I'm not certain, but I think 120 indicates that these spindles will position the crankset to achieve proper chainline with a 120mm / 5-speed rear hub. It's all a little wierd though, because as far as I know Campy never simultaneously made different spindles to work with 120mm / 5-speed and 126mm / 6-speed rear hubs. They made the 68-SS-120 (or 74-SS-120) then they added some length when the CPSC changes were made about 1977. These were marked 68-SS-120 along with +1.0 / +1.5. Later they were just marked 68-SS. By this point the standard for rear hubs was 126 and the post-CPSC BB's are suited to such use. In any case there are definitely pre and post-CPSC spindle differences, and one would be lead to believe that there are also 120 / 126 spindle differences, though none of my observations suggets that this actually happened. In other words, if you have a pre-CPSC crank use a pre-CPSC BB and it should work with either 120 or 126 rear hubs. If you have a post-CPSC crank use the newer BB and it too should work with either type of hub. Confused yet?
Tom
> I saw the recent thread (2 messages) on campy
> spindles. However,
> I still have questions. I was recently given a box
> of old bike
> parts, among them several spindles in pretty good
> condition.
> Two of them are labeled 74 == SS == 120. I was under
> the impression
> that the SS or middle code indicated the length and
> a certain
> kind of offset when the spindle had different
> distances
> from the bearing race to the end for each side. (I
> came by
> this info via an old catalog from Loose Screws). The
> spindles
> don't measure 120 in length (unless I'm not supposed
> to measure
> end to end for this). So my questions are am I
> correct
> about the SS part, and therefore what does the 120
> mean?
>
> BTW, because these are 74's, I don't need them. If
> anyone
> wants/needs them, I'd be happy to trade them for
> nearly
> anything else. I have two, so I guess I could trade
> to one
> or two people.
>
> Please include rhawks@lmi.net in your reply. Thanks.
>
> rob
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