# List your toughest task and how you fixed it



## bikiba (Jun 1, 2015)

Guys 

There is a ton of experience in these forums and I have learned a ton. [ thanks for answering all my newb questions ]. I thought it would be helpful for everyone if everyone could list out their most hated, toughest bicycle tasks they have performed over the years or people could "request" answers to some of their hated tasks to see if there is a better way.

I'd like to kick it off with my MOST hated and barely solved task without a lot of swearing  

*    :: MOST HATED TASK #1 :: REMOVING A STUCK NUT ON A HUB AXLE  
* 
*Question*: When you have a hub and there is a nut stuck on the axle that JUST wont move, what do you guys do to fix it? 
*Solution*: I used pbblaster, soaked it, tap it lightly with a hammer, heated it with a heat gun, and a lot of dual wrench torque and finally those suckers come off.

Would love to see other solutions


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## bobcycles (Jun 1, 2015)

*Toughest task for me was back in 1983 selling off my entire bicycle collection, parts and all to Prewar Schwinn Lord Kenny Blackburn, except for ONE bike as I made the big mistake life change of dating a sorority beesh in college and transforming myself in to a pseudo Preppy idiot to blend in with her lame scene.  She dumped me in a couple of years later. Fortunately for me, a couple of years after that I fixed the problem in 1988 when on a road trip to Northern Calif, I spotted a straight bar hornet hanging in the window of a Santa Rosa junk shop, pulled over, bought the thing for 35.00 and the rest is history! Fixed the problem, rebirth as obsessed bike collector again. Problem solved!*


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## TheSaint (Jun 1, 2015)

Bob,

You need to find her and reignite the flames of preppy
hipsterdom,


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## partsguy (Jun 1, 2015)

bobcycles said:


> *Toughest task for me was back in 1983 selling off my entire bicycle collection, parts and all to Prewar Schwinn Lord Kenny Blackburn, except for ONE bike as I made the big mistake life change of dating a sorority beesh in college and transforming myself in to a pseudo Preppy idiot to blend in with her lame scene.  She dumped me in a couple of years later. Fortunately for me, a couple of years after that I fixed the problem in 1988 when on a road trip to Northern Calif, I spotted a straight bar hornet hanging in the window of a Santa Rosa junk shop, pulled over, bought the thing for 35.00 and the rest is history! Fixed the problem, rebirth as obsessed bike collector again. Problem solved!*





Hope you got pet the kitty cat for all your troubles 

Mine was a stuck seat post in a 1978 AMF Roadmaster. My solution? I cut up and parted the bike like Sir William Wallace in "Brave Heart" and sent the remains to the scrap yard.


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## SirMike1983 (Jun 1, 2015)

The two tasks I hate most are frame and fork straightening with the fork lever (you really need a touch to do it right) and stripping over spray while trying to preserve the original paint underneath (messy, nasty business).


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## the tinker (Jun 1, 2015)

What I dislike most is after I have carefully thought out what my plan of attack will be; got all the parts together, I am about to get started something else comes up unexpected that drags me away from my plans.[selfish I know.]
It could be the wife and I have to go over to visit someone and then the day is shot.
I find myself at someones house, everyone around me is talking, and I am thinking about "the bike".  Once I get going on a bike the interruptions are tough.  Have never found a way to fix that.


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## DonChristie (Jun 1, 2015)

Lacing rims correctly is the toughest thing on a bike. Always takes atleast two tries and a 6 pack.

 Biggest bike heartbreak was recently gathering parts/building the same girls colson i had built in 1975 (first cruiser build) for my wife and she didnt like it. Parting it back out hurt!


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## SirMike1983 (Jun 1, 2015)

Well those two and that business where I set the screw, screw driver, or both down somewhere and spend the next 45 minutes looking for it. I hate that crap.


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## 37fleetwood (Jun 2, 2015)

this one was pretty bad.


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## bricycle (Jun 2, 2015)

http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?20875-Strut-Fork-repair

http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?13567-Wood-wheel-repair-I-made-to-a-totally-split-rim


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## bricycle (Jun 2, 2015)

Recently, I had wanted a 26" Juvinile coffin tank. Regular 26" adult tanks were too long, so I found a suitable tank (not too good) and cut it down with a fibre wheel, and rebraized together. Turned out great and fits better than factory one!


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## the tinker (Jun 3, 2015)

SirMike1983 said:


> Well those two and that business where I set the screw, screw driver, or both down somewhere and spend the next 45 minutes looking for it. I hate that crap.




Most frustrating YES!  My work areas are always a mess,cluttered at best. Heck my mind is cluttered.I actually say to myself" I am putting this here, and I will remember it", and later I cant find it.  Its not just me though. My pal and I were putting a motor together and we could not find the torque wrench we were using. We needed it right away, and got so frustrated looking for it my pal got in his car and sped off to Sears and bought a new one.  He wasnt back 15 minutes and I found the one we were looking for on a shelf 3 feet from where we were looking under a rag. we both felt like IDIOTS!


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## partsguy (Jun 3, 2015)

the tinker said:


> Most frustrating YES!  My work areas are always a mess,cluttered at best. Heck my mind is cluttered.I actually say to myself" I am putting this here, and I will remember it", and later I cant find it.  Its not just me though. My pal and I were putting a motor together and we could not find the torque wrench we were using. We needed it right away, and got so frustrated looking for it my pal got in his car and sped off to Sears and bought a new one.  He wasnt back 15 minutes and I found the one we were looking for on a shelf 3 feet from where we were looking under a rag. we both felt like IDIOTS!




I'm not necessarily messy, but I start too many projects and have too much going on. I had a potential buyer leave me high and dry on an order for a 1972 Mercury Montego GT front clip. Now, until I can list and sell every individual piece, I have car parts in the garage and in my own bed room. I would, and am damn tempted, to scrap all of it and be done with it and chalk it up as a lesson. But I don't want to take a loss on the junk, either.


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## momo608 (Jun 3, 2015)

For me it's paint and decals. Not because of the work of doing it over, but the $'s that could have been spent on something else. Materials are getting very expensive!

For you messy guys. When things are going rough, stop and clean your work areas up. It's therapeutic, it gives your mind a fresh starting point when the work commences. Dropping the project for the day and cleaning up is even better. Things ALWAYS go better with a fresh head the next day.


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## vincev (Jun 3, 2015)

I hate lacing wheels.it  is very time consuming and if you are not concentrating you will be doing it all over.I fixed the problem by finding someone to do it for me.


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## OldHarley (Aug 23, 2015)

partsguy said:


> Mine was a stuck seat post in a 1978 AMF Roadmaster. My solution? I cut up and parted the bike like Sir William Wallace in "Brave Heart" and sent the remains to the scrap yard.




A stuck seat post can be removed as follows: First apply liberal amounts of PB Blaster around post and let sit.  Then, use a slightly larger piece of tubing/pipe that would go over the seat post and sit on the frame seat tube - this will be the basis of your 'seat post puller'.  

Attach a chain to the seat post that will fit inside the puller.  Use a long eyebolt with nut and washer at the opposite end of the puller and run the chain thru the eye of the eyebolt. The nut and washer will be the means by which you extract the seat post when the nut is tightened.  

On attaching the chain to the seat post:  The end of the chain can be attached to the seat post by several means.  It can be tack welded, it can be attached via a pin drilled thru the seat post.  If the seat post is swedged down, a rectangular piece of iron can be cut, attached to the chain, dropped down the post where it will wedge itself when the chain is pulled taunt when extracting the seat post.

When ready, just tighten the nut and the old post will be painlessly removed.  

If my description is confusing, this is a photo of a similar contraption I used to extract the stuck seat post of my Harley.  Only thing not shown for clarity is the outer puller tube, but you get the idea.

OH


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## the tinker (Aug 23, 2015)

I don't know Harley. I will give this a try someday if my big trusty pipe wrench and torch fails me. [as it did on a 52 Columbia] However, the scrapyard idea sounds ok too


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## Evans200 (Aug 24, 2015)

vincev said:


> I hate lacing wheels.it  is very time consuming and if you are not concentrating you will be doing it all over.I fixed the problem by finding someone to do it for me.




Ditto what Vince said, word for word, exactly.


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## momo608 (Aug 26, 2015)

"List your toughest task and how you fixed it"

90% of the tech advice here and on the internet is theoretical. Meaning that 90% of people are passing around completely bogus information, something they read and misinterpreted or just something made up from their imaginations that might work. Real hands on experience is in very short supply. How to fix that? Be aware that just about everything you read is wrong, particularly from those with thousands of previous comments. They spend more time parked in chairs instead of really doing anything. Better to just figure it out yourself.


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## the tinker (Aug 27, 2015)

While sitting in the barber shop on Tuesday waiting for Floyd to give me a haircut I picked up a "home Carpentry  Workshop" magazine. One part I was reading was so ridiculous I thought to myself who the heck can write this B.S.   Having been a carpenter since 69 I do notice a lot of bad information in these how to do it rags.  I also see lots of good stuff too. Things that I have tried and have worked." Gotta take things with a grain of salt" old dad would say.
I have found the information shared here on the CABE is excellent.
Many of us here on the CABE have other hobbies that share the same things in working on a bike.[painting, metal work, leather work etc.] Lots of us have retired from industry and just plain  know helpful stuff that works.
I have found that the folks here on the CABE, are especially in love [it's fair to say] with this hobby. And with any passion one accumulates lots of knowledge and it is to our benefit that they share it. The information here is mostly spot on, by lots of dedicated good people. 
90 % B. S. on the CABE?       NO WAY! 
 The restoration thread is for posting positive ways for the problems we come across and helpful hints........  Period.


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## GTs58 (Aug 27, 2015)

momo608 said:


> "List your toughest task and how you fixed it"
> 
> 90% of the tech advice here and on the internet is theoretical. Meaning that 90% of people are passing around completely bogus information, something they read and misinterpreted or just something made up from their imaginations that might work. Real hands on experience is in very short supply. How to fix that? Be aware that just about everything you read is wrong, particularly from those with thousands of previous comments. They spend more time parked in chairs instead of really doing anything. Better to just figure it out yourself.





Just like this theoretical BS from a self proclaimed expert? So you get off insulting 90% of the Cabe? WTF is your problem?


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## W2J (Aug 27, 2015)

momo608 said:


> "List your toughest task and how you fixed it"
> 
> 90% of the tech advice here and on the internet is theoretical. Meaning that 90% of people are passing around completely bogus information, something they read and misinterpreted or just something made up from their imaginations that might work. Real hands on experience is in very short supply. How to fix that? Be aware that just about everything you read is wrong, particularly from those with thousands of previous comments. They spend more time parked in chairs instead of really doing anything. Better to just figure it out yourself.




or better yet,we could just ask you,since you're some kinda f#$^in guru of all things.I've forgotten more about bikes than you'll ever know.insulting people here with your all knowing BS is laughable.


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## momo608 (Aug 28, 2015)

GTs58 said:


> Just like this theoretical BS from a self proclaimed expert? So you get off insulting 90% of the Cabe? WTF is your problem?




I showed examples of actual work done by me, where is yours?  You are obviously offended because you know I'm right and you are one of the prime examples of exactly what I'm talking about. Really bad unfounded information in so much of your input. You are just mad because you made a fool of yourself on a couple of paint topics. It's not in my DNA to pretend I'm something I am not. You, not so much.

By the way, when you start flinging out foul language, you lose.


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## momo608 (Aug 28, 2015)

W2J said:


> or better yet,we could just ask you,since you're some kinda f#$^in guru of all things.I've forgotten more about bikes than you'll ever know.insulting people here with your all knowing BS is laughable.




You responded the way you have because it hit you where you live. Sorry, but that's not my problem. Do everyone a favor and reply to what you know, not what you want them to think you know.


Where's my up-votes anyway?


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