A while back I acquired a bunch of BB spindles, some new, some used, some junk. They were Sugino, Stronglight, TA, Shimano and even a NIB Specialized spindle.
Back in January I was piecing together a bike and started looking through these BBs. I saw several marked <<STRONG>> so I threw them in with my Stronglight BBs. On closer inspection they turned out to be Sugino BBs.
Since the end of WWII the Japanese have had a thing about using English words usually misapplied and/or out of context. Perhaps these words have pleasing sounds or positive images for the Japanese.
For example, in the Japanese domestic market the Nissan Fair Lady Bluebird was the same car as the Datsun 240Z mini muscle car in the US!
We do the same thing with Ninja and Samurai!
Anyway, in the 80s? there were some Japanese made "Laprade" style alloy seatposts sold under the Strong brand.
For some reason I was under the impression that the Strong brand may have been affiliated with Sugino???
As far as I know, there has never been any connection between Stronglight and Sugino.
A Sugino 68mm wide BB spindle would work with either British or French BBs (Swiss too if Sugino made LH thread fixed cups).
If this spindle was from the Campy NR knockoff era (early 70s -early 80s) then a 108mm spindle would most likely be for track cranks. During that time the 144 BCD Sugino Mighty Competition cranks and BBs pretty much interchanged with Campy parts.
I'm not familiar with Sugino components after the 70s.
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
r cielec wrote:
> Can anyone identify this bottom bracket spindle, please? Could it be a Sugino manufacture for Stronglight cranks? No, it is not recent manufacture; has a few years on it.
> Clearly marked "Sugino"
> Clearly marked "68" so, English
> Measures overall 108mm and appears to be symmetrical.
> Now here's the curiousity:
> It is also clearly marked:
> <<STRONG>> (that is double "less than and greater than symbols used to paranthetically enclose all caps letters "STRONG")
> Thank you.
> Richard Cielec
> Chicago, Illinois; U.S.A.