I'm a Picker, I'm a Grinner, I'm a Lover, and I'm a Sinner.

Most of you are already aware that I have a "problem" with bicycles. I guess that the basic issue is that I love bikes, they more frequently do not love me. When I was younger my BMX disobeyed a direct order and ran me into the side of a parked car. Several years ago when I was riding "professionally" my bike intentionally hit the only rock in the road, sending me sprawling down a hill at 20 mph, and leaving the driver of a minivan desperately attempting to avoid hitting me. The latter incident left me without the ability to walk for about 15 minutes (and without the desire for about 3 days), but some credit should be given to the bike. That accident set in motion events that lead me to meet my future wife. While those old stories are great, my current cycling problem involves a 1970s Raleigh road bike, and my attempts to rebuild it. Initially things went well. I began my efforts by disassembling and overhauling the hubs of the front and rear wheels. The front was easy, but to get to the hub on the rear you need to remove the cogs and freewheel (the grouping of gears on the rear wheel). This required the purchase of a special tool. Being my father's son I relish any job that requires one to buy new tools, but was greatly disappointed in the amount of time it took this tool to arrive. Needless to say, when it did arrive I began the job in earnest. The procedure was quite simple, place the tool in position, attach a suitable wrench, and apply force in a counterclockwise direction. The manual said that it might require considerable force to remove the freewheel, so I wasn't all that surprised when It didn't come off immediately. After my fourth attempt I was beginning to get a bit frustrated. The manual also suggested that, for added leverage, you could place the wheel in a vise. I do not own a vise, but my future father-in-law does. I packed up my items and headed over to the fiance's house. Upon arrival I made an interesting and, in hindsight, important discovery. The vise was not mounted on the table with bolts, but was instead held in place with "C" clamps. Undeterred, I mounted the wheel in the vise, and applied counterclockwise pressure. The freewheel did not budge, but the vise began to slide across the table under the pressure. I tightened the clamps and tried again, and again. On my third attempt I heard a loud crack, and was dismayed to find that my freewheel was still firmly affixed to the hub of my bicycle, but the force of my turning had broken one of the clamps. Embarrassed, I promised to replace the clamp and returned home. I began to wonder if I wasn't missing a step somewhere, and decided that I should disassemble the entire hub unit with the exception of the freewheel and cogs, a procedure that was not recommended in the manual. The rest of the parts came apart with ease and I was quickly looking down at the wheel's bearings. I didn't notice anything additional in the structure that would alter the removal process, but decided that I would go ahead and remove the bearings awhile while I was in there. The fact that the freewheel was still in place made it difficult to reach the bearings and I quickly found myself poking at them with a screwdriver. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed one of my favorite tools. It is one of those multi-bit screwdrivers where the end is a hexagonal hole that you can place a variety of different bits into. What caught my eye was that the hexagonal hole appeared to be about the same size as the bearings. I could slide it overtop of a bearing and then push the bearing out of position and into my awaiting grease pan! The plan worked brilliantly for the first several bearings, but as I was removing the final one I heard an ominous click. I must have an exceptional eye for size, because that bearing fit perfectly into the end of the screwdriver. The problem? I forgot that the screwdriver is magnetic. I now had a bearing stuck firmly at the far end of that hexagonal hole rendering useless the bearing, the screwdriver, and ultimately the entire rear wheel of my bicycle. I attempted to remove the bearing using some small nails, refrigerator magnets, and a tweezers with no success. Eventually I just went to bed. In one day my mechanical idiocy had destroyed a clamp, a set of bearings, a screwdriver, and my entire rebuild project. The next day things got a little better, but not great. The bearing issue was resolved by a coworker and an electromagnet (yes, we have electromagnets at work), and the freewheel was taken to my local bike shop, something I hate to do. I will keep you updated as my project further degrades toward the inevitable point of total failure.