[Des Hourihane]

Hello all

I’m the proud owner of a Mk3 that I have finally started the full tear-down of in order to rebuild. (This is my first such project).

I have a few questions (to start with, probably more!):

(1) I have just opened the bottom bracket. There are simple ‘loose’ bearings. In the bike maintenance manual I have, all of the images show a ball ‘cage’ where the bearings are collected in a collar. Is it possible to use such a cage in the Moulton Mk3 bottom bracket? Is it better than loose bearings?

(2) How do I disassemble the kickstand? There are a few videos on YouTube but they refer to either American Schwinn stands or Raleigh stands for Choppers or Grifters – which are a little different. Does anyone have any pointers? It looks like it’s fixed in with a I’m not looking to cut it off – I’d like to have a functioning kick-stand when I finish.

Thanks for taking the time to read and thanks in advance for any responses.

[Malcolm J Greer]

Hi Des,

With regards to the bearings in the bottom bracket, you can use loose balls or caged bearings, either will work. I used caged bearings when I changed the axle for one that accepted a cotterless chainset.

Now with regard to the stand, turn your frame upside down and play with the stand, up down, up down and while you’re doing it look at the mechanism where it attaches to the frame. You’ll see a little pin that limits the movement of the stand on the opposite end of the stand mechanism as it exits the tube attached to the underneath of the bottom bracket. This is what holds it all together. Grab yourself a blunt nail and a hammer and after giving the mechanism a good dose of Plus Gas the day before GENTLY tap the pin using the nail as a punch. The pin should come out and Ta Dah, you’ll be able to remove the stand and the spring assembly.

Good luck with the project and don’t forget to keep hold of all your nuts and bolts and put them in a safe place. They use Raleigh 26TPI threads not “normal” 24TPI. The bolt that attaches the rear forks is especially precious but can be replaced with “1/4 CEI Cycle Thread Nuts 26 tpi (Pack of 10) BZP” from Nookys Nuts on Ebay.

All the best,

Mal

[Des Hourihane]

Hi Mal

Apologies for the late response … I have fallen into the habit of using one or other of the Facebook groups rather than this site. In fact, I think I made it along to BoA in April after I posted here!

I got an answer on Facebook in relation to the stand (from a very experienced user who I feel sure posts here too) and I managed to disassemble the bike successfully. I think I’ll be going with the original cottered chainset to begin with.

Anyway – thanks for the input and please excuse the delay in answering here.

Happy cycling!

[Author]

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