I know what you mean Ed, having had the Bimbo for for donkeys years I like to think that I've done petty much every dodgy bodge you can get anway with on an an airhead but I'd never consider using glue on a bearing!
Did you see any evidence indicating why they might have glued in the race?
No the housing looked fine, all I can think of is may be the owner found a bearing that fitted the stem but sat a little lose in the head. The bottom bearing (which unsually came out no problem) was the usual 320/28 but the one at the top had an odd imperial BS code, which I cannot read as I cut it to ribons.
My mate Alan mentioned in the pub last night that (he's an agricultural engineer) its the kind of thing farmers do, he's always complaining about having to cut free bearings that farmers have banged because they fit spindle but not the housing.
Cleaning it out was not that bad as I used a Dremel (bloody wonderful things) with one of the round abrasive blob fittings for the bulk of it followed by the emory roller pads and the one that looks a little like a denists drill type attchements to get into the corner of the step. It took a wee while but once the race was out the stuff came off pretty easily although I had to be a bit careful to take off just the adhesive.
