Best Tools I Ever Bought

[Rod_Saetan]

It normally comes with three different bits, for French, Italian and British cups. Sometimes you can pick them up for under a ton on the bay. Even the most stubborn cups come out with a bit of effort.

Yes, I've used the one at work more times than I care to remember, and because its at work there really isn't a need for me to spend a hundred quid on one no matter how nice they are

 

[bagpuss]

What I would like is a tool for removing old 5 speed free wheels that didn't chew up the two little slots .
It could be just me been heavy handed .

 

[27motorhead]

What I would like is a tool for removing old 5 speed free wheels that didn't chew up the two little slots .
It could be just me been heavy handed .

Always secure in place with QR skewer through the hub to prevent it cam-ing out. Clamp the tool in the vice securely. Twist the wheel (easier with inflated tyre fitted for grip/leverage/easier on hands) rather than the tool. IF it is super stuck can use impact wrench (if you have one) with some modified socket or a section of bar or scaffold pole, but need x2 people to make sure the tool stays put and doesn't start chewing at the freewheel!

 

[jim haseltine]

Maillard sold a remover complete with a through-shaft. For some reason only known to themselves, the threads on the shaft were different to those on a Maillard QR skewer (or anybody else's for that matter) which seemed to me to have been less than helpful.

 

[bagpuss]

Always secure in place with QR skewer through the hub to prevent it cam-ing out. Clamp the tool in the vice securely. Twist the wheel (easier with inflated tyre fitted for grip/leverage/easier on hands) rather than the tool. IF it is super stuck can use impact wrench (if you have one) with some modified socket or a section of bar or scaffold pole, but need x2 people to make sure the tool stays put and doesn't start chewing at the freewheel!

Yes I used this method successfully .
Sometimes I lacked the extra pair of hands.
I have always thought the 2 slot design rather poor . It took the Japanese to sort it out with a splined tool and free wheel .

 

[Canuk]

Maillard helicomatic tool. Absolutely rubbish, but the bottle opener worked fine!

 

[bulgie]

It took the Japanese to sort it out with a splined tool and free wheel .

Atom (French) had a splined remover well before any I saw from Japan. Anyone got a counter-example, a Japanese splined that's earlier than Atom?

The earliest document I can find showing the splined Atom is this one from 1965, but I think the design is older than that, like 1950s? I know Atom made freewheels in the '40s and maybe earlier, but I don't know what remover they took. Anyone here know?



Regina also switched to this same spline at some point, circa 1978 maybe, so the Atom tools work 100% on those Reginas. Zeus too!
The Phil Wood tool for the above is nice because you don't have to remove the cone-locknut and spacer, the tool is thinwall to fit between the splines and the locknut/spacer.

Shimano has used not one but two different, non-interchangeable splined freewheel removers, neither one of them compatible with Atom/Regina/Zeus. This is regrettable and a bit anti-consumer if you ask me. All too common in the bike biz though, I know.

 

[Canuk]

I was pretty fuming when Campagnolo came out with a different spaced tool for their cassettes (when I'd invested a fair bit in good Shimano extractors)

 

[bagpuss]

Well I have learnt something new . I never knew atom made a splined free wheel in 1965 . Mind you I was using a 3 speed S/A back then .

 

[jim haseltine]

Atom/Maillard used to have two different diameter spline patterns - one narrow and one wider - on different models of freewheel. They also had a remover for the wide diameter freewheels that was internally splined to match a narrow remover. I use to keep a narrow remover permanently in one of our vices and drop a wide remover onto the splines when needed.