Appendix: getting this bike back on the road

By the following Monday - two days after I was home, I had won an eBay bid on a used kick-back hub. It would appear that I was moving fast before my wife asked what I was up to, but actually, this deal was what I was looking for.

It wasn't until October 10 when I had time to get started on the hub repair. My green Park Tools grease had turned black.

lots of metal bits in my grease – original hub, drive end

The eBay replacement had sticky, hardened grease that was work to get off.

lots of sticky grease – replacement hub, brake end

Some of my original hub parts were in better shape than the replacement hub's parts, but not all. Especially not the high-speed drive sprocket.

Schwinn Yellow Band Hub high-speed drive sprockets. The original (used on my trip) has a destroyed bearing race.

On October 15, I pieced together a complete set of parts, using the best from each, to build up one good hub.

Reassembly into the hub shell went smoothly. Time to test. It works! It works! (At least down the driveway.)

I continued on with repair of a few other bike issues. The front axle threads were messed-up on one side, so I chased them with a 5/16-24 threading die. That was a mistake. The axle is actually 5/16" Metric, whatever that is. I think it's metric-spaced threads on a 5/16-inch diameter rod. Anyway, I purchased a new front axle. I also purchased a new set of my favorite (larger size) tires: Kenda 26 x 2 x 1-3/4 (54-571) for Schwinn S-7 rims. The remaining repair tasks were shortening the chain to get the rear fender back in place, and reclaiming my quarter-inch nut driver attachment by switching-out the brake arm strap with the better one that came with my replacement hub.

Time for a day-trip test ride. November 9 was the day for that. The bike is riding great! I'm ready to do those last nineteen miles now.

November 9, 2016 – along CR-900E south of Metamora, Illinois

Now, should I do another touring trip with this bike? That question got me thinking. I searched back and looked at photos I had taken in 2015, when I had first cleaned/greased the original hub. One photo shows that the bearing race on the high-speed drive sprocket was in good shape then.

May 9, 2015 - disassembly of original rear hub before first tour

So, I speculate that it was my over-weight touring load that destroyed the original sprocket.

It would be prudent to retire this bike from touring.

But, if I had a spare high-speed sprocket on hand . . .

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	3
Comment on this entry	Comment	0