Ah the memories of rebuilding the freewheel. Thanks Steven Willis The Bike Stand 1778 East Second Street Scotch Plains NJ 07076 908-332-3330 http://www.thebikestand.com
> If you are obsessively curious, at some point you will want, yeah, need,
> to disassemble a Regina freewheel from the Dark Ages, one which takes a
> 2-notch remover. There are no good reasons for this, but the rationale
> this evening was a pile of new Regina bodies (Thanks, John Barron) and a
> nearly-new FW with the right gears but mashed notches.
>
> Sure, you can unthread all the cogs (remembering that all are threaded,
> with about "n" different diameters, but in all cases the innermost two
> are LH thread). And the tool that holds the body by the pawl ratchets
> while you pull the last cog went extinct in the wild decades ago. But,
> it is so uncertain that any two bodies chosen at random will want the
> same cogs that I decided to just switch the innards.
>
> Opening up a Regina is pretty easy; just mount the FW on a wheel or a
> dead hub mounted in a vise, then tap on the blind holes in the ring that
> bears the Regina stamp. Of course, this ring/bearing cone is LH thread,
> too. If you are really smart, you can even dump the outer balls all in
> one pile before lifting the outer assembly off the inner body. That's
> when the pawls and pawl springs notice the local supergravity and go
> walk-about, but you can find them easily, since you swept the floor last
> year. Then a pile of the inner race balls can be made.
>
> Now, putting it together is just the reverse, if you have fingers about
> 0.1 mm. thick, to hold the pawls compressed while sliding the inner body
> into the outer. Or have the proper obsolete tool. But first, remember
> that grease is nice for the balls (holds them in place while you swear
> and shake), but should not go to the pawls. So, here is the $10,000
> secret, and don't forget where you heard it. Grab a foot or so of
> sewing thread and wrap that around the inner body in such a way that it
> holds the pawls compressed, one turn or at most two. Voila (or cello, if
> you prefer), the two body halves will marry up again. Now, you find and
> replace the LH cone that says Regina on it, and tighten it down. That's
> when nothing turns (5-speed fixed gear) since you forgot that paper-thin
> washer that spaces the cone from the body. Fortunately, you don't have
> to pull out the inner to slip that puppy on, and then it seems to work.
>
> Except for the thread you cleverly used to compress the pawls. Remember
> the thread. It's still there, wrapped around the inner body and holding
> the pawls in compression. Or not. I find that it can be extracted with
> some concentration, some Zen peacefulness, and carefully rotating the FW
> cogs while gently tugging. If it breaks off inside, you have several
> choices: (a) sell it (not recommended). (b) trash it. (c) throw it
> back in the box until you forget. It's likely to ride ok for a long
> time. (4) go back up to the paragraph that starts, "Opening..." And
> happily iterate until the beer is gone. :-)
>
> This trick has worked fine for Suntours, too.
>
> Ah, one other pedantic note about blessings. If you open up a REgina
> and the pawl springs look like carefully bent brass shim stock, you have
> been living right. Otherwise, you have the infamous invisibly thin and
> incredibly springy wire "hairpin" springs, which are older. If you
> don't find them, you can tell that they had been there because the pawls
> will have a slot cut into the inner surface to train the hairpin spring
> to stay put. No, they can't ever be found again, because they vaporize
> instantaneously on exposure to light and curses. Except in rare cases
> when you step on one and it stabs you very deeply.
>
> Your mileage may vary.
>
> harvey sachs
> mcLean va