Bottom Bracket Axle Switch

Matt Cahill said:

I have an old Motebecane Grand Touring with a Stronglight crank and an old Raleigh International
with a Nuovo Record crank.

From what I've read it seems like the bottom bracket parts may be interchangeable. Can I just
switch the axles from one bike to another ? (I'm thinking about putting the triple crank on the
Raleigh.) If not, can I switch the whole bottom bracket assembly from one bike to another ?

The cranks seem interchangeable to the axles. I believe both shells should be 1.37 by 24 tpi
threading by 68 mm.

The Raleigh is, but the Moto is most likely Swiss threading, 35 mm x 1.0
mm. Therefore, you cannot interchange the cups from one to t'other.

If the two spindles are the same distance between the bearing ridges, you most likely can
interchange them. However, I'd expect the Stronglight to have the ridges farther apart.

I can supply TA cups to fit the Raleigh that will work with the Stronglight spindle.

I can also probably come up with a suitable spindle to fit the Campagnolo cups, but for that you'd
need to send me some detailed measurements.

Then again you could just pop in a handy $20-30 Shimano cartridge BB into the Raleigh; cheap and
easy and reliable. That's what I did with my Raleigh Pro. Works great!

Sheldon "UN Something Or Other" Brown +-----------------------------------------+
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Matt Cahill said:

I have an old Motebecane Grand Touring with a Stronglight crank and an old Raleigh International
with a Nuovo Record crank.

From what I've read it seems like the bottom bracket parts may be interchangeable.

I can't imagine why you would believe that. The axle might, by fortunate chance, fit from one to the
other. If the cranks fit on each other's axles you might be able to keep the Campy one on the
Raleigh and put on the Stronlight cranks. Maybe?

Quoted message said:

Can I just switch the axles from one bike to another ? (I'm thinking about putting the
triple crank on the Raleigh.) If not, can I switch the whole bottom bracket assembly from one
bike to another

?

Probably not. The Raleigh will have, most likely, English threads, which are the same as modern
threads. But the Motobecane (how old?) will likely have French threads, which are not the same.

Quoted message said:

The cranks seem interchangeable to the axles. I believe both shells should be 1.37 by 24 tpi
threading by 68 mm.

Does anyone know for sure ?

The Campy one probably is, and should say so on the cup. The Stronglight might be labelled
somewhere.

--

David L. Johnson

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