[CR] Stronglight Cottered BB's

(Example: Framebuilders:Alex Singer)

Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2009 10:03:32 -0700
From: <gwlone@yahoo.ca>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR] Stronglight Cottered BB's


Hi list, the slight differing of BB axles and crank arm holes was a source of much head scratching to my teen friends and I when we first considered ourselves master bike mechanics. You know the stage, when the coaster brake hi rise bar bike or English three speed are essentially old hat. For my group this occurred in the early 70's when there was lots of low end French and English bikes in circulation.  Italian bikes of even the lowest quality were rare and highly regarded, and a Campy anything was practically a religious icon. Anything that we could acquire off a better bike ; second hand from a LBS, traded for , salvaged ,or what ever , was immediately in the running to upgrade our favourite steed. Of course not knowing nearly as much as we thought we did , all sorts of compatibility issues arose.  Sometimes the solution was a rummage thru our collective parts boxes, sometimes it was a couple of hours in the High School machine shop, sometimes things just wouldn't work and the part would become "bait" for the next trade.  Looking back it was all part of the learning curve, and a distinct part of the pleasant memories I have of my earlier experience with "on topic " lightweights. I am probably mistaken, but it seems only French cranks and spindles were available to fit the standards of other countries. I have never encountered British cranks or spindles sized to fit French sizes.  What about Italian, Magistroni etc.? 

Greg Lone Langley B.C. Canada

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