Can we talk about the day a customer brought in a bike with a seized bottom bracket from the 90s?

It was a Trek 930 from 1994, and the owner said it had been in his shed for over a decade. I spent nearly four hours with a breaker bar, a torch, and a lot of penetrating oil just to get the old cartridge out. What's your go-to method for a really stubborn, old-school bottom bracket that just won't budge?

3 comments

3 Comments

parkera6120d ago

Man, I've had luck freezing the frame with an upside-down air duster can first.

the_troy20d ago

Nice trick! I've used that method to get a stubborn hinge pin out before. The cold makes the metal shrink just enough to break it free.

jade54010d ago

Wow, four hours is a war story! When you finally got it to move, did it just spin out normally or did it make that awful screeching sound the whole way? I'm always worried about damaging the shell threads with that much force (I've definitely had to chase threads on an old Peugeot after a similar fight).