Since buying my daughter a brand new SC1800 for commuting to university, I’ve been expecting repairs as she slowly adds kilometers. I found another VP Modus BC-73A sealed cartridge bottom bracket (new, unused) on eBay and bid on it, winning it for $5.25. Not bad. It arrived this morning and I figured I might as well bite the bullet and try installing it.
VP Modus BB-73A sealed cartridge bottom bracket, now installed on Kate’s bike.
If you’ll recall my earlier effort with my own SC1800, I had a lot of trouble removing the fixed cup. This time around, I followed all the advice I received last time and, voila, the old bottom bracket, including the fixed cup, was out in about 15 minutes! Unbelievable. And what were these magic instructions, you might ask?
1) Give the fixed cup a couple of good hard bangs with a hammer to loosen the binding of the threads.
2) Douse it liberally, inside the BB shell and outside, with liquid wrench or WD40 spray lubricant.
3) Use steady applied force rather than sudden bangs and pushes.
Again, I used Sheldon Brown’s instructions for a home-made fixed-cup removal tool. In fact, I used the same one I used last time. It now holds pride of place in my Bicycle Toolbox… a nut, bolt and washer.
I also added another instruction of my own:
4) re-apply Liquid Wrench on WD40 to the unscrewing fixed cup on the way out.
Easy as pie. I laughed out loud. And I had the new VP Modus bottom bracket installed in another 15 minutes. Total for the whole job, about half-an-hour. Whew.
Another first, too. My birthday was last week. One of the two presents I received from my wife was a mechanic’s apron. I didn’t even get dirty! I didn’t have to throw away yet another set of clothes covered in grease. Will wonders never cease?
The second present, if you’re wondering, was a small bike work-stand suitable for use while cleaning, lubricating, or doing minor repairs… not sturdy enough for major work, but handy for weekly lubes and cleanings.
Thanks, honey!
A quick P.S. This was a preemptive repair. Kate’s bottom bracket was not making noise, and the OEM parts were pristine when I removed them. However, I know very well that the BB is a trouble spot on the SC1800 and I just wanted to head-off future repairs before they appeared. Although my OEM wheel only lasted 1,600 Km (1,000 miles), Kate is not nearly as heavy as I am, so her wheel should provide trouble-free service for a longer period of time.
Great blog. I was directed here from Gerry Lauzon’s page. With regard to this post, I have a question. What size bolt did you use to make your home made bottom bracket removal tool?
The bolt is 13/16 and fits a standard sparkplug socket. The sparkplug socket fits nicely into the bottom bracket shell, around the bolt. On the other side, I used a nut and a couple of washers. I had to use a pipe wrench on the nut to get enough torque to screw off the fixed cup… but it did come off, on both bikes.
Thanks. It is a bit tricky sometimes figuring out what will actually work.
I agree. It took me three tries to finally figure out how to beat the fixed cup on the bottom bracket, despite having advice from everybody and his dog. Switching from a box wrench to an 18 inch pipe wrench did the trick, finally allowing me to apply the kind of force needed to turn the thing.
18in pipe wrench! That is some serious “firepower”.
I just tried to use the DIY BB remove and wound up stripping the bolt. After a few blows with a hammer I used an adjustable wrench of the wrench flat on the fixed cup and it work. I felt kind of silly afterwards but at least it is off. Did you get your replacement BB from an LBS or mail order?
Oops. Sorry. Just read again and saw you got it on e-bay.
One more question. Did you use a torque wrench to install your cranks? How tight did you fasten the crank bolts?
Also, did you grease the spindle? Sorry for all the questions but seeing as you have the experience . . .
Thanks.
Are you referring to the sealed BB I installed? I did not grease the spindle. I used a rubber mallet to tap the cranks onto the spindle (not too hard), then a standard crank bolt wrench to tighten the crank bolts. Not too tight. It hasn’t been hard to remove them to do maintenance. I checked them a couple of times in the following weeks to make sure they were still firmly bolted in place. They were.
– Steve
Cool. Thanks again for sharing your experience.