A Couple More Lessons

   A carry-over from my last article with a school theme, I learned some new skills during the last few days. Two of them involved a Campagnolo Record 10 speed brake/shift lever that was skipping a couple of gears on its upshift.

   As part of a rebuild, I had replaced the G-springs, which control the ratcheting in the shifts. I had disassembled the lever several times, thinking I had missed some step or not seen some flaw in the mechanism. I could see the small gear near the paddle slide three notches, instead of just one, during the first shift and couldn’t figure out why this was happening.

   I had seen online that Cycles BiKyle (formerly Bikes BiKyle, which I remember vividly, because they once co-sponsored a local team with the Philadelphia Flyers) in Bryn Mawr, advertised their in-shop servicing of Campagnolo Ergo shifters. I stopped in and spoke to a really nice guy named Nolan, who took the time to test the lever himself.

   He explained that, in order to operate smoothly, the new G-springs, when in combination with the older spring on the paddle, would require the back tension the brake calipers would supply when everything is installed on a bike. He simulated this by installing a cable then, using a third-hand tool, applying the back tension needed to show that I had actually performed the rebuild correctly with all ten gears clicking in nicely.

   I was quite pleased that Nolan allowed me to escape any further mechanical work/charges and that I learned the use of a new tool. The funny thing was that when Jordan came by a couple weeks ago to work on his Bottecchia, he left me a couple of things he didn’t need, and one was a Pedro’s third-hand tool (although they call it a fourth-hand tool, ha)!

   One of my cycling buds, Dan, had an incredibly annoying creaking during his pedal stroke. I know from experience that isolating creaks and squeaks in a bicycle can be perplexing, but he felt it was in the pedal itself, however unlikely this would be with a brand-new set of Shimano Ultegra SPD-SL pedals. I took a ride with Dan about a week ago, and it did seem obvious that the creaking was at its worst during the downward pedal stroke, and it definitely was from the left side.

   He gave me the pedal to see if I might be able to do something with it, and I turned to a Park Tool video to get a general idea of what to expect with the pedal tune-up process. Of course, removal of the spindle required a special tool, and since I didn’t want Dan to wait longer than he had to, I headed over to the ol’ reliable Bikesport.

   James and I were perplexed by Shimano’s decision to use the maximum strength red Locktite Threadlocker on a locknut that was plastic and was supposed to be removed by a plastic tool. James had put the pedal in a vice and applied enough pressure with a wrench that he was afraid that something was going to snap. He said, “I’d hope it would be the tool, but I don’t really want to take the chance."

   He said I was welcome to step up and “roll the dice”, if I wanted to. I had to use both hands to crank the wrench, but it did finally pop free...well, free enough. I still had to apply a good amount of pressure as I slowly twisted through about a half inch of threading to remove the spindle.

   There was a fair amount of looseness or lateral “play” in the spindle, and I thought that could be the main issue, but I took it all apart to re-grease the parts and make sure nothing was cracked inside. Everything is now re-lubed, tightened up (without Locktite this time!) and reassembled for Dan’s next test ride.

   It has been a long time since my stock of finished bikes has been so low, with an unexpected burst of sales taking place the past few weeks. I will finally have some room to hang the project bikes that had been leaning on walls around my shop, and maybe a couple of new ones?

   The purple Vitus 979 doesn’t have a lot of work left on it, and it was very well maintained, since it was owned and raced by a USCF-licensed mechanic. The bike really just needs a few touches, like the crankset, bottom bracket, bars and stem. I had a set of Cinelli bars and a stem, so those were a quick swap.

   I found a Mavic “Starfish” 631 crankset that had the unusual triple adapter, which fits between the double chainrings and creates a separate mounting surface for an inner chainring. I disassembled that arrangement, and bought the appropriately sized spacers to turn the crankset back into a double. The triple adapter (photo below) and inner chainring should net a decent monetary return as well.

   The Vitus also came with a very rare set of Mavic 640 pedals, and parts like those are always better to sell separately than as part of a bicycle project, when you are trying to make money back on one of these donor bike situations. The end result is that I can just charge Brendan for the replacement parts for this bike, instead of the inflated price of the Mavic parts we used on his Sean Kelly Vitus.

   A new project that you will be hearing about soon is a dark blue 1983 Ciocc Mockba ’80 that I picked up from a really nice guy in north Jersey. He had installed Campy 8-speed Ergo shifters for performance, but I’m going to backdate the system a bit. This bike has some fantastic Super Record engraved (pantografia) parts, and I happened to have in stock a group-appropriate crankset that already had the fluting painted in blue and yellow – it will match up nicely with the colors of the bicycle!

Yes, the former owner took the picture from the wrong (non-drive) side!

   All the small parts arrived to polish off the Tommasini Super Prestige bicycle, and Dirk made a trip up from Annapolis to visit the shop and pick up his new baby. I’ll sign off with some pics of the Italian beauty: