I am stripping and restoring an old Motobecane from the late 70’s and I was wondering if I would need any special tools to get this crankset off and bottom bracket out. Also which side should I loosen or should I loosen both sides? This is a Shimano 600 EX Arabesque “One Key Release”. Sorry if this is a noob question this is my first bicycle restoration project.
by -curautvaleas
1 Comment
That’s the cool thing about those cranks: One Key Release.
Just a 6mm hex key, and its metal dustcap functions like a built-in crank puller.
It will have some resistance at first as it breaks loose, then no resistance while it takes up slack, and then medium high resistance as it pushes the crank off.
Do both sides. Reverse process to install.
One little thing to watch for is small cracks in the long groove on the crank. Those tended to have a stress riser at the end of the groove. My left crank eventually snapped in half.
If you run into other issues, you might be interest in r/Vintage_bicycles .