Re: [CR]Unbelievably horrible bottom bracket

(Example: Production Builders:Teledyne)

From: "dddd" <dddd@pacbell.net>
To: "Classic Rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>, <classic rendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <52aa72694a330174c399f963b73b29d4@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Unbelievably horrible bottom bracket
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 16:20:55 -0800
reply-type=response

A lot of bb spindles are not ground after hardening, the races on a new spindle will be dark colored.

I don't know what brand was sourced, but I serviced an otherwise decent 1980's Bianchi with an improperly-machined headset that allowed contact between upper cup and cone, even with the right size bearings installed. My Viscount Aerospace sport had this same problem. Low-end, generic parts made outside of Aisa commonly had real defects, almost like Indian tools today. Who knows where they're made, East-bloc, Italy?

Adjusting the bb's with non-ground races usually gives a reasonable amount of roughness and drag initially, but shows free play after the crank arms are fitted and rotated to certain rotational positions. End result is a pretty tight/rough adjustment needed to keep the chainrings in line. Even an OT high-end 120mm Ritchey sealed bb set I recently fitted to my OT Raleigh had the black-finished races, and predictably had those loose spots in the crank's rotation. I usually get decent service from relatively tightly adjusted, low-end bb's , quite the opposite of the result of an even slightly tight headset. "decent service" would be anything over 4k miles for the lesser bb's. The worst ones have chrome-plating on the running surfaces, but, surprisingly, may still last thousands of miles if kept lubricated.

Maddening how many weird adjustable cups got used in the day, usually needing special tools and/or kluge wrenching efforts.

David Snyder
Auburn, CA usa


----- Original Message -----
From: Bianca Pratorius
Subject: [CR]Unbelievably horrible bottom bracket



>I am restoring the mid 80's Bianchi in lovely Celeste. The ITM microadjust
>seatpost was a delight as soon as it went through a 13 step process (wash,
>file, 180,220,320,400,600,800,1000,1500,compound,simichrome, carnuba wax).
>It brought out the designers original intent. The ITM stem similarly was
>made lovely. The Ofmega headset was beautiful without any work, and the
>Modolo dark anodized brakes only need disassembly and reassembly with new
>hoods and cabling. The crank was the most wonderful surprise as the Ofmega
>crank has the most lovely lines and only needed some loving care. The Campy
>hubs are of course always a delight but the bottom bracket was one of the
>worst horrors I have ever seen. The Chrome took on no rust but the original
>casting had sharp edges and no holes to hold the adjusting cup while the
>lock ring was brought to bear. It needed a open ended wrench to hold it.
>New balls without retainers did improve the feel only a bit but considering
>no pitting and generous grease the feel should have been better. Any idea
>what kind of low quality bottom brackets could have been substituted for a
>Campy or Ofmega on a Campione D'Italia? No stamping that I could understand
>could be found.
>
> Garth Libre in Miami Fl. (Ivory green from an early 70's AMC Javelin is a
> fairly good match for faded Celeste BTW)