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@dvorkbod
So, a project. After relinquishing my dibs on the Mercier frame from BikePedlar, I decided to go ahead and dismantle my "Motobecane Special 15" with 1020 (aka "gaspipe") tubing after all. But it's got a lovely bronze color! And it'll be my first complete dismantle. Pictures before are up in my album.
Workshed? LievenDeVlaminck's (no connection to Roger, I think) laundry space. Sadly, I didn't take in progress pictures...
Dissassembly of brakes and stem was straightforward.
Getting the cotters out of the cranks was a lot of fun. Using an anvil, out on the curb and one of Lieven's dumbbel bars as way to more accurately strike the cotter with great force, we managed to get the cranks off.
The left side of the bottom bracket unscrewed with no difficulty, but the right hand side was proving VERY stubborn. Not knowing if it's French or Swiss threaded (could be either one on a Motobecane this age) isn't helping either.
We tried the bench vise trick, no luck.
The lock nut and keep on screwing trick from Sheldon Brown's website? That yielded a nicely round pipe vise (a few hammer blows got that one hexagonal again, I never knew making tools was so easy!).
The first bicycle mechanic I went to didn't feel up to the job, but there were a few more in town... and the next (older) one managed to get it off in two minutes. Apparently it was swiss threaded after all... Oops. As I didn't have a swiss threaded bb lying about, I had one installed there. Was planning on doing everything myself (there's a community bike kitchen not far from where I live), so that was a bit of a downer. Next time!
What was a bit of an upper was that my chainline turned out to perfect as soon as I installed the wheels. And how good the Cinelli Criterium looked I had lying around after a summer of fleamarkets.
I am running a 170/49/15 setup at the moment, and this seems to suit me just fine.
Next post: "After" pictures.. Better ones to follow later.
Spoiler: I crashed in an unseen pothole the first night after I finished the bike. Luckily, no real damage, aside from a big bruise on the back of my head. Two very small lacerations, just a tiny bit of blood. Not even a concussion or owt! My neanderthal genes saving the day once again.