Bought a crank puller the other day

...so I figured I pop the cranks of the bike I've been riding and commuting on for most of three years. It's an 05 Bianchi San José with the stock cartridge BB.

The cranks were a giant pain to remove...took a cheater bar and a lot of yanking. Finally got them off and discovered that the BB is absolutely shot. Like it's difficult to move the spindle, and when it does move it's crunchy and indexed like hell.

The retaining cup (the plastic thingy in the non-drive-side) took a lot more yanking but also finally came loose. Then I attacked the BB cartridge itself, then with a cheater bar on the ratchet handle.

Flummoxed, I decided to soak the BB in anything I had on hand that was close to penetrating oil: hot sauce (saw it recommended on the BOB list), chain lube, and frame saver. I figure I can't damage the BB any further, and all this stuff should be pretty harmless to the steel frame.

--

Well, that saucy mixture didn't do much to loosen the BB, so I strapped the frame to my back and let the local bike shop take care of it. They didn't even charge me, and the guy who fixed it admired my newly-built-up Peugeot, which was on its maiden voyage.

Today I went out and got some Liquid Wrench for next time. Thanks, Cory.