Litespeed renovation

[Yossarian]

I've recently started a little renovation work on my trusty old Litespeed Tuscany, and have got a few little niggles that I'm trying to figure out if I should try to fix or not...

The frame is carrying some old but perfectly serviceable Arundel carbon bottle cages. However, two of the allen bolts now spin in the frame rather than come undone. I assume that getting them out / off will end in their demise, and the frame will need new rivnuts fitting by a bike shop?

Both the cable adjusters on the downtube cable stops are jammed. I'm assuming that they've galled into place. This is actually quite irritating as they actually would've come in quite useful recently (I had a couple of bad indexing days) and it's a pity that such a nice little bit of engineering is now stuck solid. I haven't actually tried really forcing them - would that be worth the bother? If they won't come unstuck, how much of a big deal would it be to get them replaced? I wonder if Enigma (who are down the road from me) might be able to do something like that.

It's one of the older ones with an integrated headset. Any suggestions for replacing the Cane Creek one with anything that might be better (longer lasting or lighter)?

Thanks...

[stella-azzurra]

If you get a small set of vice grips you can keep the rivet from spinning and undo the nut.

You can you try to repair using this method

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... e-fittings

Cane Creek makes a stainless steel version for integrated headsets IS-6

[Yossarian]

Awesome - thanks very much!

[Yossarian]

Based in the UK. I was thinking that I might look out for one and do it myself.

Alas, I got a bit frustrated with the cable stops, tried to force them, and both the threaded sections broke. They were properly stuck / galled, so I think it was inevitable. Now trying to find a ti frame specialist to get me back to square one.

[michel2]

i would let the the sti adjusters soak in something like wd 40 first, i mean if you not in a hurry i would do that first before getting the big pliers out, might not do the trick but in my experience the big pliers aren't ideal either,more then likely you'll snap the adjuster heads of. lmaybee even a litle heat ..

[Yossarian]

See above - that's exactly what happened!

(I did soak them in GT85 for a while first though.)

[stella-azzurra]

WD40 or similar is not a rust penetrating oil so don't use that.
I don't know what is the equivalent in the UK but it's not WD40.

So what I understand is the threads of the bolts are stuck in the frame.

You could use a dremel and drill a small hole in the center of the bolt then use a bolt extractor and take them out.

Of course soak them in penetrating oil first.

[eric]

Real penetrating oil works much better than WD-40. I've used Liquid Wrench.

Be VERY careful with that style of screw extractor. It's made very hard so it is quite brittle, especially in the smaller sizes. It is easy to snap it off. When you do that you're really screwed.

[shadwell]

Personally i'd drill out the adjuster and then run a tap up the housing to clean out the thread....

Start with small bit work up, I wouldn't be surprised if during drilling the sleeve of the old adjuster catches on the drill bit and free's off from the frame....

If the shit hits the fan, get local Ti fabricator to weld on a couple of new bosses... no biggie...

[Yossarian]

Thanks for all the great advice - much appreciated.

I was thinking that the easiest thing would be just to get a ti builder to sort out the boss issue, before I do any more damage!