Yesterday I brought the bike to Rothar (www.rothar.ie) to ask the guys there what could be salvaged and what parts I would need to get to make it become a touring bike. The guys there were really helpful and such a friendly bunch of chaps. They helped me take off all the parts off the bike and strip it down to the frame as I have decided to get it repainted as there were patches of rust on the frame. The forks were completely seized into the frame and even after leaving to soak overnight in WD40, it was still not moving.
The picture below is Gareth using an angle grinder to get rid of the bolts for the rear mudguard.
So today, we tried again to try to remove the stem again after soaking it in Ammonia. I was told that Ammonia should help as it attacks the rust. Don't ask me why or how, but the process is a very slow one and I spent most of the day pouring down Ammonia into the stem. The worse thing is the smell of the stuff. It smells like pee and once it gets onto you clothes or hands, its really hard to remove. Sadly, there was no immediate progress on removing the stem off the frame so far. In the process of trying to wiggle it out, the handlebars were bent out of shape and I reckon they will need to be replaced as well now.
The picture below is the frame stripped out of most of its components apart from the handlebars.
The picture below is of the handlebars, bent out of shape after using them as leverage to remove it from the stem.
So, the plan so far is to keep soaking it with Ammonia over the weekend and try again on Monday to see if the bars will then come off then. If they are still stuck, the available options then are either to cut it off and lose the forks or use heat from a blowtorch to heat up the frame and hope that after the metal cools down, it will be looser and will come off easier.
Fingers crossed I don't have to resort to cutting the stem as I would quite like to salvage the whole frame. Update to come on Monday when I get back to it.
The picture below is Gareth using an angle grinder to get rid of the bolts for the rear mudguard.
So today, we tried again to try to remove the stem again after soaking it in Ammonia. I was told that Ammonia should help as it attacks the rust. Don't ask me why or how, but the process is a very slow one and I spent most of the day pouring down Ammonia into the stem. The worse thing is the smell of the stuff. It smells like pee and once it gets onto you clothes or hands, its really hard to remove. Sadly, there was no immediate progress on removing the stem off the frame so far. In the process of trying to wiggle it out, the handlebars were bent out of shape and I reckon they will need to be replaced as well now.
The picture below is the frame stripped out of most of its components apart from the handlebars.
The picture below is of the handlebars, bent out of shape after using them as leverage to remove it from the stem.
So, the plan so far is to keep soaking it with Ammonia over the weekend and try again on Monday to see if the bars will then come off then. If they are still stuck, the available options then are either to cut it off and lose the forks or use heat from a blowtorch to heat up the frame and hope that after the metal cools down, it will be looser and will come off easier.
Fingers crossed I don't have to resort to cutting the stem as I would quite like to salvage the whole frame. Update to come on Monday when I get back to it.
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