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Weird Bottom Bracket
I have an old folding bike I am working on "hot-rodding", and I am in a quandary about the cranks. The bike is a "Unis" brand folding bike, similar to the Bianchi Aquiletta pictured he http://www.yellowjersey.org/aq.html (thank you Andrew Muzi...) The cottered cranks on the bike are very clownish - about 145mm crank length. I would like to put on something of a more normal crank length - say 170mm. When I pulled the cranks off, I found a very peculiar bottom bracket - the inside cups are press fit in, the right side outer (ie fixed) cup is fixed to the spindle, and the adjusting cup adjusts via threads on the spindle. The bottom bracket shell is a a hair shy of 70mm wide, about 40mm inside diameter, and smooth - no threads. What options do I have for changing the cranks? Are there any options other than to find some old cottered cranks and put them on the original spindle? Is there some way to use a more common square taper spindle? Anyone have any experences to share? Thanks in advance, Mark Muller |
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#3
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Weird Bottom Bracket
maxo wrote:
My venerable Viscount has a similarly smooth bb shell. I overhauled it last fall--you need to get some cartridge bearings (I got mine at an industrial supply house, but you might be able to get fancy Phil ones) and a bb spindle that'll lock in place with two circlips. Then you can use whatever square taper crank you want. You can install the bearings with wood block and a mallet, or better yet, have a shop with a proper press do it. This is what my bb looked like befo http://home.earthlink.net/~maxotterl...webbike/bb.jpg Here's a web page documenting a similar Viscount story: http://bikecult.com/works/parts/bbViscount.html The bearings are cheap. Hard part is finding the right size. I don't know about the spindle. Mine's a nice Campagnolo that came with the bike, but there's gotta be something cheaper. All in all, pretty straight forward. Thanks for that trip down memory lane, Maxo. As a teenager, I lusted after Viscount bikes. That was silly in retrospect, but they were interesting anyway. What do you use yours for now? And yours has a Conrad's sticker on it. I remember Conrad and his wife Sara. I think Conrad died. Is Sara still around? -- Tom Reingold Noo Joizy This email address works, but only for a short time. |
#4
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Weird Bottom Bracket
On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 17:19:38 -0400, Tom Reingold wrote:
Thanks for that trip down memory lane, Maxo. As a teenager, I lusted after Viscount bikes. That was silly in retrospect, but they were interesting anyway. What do you use yours for now? It's a solid state single speed. Here's a picture of it (it has a vintage Selle Royal black leather racing saddle now, the Brooks was too bouncy): http://photos1.flickr.com/2634911_5897979186_o.jpg in color: http://photos17.flickr.com/20772845_1ede4a8bf2_o.jpg I use it for exercise, urban rides, beer runs, and general mayhem. It has a Basta dynamo up front now for night rides because of the heat. Rides great, if a little whippy--those tubes are thin!! The weight with a sturdy Ma3 wheelset, fenders, and other not-so-light doodads comes to around 24 lbs. Before as a Shimano 600 beast: http://tinyurl.com/b4qwp And yours has a Conrad's sticker on it. I remember Conrad and his wife Sara. I think Conrad died. Is Sara still around? Oops, the second link was from another guys Viscount in NYC. The picture of the BB was from mine. If you pay attention you'll see mine has different cranks (Suntour) and fancy Campy dustcaps (fell off long ago, LOL) So I can't tell ya anything about Sara, you'll have to call her yourself. |
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Weird Bottom Bracket
It's beautiful, maxo. You're a good mechanic. Tom |
#6
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Weird Bottom Bracket
maxo wrote:
On Wed, 03 Aug 2005 21:26:27 -0700, wrote: Anyone have any experences to share? Sure, I think... My venerable Viscount has a similarly smooth bb shell. I overhauled it last fall--you need to get some cartridge bearings (I got mine at an industrial supply house, but you might be able to get fancy Phil ones) and a bb spindle that'll lock in place with two circlips. Then you can use whatever square taper crank you want. You can install the bearings with wood block and a mallet, or better yet, have a shop with a proper press do it. This is what my bb looked like befo http://home.earthlink.net/~maxotterl...webbike/bb.jpg Here's a web page documenting a similar Viscount story: http://bikecult.com/works/parts/bbViscount.html The bearings are cheap. Hard part is finding the right size. I don't know about the spindle. Mine's a nice Campagnolo that came with the bike, but there's gotta be something cheaper. Did you machine the inside of the BB shell - so that it was perfectly round, and able to accept the cartridge bearing? Any ideas where to look for such a spindle? Later, Mark |
#7
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Weird Bottom Bracket
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