Started to cycle home on Friday and heard an epic snap and then pulled a super skid down Regent Street. Shoved it back in the office to deal with today.

Is it just a case of getting a new axle and bashing the frame back into shape?
Its pretty messy, looks like it needs a clean. Will this have helped in causing this?
Its all pretty old (probably original like 90% of the bike) making it a good 20 years old..

R :)

insert funny joke about singlespeed here >

:(

the problem is its not fixed, it's broken ;-)

it's hard to believe you did that with a rear brake.

you are not going to easily replace that axle, might be worth keeping your eye open for a new hub with the same size flange and swap it out.

I can't make out if those rear drop outs are twisted? are both sides the same?

Its just the drive side that bent inwards, the other side is fine.
Bit of a shame that its not an easy fix. :/

If I take it upto Cavendish they should be able to have a look and give me the damage.

Re: fixing the drop out. It can be easy providing there are no cracks. You can 'cold set' steel, thankfully. Get a large adjustable spanner and tighten it down around the drop out, use that to bend it back straight. The flat sides of the spanner won't damage your paint or metal and a big one will give you good leverage. If you want help give me a shout, I had to do exactly the same to a frame I got cheap.

Why not? I expect it will be very easy to replace and the dropout can be bent back, provided it hasn't cracked or anything. You might want to check over the rest of the bike, especially the brake cables if they're original as well!

the axles should indeed pull straight out when you take the wheel off the frame. Depending on where the snap was though, thee is a small possibility that the snapped axle couldve shredded up the inside surface of the hub. Which would make it a bit rough.

Other than that, easy peasy.

Hey,

Sorry to renew an dead thread, finally got around to getting this opened up for a look...

So.. The hub I think look ok, just a new axle... Will give the frame a bend later, see how that goes.
Any recommendations on a place to get one cheap / decent? Probably will need some new bearings too I should imagaine?

That freewheel has been at the bottom of the ocean for 14 years hasn't it?

Furry hole

i thought it was a cat, being all furry!

Yeah, I can't figure out what that shit is, its all over.
Thinking my bike must have been near a load of dandy lions or summit... Weird.

hard t otell from the photos... but normally if the axle hassnapped up by the cone nut, it suggests that the bearings and surfaces are some what beyond the point of repair. The shards of bearings have more than likely been running against the axle, weakening the steel and causing it to snap.

you could put a new axle in there, along with new bearings.. but the chances are that exactly the same thing will end up happening again, because the hub shell is going to be extremely rough and distorted.

conclusion - new hub

oh yeh.. as for the drop outs. Most proper bike shops should have a tool for checking alignment and bringing things back square. There are only so many times it cn be done though.

I happen to also have said tool in Dalston.