Motor
New Member
Greetings, Gentle Readers...
I thought that I would share with you my recent experience with the purchase of a new Hyper Cruiser 26"
bicycle. It was ordered from Wally and arrived shortly after at my house in a corrugated cardboard box.
There was no internal damage and the tires still held air from China. Having been poor as a child it was
necessary for me to make my own bicycles out of what I could acquire, so I was not intimidated by having
to assemble it from the box. The following is my experience...
All the parts were there! Nothing missing or deranged in transit. So far so good. But then...
Every possible bearing was overtightened and "crunchy."
So I started with the steering head. The big crown nut was very tight and the "keyed" washer underneath
had sheared the little tab that rides in the groove of the fork so as not to transfer torque to the bearing
adjustment cone was, well, transfering torque to the adjustment cone. This required the use of water pump
pliers to unscrew it. Afterwards it was a straightforward procedure to apply extra high temp grease to the
caged bearings, squeeze the keyed washer some and re-assemble. It adjusted well and would spin several
revolutions when spun by hand.
Moving on to the pedal crank, it was also straightforward. Dis-assemble, grease and re-assemble. The
pedals would spin almost a minute when tested. So far, so good.
Well, let's see about the "crunchy" front wheel. Should be easy, just re-adjust the bearing cones, right?
NO! Hell no! No stamped steel cone wrench would have served the purpose. Oh! I know, I'll just grind a
regular open end wrench to a narrower profile and be able to use that. So with the narrowed wrench in hand
I put another wrench on the cone's locknut. It must have been laughing at me! The other side was no
different. That's OK, I put a torque amplifier on the narrowed wrench and brought out a 1/2" breaker bar
with appropriate socket. Now we'll get some action! And for sure there was action... a jaw on the narrowed
wrench flew about two feet and my fist punched the floor. In my mind I could imagine somebody laughing at me
with a Chinese accent...
"Oh Motor... how you may, how you can now?"
The bearing was still "crunchy." At this point the average Father assembling the bike might have just bolted
the wheel in and said "Ride it slow at first, Son, some machines just need a gentle break-in."
But, if I can build a Harley but not get the bearing right on a bicycle then I will have to re-evaluate my
mechanic skills. This was hurting my feelings not to mention my fist punching the floor.
So I brought out my propane torch and wondered how this would affect my new bike warranty. The torch should help
and I can always just replace the axle and cones if necessary. So I took off the other axle nut and put my
breaker bar on the opposite side locknut. Had a box-end wrench, with appropriate torque amplifier, at the ready
and lit the propane torch and played it on the remaining lock nut. When the grease started to drip some I started
to twist the locknuts apart and it started to move, along with the bearing cone, of course. About the time that
I started to wonder if there was a caged bearing or loose rollers inside I heard three of them fall out. Well,
that answers that question. After turning off the locknut with my brute strength the cone was free to be removed.
Well, after it cooled off, that is...OUCH!
So, after searching for the three ball bearings for a few minutes the cone was removed. The ball bearings were
counted and found to be ten on each side. I rolled the axle and found it to still be straight! After greasing and
re-assembly the wheel would spin a long time when held in the front fork, upside down, of course.
I considered myself fortunate that the cone on the other side was still in place and I did not have to "center"
the wheel on the axle. But now I still have to get a cone wrench to be able to tighten the locknut properly.
That leaves the back wheel still not turning freely but I will leave that for the next installment of this
sorry tale. I am sure that my impacted fist and burned finger will be alright by then.
Motor
I thought that I would share with you my recent experience with the purchase of a new Hyper Cruiser 26"
bicycle. It was ordered from Wally and arrived shortly after at my house in a corrugated cardboard box.
There was no internal damage and the tires still held air from China. Having been poor as a child it was
necessary for me to make my own bicycles out of what I could acquire, so I was not intimidated by having
to assemble it from the box. The following is my experience...
All the parts were there! Nothing missing or deranged in transit. So far so good. But then...
Every possible bearing was overtightened and "crunchy."
So I started with the steering head. The big crown nut was very tight and the "keyed" washer underneath
had sheared the little tab that rides in the groove of the fork so as not to transfer torque to the bearing
adjustment cone was, well, transfering torque to the adjustment cone. This required the use of water pump
pliers to unscrew it. Afterwards it was a straightforward procedure to apply extra high temp grease to the
caged bearings, squeeze the keyed washer some and re-assemble. It adjusted well and would spin several
revolutions when spun by hand.
Moving on to the pedal crank, it was also straightforward. Dis-assemble, grease and re-assemble. The
pedals would spin almost a minute when tested. So far, so good.
Well, let's see about the "crunchy" front wheel. Should be easy, just re-adjust the bearing cones, right?
NO! Hell no! No stamped steel cone wrench would have served the purpose. Oh! I know, I'll just grind a
regular open end wrench to a narrower profile and be able to use that. So with the narrowed wrench in hand
I put another wrench on the cone's locknut. It must have been laughing at me! The other side was no
different. That's OK, I put a torque amplifier on the narrowed wrench and brought out a 1/2" breaker bar
with appropriate socket. Now we'll get some action! And for sure there was action... a jaw on the narrowed
wrench flew about two feet and my fist punched the floor. In my mind I could imagine somebody laughing at me
with a Chinese accent...
"Oh Motor... how you may, how you can now?"
The bearing was still "crunchy." At this point the average Father assembling the bike might have just bolted
the wheel in and said "Ride it slow at first, Son, some machines just need a gentle break-in."
But, if I can build a Harley but not get the bearing right on a bicycle then I will have to re-evaluate my
mechanic skills. This was hurting my feelings not to mention my fist punching the floor.
So I brought out my propane torch and wondered how this would affect my new bike warranty. The torch should help
and I can always just replace the axle and cones if necessary. So I took off the other axle nut and put my
breaker bar on the opposite side locknut. Had a box-end wrench, with appropriate torque amplifier, at the ready
and lit the propane torch and played it on the remaining lock nut. When the grease started to drip some I started
to twist the locknuts apart and it started to move, along with the bearing cone, of course. About the time that
I started to wonder if there was a caged bearing or loose rollers inside I heard three of them fall out. Well,
that answers that question. After turning off the locknut with my brute strength the cone was free to be removed.
Well, after it cooled off, that is...OUCH!
So, after searching for the three ball bearings for a few minutes the cone was removed. The ball bearings were
counted and found to be ten on each side. I rolled the axle and found it to still be straight! After greasing and
re-assembly the wheel would spin a long time when held in the front fork, upside down, of course.
I considered myself fortunate that the cone on the other side was still in place and I did not have to "center"
the wheel on the axle. But now I still have to get a cone wrench to be able to tighten the locknut properly.
That leaves the back wheel still not turning freely but I will leave that for the next installment of this
sorry tale. I am sure that my impacted fist and burned finger will be alright by then.
Motor
