Zydeco Fish and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance

I've been disassembling my old mountain bike. I had left it in the shed, after I acquired a new one. And then I thought, why not make the repairs myself? Damn, that was a great idea. I researched, looked at websites, YouTube, books, and I was ready. I removed the wheels and cleaned the rims, spokes, hubs, and rear cassette. I disassembled, cleaned and reassembled the idler pulley and derailleur. I scrubbed the chain stay, seat stay, down tube, top tube, front forks, and removed the rusted chain.

I purchased a crank remover, and removed the cranks quickly and efficiently. I knew I would require a new chain ring. And then, I focused on the bottom bracket. I started with the drive side (left threads, I know). I noticed that the spline teeth were all worn after 9 summers and winters. The spline bottom bracket tool could achieve no purchase. Thankfully, I avoided ripping up my knuckles on the chain rings. The damn thing would not budge no matter how hard I tried. I failed on the other side too.

After soaking the bottom bracket in oil, which I let penetrate over night, I failed once more. I tried everything, including the tips found in various bike forums on the web. Yes, I bolted the bottom bracket tool to the spindle and held it in place with washers. The result? The remaining teeth splintered, disintegrated into small bits of metal, and fell out like Giles's teeth in his dreams in Dead Babies.

This was disheartening as I had read post after post in bike forums where people had achieved success with such a tactic. So, I resorted to plan B, also recommended on various web forums: I brought out a torch. We all know that heat expands metal, so I should be able to get some movement if the whole bracket were heated. No such luck, I'm afraid.

But, I have not yet given up.