no grease in it but it runs
Already much better why is that oh and here is the Mark I’ve just discovered so I must have cut off the the crank with an angle grinder to release the tension yeah there you have it all the things that are happening in this world and then the bikes gets
Forgotten the Hipster decides not to be so hip after all and not use the bike even though it has a ra right really nice rack for shopping he’s not using it why you do not know but 20 years later the Savior comes the Savior that saves old bicycles
That’s me and then I’m thinking what kind of shitty old bottom bracket is that and also I never do anything with it or your yks until I have no freaking other option if I would be able to go shopping I would have bought a new bottom bracket but I wasn’t I’m
Here that’s what I have that’s what I’m going to use next toothbrush still a lot of coppery colored grease and that’s wishful thinking this is just rust mixed with grease I’m pretty sure so we’ve exhausted this method we are now going to employ the powers of WD40 brake cleaner would be
Better oh now it’s really r oh oh oh oh it’s stuck here not happy you don’t like that do you all right so this is obviously when you this is when you replace or something but we can’t okay I want to establish one thing there is a very clear distinction with
What is Drive side and what is not there is a quite a super uh wide flange and there’s a very narrow flange here so let’s draw so I can get rid of the markings there’s numbers in here niik 10 B21 116 so 116 probably the width interesting it says niik niik is the
Brander Nick Taiwan 10 B 21 116 that must be in 08 Dash 2 and that’s probably the year 2022 oh so bad I have seen a YouTube video by one of my favorite people when it comes to getting advice of how to fix things and that is RJ the B
Guy this guy just is so he works works so hard he does such good explanation he fixes things that I thought should never be fixed before does things that I didn’t know one can do really helpful so we’re flushing it out now actually I think the order
Of will be that I will now use a little bit of sandpaper I’m going to clean first and polish what I have in my hand here let’s get rid of the rust and I don’t want to wait till tomorrow so this is not going vinegar there’s some Rust that we don’t
Need I do not need rest comes off nicely this obviously is hardened steel so and it’s blued blued I’m going to buy some blueing fluid because I like to Tinker with surface qualities that’s the rustiest part this is not needing to win The Concourse Elegance but since I’m in here I can
Just as well clean it and as you can see there quite a layer of surface rust which comes off easily before I do the final round of cleaning and flush it one more time this WD40 I will do the polishing of this polishing yep don’t really mean Super polish
Meaning getting it with a very reasonable amount of effort looking much nicer tools of choice all present should better check what’s going on here ah everything’s good I will totally understand if you will wind forward the whole time and just see what’s happening slowly but surely so we
Stay on the left side now let’s just rub this down let’s do what we see first so you see I’m just using a tiny little dab of autool I said this before this is totally my my absolute favorite Polishing Compound this can polish about everything even plastic fenders on near bicycle it
Polishes I haven’t tried it on some little Scale Models Windows yet should be doing that too so we’re going to change the okay moving moving forward to the other side now I’m trying to get not to get any Polishing Compound inside the B bearings because because that stuff stays in there it’s not
Beneficial or maybe it is who knows what do I know going to flush it nicely afterwards so that’s the polishing let’s do this here as well because that seems to be okay okay okay right out to S parking here for now po pishing brush parking here for out these two things that’s not
Working and now we sure mix these up that’s but this look the same nice Definitely wow that works so much nicer okay so we’re content with what we’ve done here polishing will be done in a minute I want to be straight with you what I’m doing here makes no
Sense because if you even remotely apply anyone’s salary let’s say a bike mechanic on average earns about $50 so let’s say I was a bike mechanic and I earn $50 an hour and I’m spending an hour on this bottom bracket what a load of nonsense you can buy this for 10
And yes that’s not very good for our environment to always throw out everything but that’s beside the point let’s say this was the last bottom bracket on the planet or you be stuck like the one dude in the middle of the desert which a 2 CV that’s half broken
And then you build a motorbike out of it mhm now you’re talking make sure I’m doing this in both directions and flush it one more time flush flush flush clean dry wipe nice I uh I’m always amazed to give some metal some love of how long metal can actually live harden
Steel isn’t that amazing 3D H so much nicer it’s nice now maybe maybe maybe maybe I want to really do my best and get all the WD40 out of here again I’m even going to use a completely clean toothbrush in a moment to just dry
It off but now I’m going to do these little cups have a number on it nice one two three lovely and Polished now clean completely brand new clean is the next step so that’s not right it’s not right that’s better want ideally the least amount of WD40 in the game
Now and let me just just show you still not very good so I should really J down the number and order a set of ball bearings and I should also measure them and that is what I will do 6002 RS 6002 RS 602 RS where are you okay that’s exactly 10 mm
Wide and the diameter is 31 and the inside diameter is 15 point8 do this again 15.8 yes okay time for grease time for some grease oh dear don’t you just like that when this happens come on teon Greece by the catalon this was proper expensive I remember that I was in Italy
And they had no choice and I thought okay might as well buy this super duper duper expensive Teflon Grease I think it was 12 I think yeah that’s what I think until it comes out on the other side nope it does not at all you really cannot blame me for not
Trying I’m try and push this down a bit if that Works doesn’t doesn’t do anything whatever so let’s go in with one on the outside I do the better one clipy clip nice look at that good very nice good now we can put this down
Here I didn’t think that I was going to do any of this and then I thought to myself because you know the whole bottom bracket situation um the races the frame everything is so compromised the last thing I want to do is come back out with this anytime
Soon so let’s just give it my very best shot here we go and then go in with this yes and in it went nice okay I’m half way finished check this out check this out here’s another issue issue that will give you trouble is dirt inside this
Thread and uh since I’m sitting here in Comfort with a cup of coffee on my mind it’s so easy to fix this clean this out so that’s what I’m going to do that was easy it’s not that bad a pair of earbuds do the trick go all the way in nice so
Let’s do one more round of wiping this down and we hey oh this is nice sir not perfect but nice so continue this is half of it now we need to do the other half and obviously the race still stuck in here so remember this was this way okay so I’m going to
Going to bring this down don’t really want to hammer on the uh 17 let’s try a 16 also not good so what about a 14 12 so let’s do 14 this is okay so let’s see what we get it’s coming is it it’s not cooperating very well
Let me clean this first I’m going to go in here clean this gunk out I know what that is for okay I’m going to go through there with a file first just want to absolutely do what I can do so I’m going to start here and work my way out towards
That’s me just cleaning the threads a little bit just a little bit this is absolutely only fit for Desert mechanics do this if you have absolutely no other choice right that is five times this actually now runs in a row all the way to the end so this is not the issue
Here this water bracket is not the problem anymore that I am certain of glad I’ve done this so the issue is with the frame not with this part here that will be the last time wi brush wi brush brutal f tell you what I’m going to go for polishing action now
Because because I can you hear that this is rust Grime and sand and dirt and Yu look at that just doing polishing now because I can hold it better while it’s a two-piece thing okay so if you would have hoped for some permanent marker you’ll be disappointed it’s
Gone even the Black is gone almost but instead we have a bit of a shine and obviously afterwards this is all going to be greased nicely here for the last words the last word in how to clean a thread look at all this mck so this will be
Me done with polishing action for turn okay do believe well for bottom bracket that’s for sure my way now we see I need to go down let’s try this a bit this is wrong cuz that would just do nothing but sit on the rubber ceiling what did we say 14
Right nope that’s the 12 all right 16 is pretty good 15 come on out now please seals nicely sits there not budging okay so this is the wd4 Galore in every respect you don’t come out you need to stay in okay I think I can do this that is better going over
Here on top of the table leg like so and I will adjust the camera positioning please be here not so bad let’s see what we got your comes one part is good must be like that we getting there getting haha check check this out H probably done as theice for today so my
Little aluminium cheeks Chi noodles okay one and two now let’s readjust the position here go back to the main picture and uh actually let me think we are now going to service this here and again there seems to be no distinction between one side or the other so let me
Take both of them out nice this one is actually this one’s good okay so this one is not the one to blame we’re going to clean that and put it all back together I’m going to use a C clamp to clamp it back in and that’s
The whole secret here I hope you enjoyed my ramblings this is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this 1 hour and 7 minutes oh my goodness okay Just Wind forward once you watch this see what you’re interested in and uh have a nice Saturday