Bodger RIP???

[amasidlover]

Apologies for the epic post, but bear with me please….

I've had my bike 10 years from buying it second hand; it was a Bob Jackson steel-framed road bike with Shimano 600/105 derailleurs. In that time I have;

Replaced both wheels with 105 + Mavic MA3s, added Sora shifters.

Replaced front mech with 105 and rear mech with 105.

Added dynamo lighting

About 4 years ago had it stripped back to frame and resprayed, while adding 105 shifters, new hollowtech chainset + BB and hub dynamo.

Loads of tyres, chains, cassettes, rim tape etc...

Its now at the point where the bearings in the rear hub are suspect, the skewer is stuck in the hub dynamo (there's another thread about that) and the front rim is getting near its wear limit.

Additionally one of the rack bosses is broken so I'm using a seat post mounted rack and it has no bottle bosses.

On Friday I noticed an awful lot of play in the bottom bracket, so I took it to a bike shop (who for the moment shall remain nameless) and asked if they had the correct tool for tightening it and whether it just needed tightening or whether there was something else wrong. I was told it needed a new bottom bracket - so I stumped up £45 for the 105 bottom bracket and park tool.

Well, I've just taken it off and its clear its not the bottom bracket, the threads on the drive side of the shell are pretty much worn out, the external cup simply slides in and out. So I've put it all back together and used the pre-tensioning nut to get it reasonably tight.

Now I have some questions…

1) Should the bike shop have spotted this? I'll be taking the bottom bracket bag, but want to know whether it will be worth arguing if they try and refuse a refund.

2) How long is the current set-up likely to be usable? I wonder if the bike shop that did the rebuild set it up the same way - I don't remember them saying and I think they probably would have, but still now its all tightened up it doesn't seem too bad.

3) I've read that you can cut a section out of the shell, close it up, weld it together and then re-tap it - given that I don't have an angle grinder, welding equipment or the welding skill to do the job I'd have to pay to have this done; does anyone know anyone in North West England who might do this and if so how much it might cost?

4) If (3) is looking to be in the order hundreds of pounds, does that mean the frame is scrap (I hate throwing things away…)?

Of course if it is scrap I do have my eye on a rather nice Genesis or On-One Alfine 11/Versa…

Thanks!

Alex

 

[PpPete]

There are some press-fit BBs - the threads on the frame would need to be reamed out first. Also some (IIRC) where the two halves thread into each other.

 

[byegad]

I'd say it owes you nothing and maybe it's time to let it rest.

 

[amasidlover]

That's interesting - I've had a search and can find press fit, but they seem to be BB30 or this which seems to be the right diameter (41mm) but far too wide 86mm whereas my BB shell is 63mm. I'll keep looking though...

 

[Deleted member 1258]

http://www.velosolo.co.uk/shopchain.html

Look at the Zenith Threadless Bottom Bracket towards the bottom of the page, but as others have said, maybe its time to move on.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

DON'T scrap an otherwise perfectly good bob jackson. there are probably plenty of retro enthusiasts (see here) who would happily take the challenge on, a bob jackson bikes are pretty sought after if they've got fancy lugwork…

 

[amasidlover]

The Zenith threadless looks like an option but would mean a new chainset as well - or more than likely square taper cranks and new chainrings as I can only find 8 speed square taper cranksets.

And no, I probably wouldn't literally scrap it, but would offer it on here first...

I guess a key question that I still don't really know the answer to is; how long it will survive in its current state - I guess there will be more movement in the chainset than there should be and this will make pedalling less efficient and wear chains, cassettes and chainrings quicker, but is there likely to be a catastrophic failure at some point?

 

[stephec]

Are you in flixton near Irlam?

If you are then it might be worth giving Atlantic Boulevard in Bury a call if you want to try and save it.


http://www.atlantic-boulevard.co.uk/

 

[actonblue]

It all depends how badly gone the threads are, your LBS might be able to rechase the threads for about £25 providing they are not too bad.
Failing that I think that this company repair BB threads Link and I think that Argos in Bristol do a similar sort of thing. I do not know how much the last two charge but it is a bit more than having them chased.

 

[amasidlover]

The threads are pretty shot; as in the bottom bracket slides all the way in and out with almost no force so there isn't enough metal left to just re-tap.

I've just moved to Gatley so not too far from Bury - I'll give Atlantic Boulevard (and possibly the other two) a call later today. Thanks!

I rode it in this morning and it seems ok - possibly a bit more friction than before but that could just be me being a bit asthmatic on a cold day...

 

[tyred]

I'd definitely go down the threadless bb route.

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

I'm in a similar position in that, at some point, the thread on one side was stripped and re-cut as Italian, so I have an Anglo-Italian BB!

When I asked about this on here, threadless BB were also recommended to me.

From my own research I have found that most frame builders/restorers offer BB replacement but it isn't cheap: +£100.

Indeed, Bob Jackson will do it for £110/£135.

Whether it is worth you spending that money is, obviously, down to you; however someone will, so definitely don't scrap it!

PS Are you sure about the width of your BB? 63mm surely...

 

[lpretro1]

Get a mechanic to recut the shell threads for you then try using some PTFE tape around the bb threads. I did this on a bike several months ago and it is still going strong. Worth a try rather than scrapping it straight off.

 

[amasidlover]

Thanks for all the suggestions - my current plan is to leave it as it is for the moment (held in by the pre-tensioning on the non-drive crank arm, followed by tightening the crank arm to the axle) and see how it goes. I strongly suspect it may have been assembled like that after its last respray 4 years ago - if I'm wrong and it starts to shift then a threadless bottom bracket is probably the way I'll go in the short term (will keep my eye on ebay for a square taper triple road chainset...).

 

[andrew_s]

A threadless bottom bracket is the simplest option, though that means returning to a square taper crankset.
The best is the Velo Orange version, available from Freshtripe

To fix the frame is doable, but costs. Argos (Bristol) list it at £75. It wrecks the paint, so there's a respray on top (~£125), and you might as well get the rack and bottle bosses done at the same time. Other framebuilders should be much the same, or a bit cheaper.