Take one Stem bolt and Hammer

Now that we'd got the crankset off, it was time for the Bottom Bracket. The Beast is French threaded, which means 'lefty loosey, righty tighty' for both cups. As ever, getting them off wasn't going to be completely straight-forward. Firstly I needed to source a bracket hook, c-spanner, weird looking spanner thing from somewhere. Quick slightly cryptic post on a bulletin board involving the words "what size hammer" and one was on the way to me.

Out came the WD40 and a quick crank off came the locking ring, and cup. A further squirt, and the application of a SUS (Spanner of Unusual Size) and the adjustable cup was off as well.

Starting to enjoy this process now!

Now that the cranks were off and the bottom bracket dealt with, it was time to move on to the seat post and headstem/forks.

I suspected that both follow the example set by the bottom bracket, and resist my attempts to free them. As a precaution, I turned the Beast upside down and let it have it with half a can of WD-40. I then let it sit over night. I'd seriously advise anyone undertaken a strip down of an old bike to do likewise.

Next day, I gave the seat post bolt some love with a spanner and off it came. Foot on the chain stays, grab the seat and twist vigorously. Loud groaning sounds followed, mostly from me. The seat post began to move, and quickly I was standing there holding a saddle, and a seat post much shorter than I expected with an oddly triumphant look on my face.

She wandered into the garage to see what all the noises were about, shook her head and went back to the gardening.

Now was the time for the quill stem and forks.

The Beast has a nice old school Afax quill stem and AVA bars, which are staying, and sports a pair of original seamed forks. In the back of my mind was the notion that 35 year old stems are quite likely to freeze inside 35 year old steerer tubes. Hence the liberal quantities of WD40 the day before.

I loosened the bolt a few turns, then a few more, then took it right out. Vigorous shaking and a bit of swearing later, and yup, it was definitely frozen.

Back went the bolt, tightened until about 1 centimeter of thread showed. Put the Head tube into the vice, apply the hammer to the bolt with enthusiasm, and with a crack the hold was broken.

I was then able to whip out the stem, and pull the forks out.

A quick application of the SUS and the Head Set came off.

Bit of time with the hammer and the screwdriver and the cups were out.

The Beast was ready for paint.