Today's project was - revive an old soldier, a foot soldier to be precise. They go to sleep but they never die. This is the cycle on which I learnt to balance and ride about forty five or six years ago when I was about eight years old. Half pedal only though. I couldn't sit astride the saddle back then. I could hardly reach both the ends of the handle and instead would hold the saddle with my right hand. I cannot remember the countless miles of sheer joy this bike gave me when I would go to Shantiniketan. My uncle Popul who owned it rode it till he was past 80 and I think this bike is one of the reasons why he hardly ever had any disease.
I had stopped Mezda from scrapping it and took it from him a few years ago when they closed down their establishment in Shantiniketan and sold off most of the stuff and brought back some unsellable things over. This was one of them.
It was lying idle at home in Metro Park. Yesterday (a Saturday that was a holiday) when Kushuda brought our washing machine from home on a mini truck, I had requested him to bring the cycle over also, which he did.
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| The adapter |
My first priority (after dusting it, particularly the seat and handle grips) was to pump up the two wheels. I had to push it to the tyre repair shop to blow in some air. I had thought that these old style valves (they call it Woods or Dunlop valves) work like Schrader valves because all tyre repair shops use the same nozzle to fill these in as they do with cars. But I soon realised that it doesn't work like that. At least my 12 volt car tyre inflator didn't fit on it. I later learnt that you use the Presta to Schrader adapter on it and then you can use those 12 volt car tyre inflators. So these have the same thread as the Presta. It didn't strike me why the Presta nozzle of my pump wouldn't work. Will check that out later.
(Later addition: I checked out. These Dunlop valves work perfectly with the pump in Presta filling mode).
Anyway, I pushed the bike to the tyre repair shop next to Mudiali Meat Shop. They inflated the front wheel fine but said the rear tube is punctured. No air was going in. Again I pushed it back home. I thought I would take the wheel off and take it to a cycle repair shop to see what was wrong. I had no clue how it is done. I have never even seen any mechanic take these wheels off.
Someswar, my dial-in advisor for bike repair (he is a fantastic, properly trained and educated mechanic but lives quite far) told me how to take the wheel off. But he gave only half the advice. He said take the brake pads off and then take out the nuts on either end of the rear axle. The brake pads came off fine but taking the axle nuts off seemed like a near impossibility. The drive side nut was not as obstinate as the non-drive side one. This side had the added problem of the kick stand which was limiting the range of motion for the spanner to work.
Anyway, I put in a lot of WD 40 on both the nuts and closed the project down for the day. I shall revisit the project another day.
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| The thin tube for valves |
Later during the day I had a brainwave. Why was air not going in at all? I thought may be the valve-tube was damaged. Unscrewed it from the valve and checked it. I had sort of melted. I had some spare thin tube in my IceToolz repair kit. I used it to change the valve tube (our local mechanics use this term. I have no clue if it is correct.) I used the Presta to Schrader adapter and used the car tyre inflator. Nothing doing. Nothing went in.
I thought now that I have a way to inflate the tube at home let me try to repair it without removing the wheel. Prying the tyre out with a plastic tyre lever near the valve I realised the tube had almost melted. It was pointless trying to repair it. The tube has to be changed.
I tested the rear axle lock nuts. Today they had softened up it seemed and turned relatively easily. I was quietly ecstatic. Today is the day to learn this intimidating subject of taking the rear wheel off an old soldier.
I called Someswar up again. Hell bent on taking the tyre off. There is no youtube videos showing how to take off the rear wheel of an old style fixie with a mudguard and carrier rack. Someswar told me the rest of the story to really take off the wheel. I think yesterday he didn't take it too seriously and had given me a very superficial advice.
What I did is as follows. Step by step.
1. Turned the bike upside down.
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| Two chain tensioners and a bit of kickstand |
2. Took off the two brake pads using spanner size
3. Took the lock nuts off from either side of the axle using spanner size 15
4. Took the kick-stand off, removed the stays for the mudguard and the carrier rack. The entire mudguard or carrier do not need to be taken off. They keep hanging from the bolts that attach them to the frame.
5. Take the chain tensioners off using spanner size (see pic)
6. Just pull the damn wheel out
7. Take photographs for viewing later and for showing off to friends who walk home after a puncture on the road
8. Forgot to mention - one has to take the chain off the free wheel at some point of time. In my case I didn't have to do anything as it was already off the gear.
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| Broken Park Tool tyre lever |
Now, I tried to take off the old tyre - off the rim. Idea was to take it to a cycle repair shop and buy replacement tube and tyre (the tyre also looks brittle now) as per the size. I didn't realise how hard it is to take the tyre off from these old style bicycles. The beads are really deep. In the process I broke one of my Park Tools tyre levers :-( . The plastic tyre levers are fine for road bikes. For mountain bikes and these sort of older bikes one would need metallic levers. I have to order for them.
As of now the wheel is waiting to be taken to a shop and replaced. I shall put it in the boot of the car and see who can help. I would love to go to this store near Biplav's house in Golf Gardens. The guy is a gentleman there. I once asked for an old tube to cover my locking chain. He gave me one and refused to take any money for it.
Let me see how the reassembly goes. I am feeling a little intimidated. Far too many parts were taken off. They have to be reassembled one by one. Keeping my fingers crossed.
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| Like a beetle turned over |
Sunday Night
I went to the cycle shop in Golf Gardens with the wheel. The shop owner was quietly impressed that I had taken the wheel off all by myself. He said he had the tyre and tube but it was behind a lot of stuff. It would be nice if I could come tomorrow. I didn't leave the wheel there because a. I would love to do the replacement myself. b. I want to come tomorrow on my motorcycle and taking the wheel back on my motorbike would be difficult. It will cost me Rs 310 (Rs 220 for tyre and 90 for tube).
I also ordered for two steel tyre levers on Amazon for Rs 270 plus Rs 80 for delivery. Let me see when they arrive. I am not in any particular hurry. These can be used for my MTB Hero as well.
Sunday Afternoon (22nd July 2018)
Much as I would have loved to get the tyre and tube from the shop in Golf Gardens, ultimately I couldn't. I had called the shop up on Monday and they said the owner wasn't around and he is never around after 6.30 or so in the evening. I went to the shop on Saturday evening - at around 6.30 pm. He wasn't there. His old mother was at the cash counter. The assistants at the shop didn't seem too interested to understand what exactly I needed. And they started asking irrelevant questions. This is a hall mark of illiterates who know a little bit of something. I have dealt with many of them in the past.
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| The new tyre |
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| The Tube |
I muttered a quiet "fuck you" and came home. This shop is quite a distance from my house and I have no reason to go there except from a sense of gratitude. But beyond a point I cannot keep visiting it in search of an ordinary tyre and tube, especially when I have so many cycle shops closer to home. I also have a feeling that the owner probably goes for a drink every evening. Otherwise, it is not believable that he goes to the market every evening for buying supplies for the store. That's what the boys were trying to make me believe. The cycle market in Calcutta is in Bentinck Street and no one in his sane mind goes there in the evenings, leaving a busy shop. Anyway, enough is enough. I closed the chapter.
This afternoon I bought the tube and tyre from the shop in Kalighat called Bipul Cycle Stores. Before that I had called up Someswar and he told me to check the tyre wall for the size. If it's too large then it's possibly 28x1.5. That was what was written, I found on the old tyre (on the tyre wall it's actually written one and a half and not 1.5. I believe when it comes to tyres there is a difference between the two though mathematically both are same). . So there was no more confusion and no need to take the old one to the shop.
Together they cost me Rs 355 at Bipul. The tyre is some brand called Varosa and the tube is Fargo. Obviously these are more expensive than quoted by Golf Gardens store (I think the shop name is Lokenath). They folded the tyre in a figure of 8 and it was quite handy for Mampu to hold it while sitting pillion on my motorbike. We came home. I have told them that if I cannot fit it to the rim I will come back with the rim and get it fitted by them. They assured me that they would stand by me :-) Now I am waiting for the steel tyre levers. Hopefully by next week they should be with me.
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| 28 by one and a half - that's the size |
Monday 23rd July, 2018
I finished a Herculean task this evening. Took the old tyre and tube off the rim. Put the new tyre and tube on. And then pumped it up. Believe it or not, it was a huge task and had to learn something new at every step of this process.
First taking the tyre off. Actually this I found was the most difficult part. I guess because it's an old tyre. Success came after I did two things. A. I loosened up the tyre sitting on the tube by pressing it all around and moving it a bit. B. I held the lever close to each other. Like 5/6 inches apart only. Even after half the tyre came out of the wheel and was hanging out of the rim it took me some time to actually take it off the rim.
Next was putting the tyre back on. I had thought this would be a lot more tough. In the end I managed to put it on. It took a lot of back and forth pushing but I succeeded in getting the entire tire to sit on the rim properly. I had used some talcum on the new tube before putting it on. I inserted the tube in the tyre and then put the tyre on.
Next step was pumping the tyre up. This turned out to be the most challenging part. Air was just not going in. I would pump in and could hear the hiss of the air flowing back out. I was quite at my wits end and was about to opt for "dial a mechanic" - my all time dependable Someswar Rao. I was using my good old Fire Fox floor standing pump in Schrader mode and added the Presta/Schrader adapter. It would just not work. Tried several different things including replacing the inner core with the old inner core of the old valve.
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| Dunlop Valve |
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| Promptly returned with full refund |
Finally a simple solution did the trick. If you look carefully at the
photograph of the valve (to the left) there is a small nut at the base of the valve. This sits on the rim. I tightened it against the rim with a spanner. Before that I was keeping it a bit loose, thinking I might need to take it out some time in future and it might get jammed. Turns out, this has to be really tight against the rim. Look at the raised edges of the base of the valve. That creates a space between the valve base and the rim. If you don't tighten the screw the pressure in the tube pushes the air out through the valve. These are very very old systems and have probably survived only in the Third World.
Earlier in the day, the tyre levers had arrived but much to my disappointment I found they were totally different from what was promised. Just a pair of cheap rusty screwdrivers. I did the job with them but am definitely going to return them. Learnt a lesson. Never buy anything that is not Amazon fulfilled.
Wednesday 25th July, 2018
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| Chain Tensioners |
Although I didn't write about it, I fitted the tyre back to the bicycle on Monday night itself. However, I didn't quite like the fit. The chain is a bit lose. I should have pulled the wheel back a bit and adjusted the chain tensioner. That part of the bike is so old and jammed that the screw had to be tightened and loosened using a spanner. Somehow managed to put everything back on but as I said it didn't quite fit properly.
On Tuesday, I went to Bipul Cycles and bought a pair of chain tensioners. It cost me a royal sum of Rs 30 for the pair. On Amazon there is some joker who sells it for Rs 180 plus Rs 60 for courier. The guy at the shop told me an interesting thing. Keep the bulging side on the outside. The ring kind of thing that sits on top of the screw is not welded to the middle of the screw. It is on one side of the screw. That side should be on the interior part of the bike. The side that is bulging out should be on the exterior part. I don't know if this is clear to someone who has not seen the tensioner closely. Incidentally, in the shop I didn't ask them to give me a pair of chain tensioners. I was more than certain that they had some local name for it. So I showed it to them fitted on a cycle. They said it's called a "chain chabi". Chabi means key. Some call it chain adjuster also, he said.
