Cycling UK Forum

hi guys

im currently giving an old town bike a bit of much needed TLC...which will involve a respray. its a Townsend model

ive removed everything on the bike ready for the respray - bar the bottom bracket!
its an old cup and cone job (i think external bottom bracket)...with cotter pins attaching the cranks.
ive managed to remove the axle , bearings etc but the cups are stuck in the frame. there are no holes or flats on the cup to suggest its threaded. however its been given a fair beating with a hammer & screwdriver but its still not budging

am i right in thinking this cup is a push-fit, or is there a chance it has a thread on it?
whats the best method to remove it? (ps im not intending to re-use cup)

thanxs,

There's no reason to not reuse what you have. A **good** bike shop will sell you replacement bearings and axle.
You really need a bottom bracket tool, a screwdriver isn't enough to remove the lockring.
Incidentally, my commuter bike has had the same bottom bracket since 1948.
I honestly believe the only real advantage sealed bottom brackets have is on the side of the manufacturers.

You've lost me a bit. You say you have removed the axle but the cups are still stuck in the frame. I think that's impossible as you would have to remove at least one of the cups to get it out. If it's a typo and only one of the cups is stuck, I'll presume it's the fixed cup (on the right hand side.) That is usually a left-hand thread and almost certainly is on a bike of the type you describe. There are special tools available to remove a fixed cup but you can do it with a big nut and bolt and some washers. There is a detailed description somewhere on SB but basically, it exploits the fact that as the (right hand thread) bolt is tightened, the (left hand thread) cup will unscrew. (Found it http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbcups.html )

(I don't understand the reference to an external BB - I don't think you would get one with cotter pins.)

***will try to upload a pic tomorrow

true i could re-use cups...but i only wanted to remove them for the sake of the paint job...so i can get a nice flush finish

Better to reuse the bottom bracket and axle if you can. You will be very lucky if you get the same chainline with a cotterless axle and chainset without trying several different length axles.
If you look on the Sheldon Brown website, he has an article on how to make the tool Thirdcrank describes with pictures.

"....the sake of the paint job...so i can get a nice flush finish"

Careful masking should achieve the same!

IF one cup only is seized and all else fails saw it into segments and remove in pieces. One of the few advantages of separate cup and cone axles!

got the cups out in the end...persisted with a hammer & screwdriver

turns out they were the 'push in' type not threaded...but took a HEAVY beating to get them out