How silly am I being? - Page 2

I've had various knee injuries over the years. I played Rugby as a lad, later my young GSD managed to trip me up then I manageed to jam the heel and toe of my shoe into the angle of the front door step. Every time, the recovery accelerated as soon as I started riding the fixed wheel again. But do ensure that the cranks, pedals, bearings etc. are all OK. You can, of course, replace and reset the bearings yourself, with a bit of care and common sense (and very greasy hands!).
Good luck.

well hopefully i will have the bottom bracket all set and figured out before too long.. i hope that helps... ive tryed taking it apart but can only get it so far apart due to a lack of proper tools... well i can always try again, thanks a lot

This is definitely drifting off topic, but what is wrong with your bottom bracket?

How does it feel when you turn it by hand? Crunchy?

im not sure exactly whats wrong... its about as old as the hills, and after every 5 or 6 miles, it gets really loose, and cranks will go side to side a little bit, which also torques the front gear out of alignment... ive tightened it many times, and when its tight, it makes a wretched screeching noise, almost as if you were to drive your car alongside a peice of metal, its an awful metal on metal noise, and as soon as its loose enough to not make that noise, i feel like the pedals are falling off... lastly, the gear does not remain in a single place... if the pedals are in one position, the chain is extremely tight, whereas in another position, the chain has enough slack to almost fall off... and is isnt the wheel, the whole wheel is brabd new, built by former olympic mechanic. its also french... arent those really tough to find?

Okay ... I understand ...

Have your mechanic (if you've got the tools, you can do it yourself, of course) move the fixed cup to the non-driveside & the adjustable cup to the driveside -- in a lucid moment, I realized THAT would be the easiest way to resolve the vexing problem of the "fixed" cup loosening with EITHER French OR Italian BBs ... both the driveside & non-driveside cups of both BB types have right hand threads.

Other people may have come up with the same solution, but I still read the suggestion that Loctite be used to keep the fixed cup on an Italian BB from slipping, so the cognoscenti still must adhere to the belief that the fixed cup should be on the driveside ... and, installing the fixed up on the non-driveside will make you a heretic like me!

BTW. Yes, French BBs have become rare.

ive got another bike that i found at the end of my road, it a panasonic, but so far all the parts have been compatible... is there a chance the BB's would fit? and pardon my lack of knowledge on the subject... whats the fixed cup? i have no specialty bike tools either... ive been doing everything with stuff like channel locks and whatever string of tools i can throw together to get the job done... but ive run out...

The Panasonic will have an English threaded BB, so it it is not interchangeable.

Most of the dimensions on French frames were slightly different from most dimensions on OTHER bikes ... the stem is 22.0mm vs. 22.2mm on most bikes, etc.

With a loose Bottom Bracket (separate components/pieces), only one side needs to be adjustable, so the other side is usually fixed -- the fixed cup is installed with greased bearings into the frame's BB shell, the spindle is inserted, the other set of bearings is installed with the adjustable cup, the adjustment is made, and the lockring is tightened to secure the assembly.

If you look at the two sides of the frame's BB shell, you will see that the cup on the LEFT side has a lockring ...

Since periodic adjustments may need to be made, it is subjectively easier to remove only a bare crank arm rather than a crank arm which has the chainring(s) AND the chain, in particular -- why deal with the chain if you don't have to? -- so, that is undoubtedly how the fixed ended up being on the driveside.

The fixed cup usually has "flats" on the outer edge for the tool to engage.

You will probably need a crank arm puller ... worst case scenario will be the bike have cottered cranks. Ask your mechanic friend to help you with this.

okay... so thats a lot more clear now, thanks a lot i have tightened the adjustable cup, and while it is tight, i feel a lot of resistance and hear an awful screaching of metal on metal... so whether or not i secure it with locktite it still won't really work right... and im pretty sure that at this point, something has been bent because with the pedals in one position (thus the chainring in the position) the chain will be very very tight... on the otherside, the pedals in a different place, the chain will become very loose... and this is no matter how tight it is...

The only resistance you should feel from a properly adjusted, vintage (non-cartridge) Bottom Bracket like the type that is on your Peugeot is from the grease -- your description suggests a BB which needs to be 're-packed' (with fresh grease) ... you probably need "new" bearings (individual bearings are cheap, about 10¢ each, give-or-take depending on the shop) ... if you cannibalize the crank from the Panasonic, you can probably just re-use its bearings for the time being ... if-and-when you get around to using the Panasonic frame, you should probably get a 'new' BB & crank ...

For the time being, take your bike to the shop which has the former Olympic mechanic that you know & have him help you ... have him move the fixed cup to the non-driveside, and the adjustable cup to the driveside as I suggested earlier.

It sounds as though your chainring is bent, but maybe it is something else.

The chainrings should move in their indvidual, virtual planes that are parallel to the theoretical plane that bisects the bike's centerline -- a bent chainring can be straightened. The worst case scenario is that one of the arms of the crank's spider is bent which will necessitate replacing the crank. You may be able to cannibalize the crank from off the Panasonic to use on the Peugeot.

BTW. To state one of the obvious things when assessing the drivetrain, be sure the rear wheel is centered in the frame.

The Peugeot frame may-or-may-not have a better frame than the Panasonic frame. Are the two bikes the same size? Is the condition of both comparable? Does one fit you better? You are probably going to grow, so keep both frames if your parents don't mind.

Post a pic of each bike if you can.