As soon as they were all gone it was very easy to take the hub apart. These are all the parts. The balls sit in a rim just inside the hub and they are held in place by the bar and the shaped nuts. They are covered in grease which makes the bar able to turn around against the balls easily instead of rubbing off flat metal. I cleaned and rusted and treated the metal and it turn out like the next photo - pretty good improvement!
I took one of the old spokes to my local bike shop and was able to buy replacement ones. They come in 2 parts - they have a nipple (he he he) at the end that goes through the hub and they look like a screw at the top. Then there is a bit that looks like a long nut that goes in through the rim and connects onto the spoke. You can tighten it with a normal screwdriver and the idea is to keep the spoke from coming up though the screw cause it will puncture the tube.
I followed Sheldon Brown's instructions on how to respoke the wheel. It's a great article and really easy to follow. It's a lot easier than I thought. It's not completely true, as I obviously don't have a truing stand, but I got is as close as possible by looking at it spinning on the bike upsidedown. The spokes alternate at being on the right and left sides of the rim. If the rim is bending to the right, tighten a spoke on the left to pull it back. And hey presto - a shiny new wheel! When the rear wheel is ready I'll bring them both to the bike shop to be trued properly.
2 comments:
Wow, you are doing amazing work with her! You are the champion of do-it-yourself old bike restoration, really. Are you going to paint her, or leave her "au naturel"? If you're going to paint, may I suggest gloss black for the frame, with classy brown (leather?) grips and seat. I think that would look snazzy.
Hi Thom,
I'm definitely going to paint her black, maybe with a small few little designs on bits and pieces. I'm starting to think that the original saddle may actually be ok, if I can shoo the spiders out from the middle. The handlebars are a bit trickier, I think the only thing I can do is put tape around to make them a bit more comfortable, as any thick coating would stop the brakes being so effective. I could be wrong though as I still haven't been able to sit on the bike to see how it feels (fear of saddle spiders and worry for buckling the tyres with weak spokes).
Margaret
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