possibly a stupid ?

[red_beard13]

hi ladies n gents,
As some know i love building trucks and was birthed into a hot rod family at a young age. obviously growing up around this has lead me to learn what will work where and on what...
Getting into building bicycles is very interesting and well kinda of different. what im wondering looking at different bike builds is this...
the stems, bottom brackets, hubs, crank sets and etc, how n when are these interchangeable between bikes? rereading the question i just asked leaves the door open for alot of answers, sorry. lol
im primarily playing around with full size bikes utilizing 26" wheels. Is there a standard group size for stems and cranks and what not or is each bike different?
Im already coming to find out that all the automotive tools i have obtained over the years is clearly not going to work well for all my bicycle needs, so im searching around also for whole new tool line up!
Any info shared for some friendly "edamication" chit chat would be cool, sorry if i rambled to much, so much on my mind with the bbikes ya know...
Thanks,
Ryan 8)

 

[B607]

Well, when it comes to interchangeability, there is Schwinn and everything else. This is not totally true but Schwinns present a problem until you learn the parts. Learning the hard way is best...you never forget that way. :wink:

If you go with all Schwinn, or with everything else and no Schwinns, you will have a much easier time with parts interchanging...on many but not al models.

As far as tools, seach Park Bicycle Tools. They have about everything you need and more.

And...I'm glad you were birthed at a young age. Being birthed later in life would be rough. Gary

 

[deorman]

Quite a bit of interchangeability, but not completely universal. As an example, stems for 1" steer tubes vary by 1-3mm, with the small ones working on a couple of sizes, but wrong enough to damage a larger steer tube, and the larger ones fitting mostly metric road bikes or very new Asian bikes. If you have 32nds and 64th sizes of wrenches they might just come in handy for some hubs. Specialty flat wrenches for adjusting and tightening bearing lock nuts are a good place to start, tool-wise, IMO. Another thing to watch out for is tire/rim sizing. ( http://www.isisconsulting.org/catalog/bike/p2010.htm ) Also, some older axles have proprietary non-standard thread dimensions, as do some steer tubes and cranks. Lengths of those parts vary also, sometimes requiring spacers, and other times simply not do-able. Enjoy! :mrgreen:

 

[jerrykr]

a whole lot like cars. most things are common fits, except the parts you are trying to use.

most of your automotive tools will work fine as long as you have SAE and metric. It won't take long to find out the few that are commonly used. As said, Park tools for the special tools. As with cars, buy tools as you need them. Pretty soon you have most everything you need on a day-to-day basis. You won't need a Snap-On roll around to hold them all!

 

[deorman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvQbVOmY ... re=related :mrgreen:

 

[red_beard13]

Cool to see the responses today, all helpful....Thankyou!
I deffinetly dont need another tool cart rolling around so your right as to alot of the regular sae and metric hand tools work just find. However specific tools are being noted for purchase such as cassette sockets, whip wrench, and the flat wrench set from park is way cool! as far as the schwinn/other bikes interchangeability, are these in the makes in general or are you reffering to certain years of production and/or over seas production. im confused on some of what ive heard in the bike world as to where alot of manufactures are sending out the work over seas and come back boxed over with less a quality components. the stems maybe just a hit or miss ordeal, i had to lengthen a springer fork tube 10mm from an "autobike" in order for it to work on my gt "dyno-glide". but the work awesome!
Thanks again for the food for thought....
Ryan 8)

 

[jerrykr]

mostly, I use the Park thin flat cone wrenches, and a red spoke wrench. there are about 4-5 metric and sae Hex wrenches you will run into. I have a HF set and I stick the common ones into a piece of foam on my bench so I don't have to try them all for the right size. If you end up messing with rusty bikes a dead blow or brass hammer, and guaranteed for life wrenches will free up a lot of stuck stuff.

 

[deorman]

Actually, it's the old unlugged, blade forked, 1-pc crank SAE boat anchor stuff I was referring to. Imported stuff in the same class is actually more likely to interchange, but of course, not always.

 

[dragnusa]

For any rusty bikes rather old or new 2 tools that are a must it a rubber mallet and p b blasted. I would have gave up on my turtle lady build if it hadn't been for them

 

[red_beard13]

yea i have noticed that most of the general stuff is like 9-17mm and 3/8-5/8. i had used some brake cleaner to clean out hubs and bearings before repack, it works good. and yes the rubber mallet is a nice guy! lol
Has anyone used a chemical called "metal resuce"? its not like pb blaster or wd40, its to remove the rust from the surface of parts without damaging them.....home depot doesnt know what it is! go figure.

 

[ozzmonaut]

yea i have noticed that most of the general stuff is like 9-17mm and 3/8-5/8. i had used some brake cleaner to clean out hubs and bearings before repack, it works good. and yes the rubber mallet is a nice guy! lol
Has anyone used a chemical called "metal resuce"? its not like pb blaster or wd40, its to remove the rust from the surface of parts without damaging them.....home depot doesnt know what it is! go figure.

Sounds like naval jelly. Oxalic acid will remove rust without damaging the metal, including on chrome. I use a powder called barkeepers friend. It's like comet but with oxalic instead of bleach.