Originally Posted by
the sci guy
Wow lots of the exact info I was needing. Thanks everyone!
Do y'all think it's necessary to service the BB? It hasn't been ridden since about 1994. I don't have any of those tools and I certainly don't want to wait 4 weeks and pay a shop to do it. I mean, I can order the tools, but $$$. It wasn't ridden a heck of a lot between the time it was purchased the time it began hanging in the garage (per the guy I bought it from). I'm not sure how the whole thing rides aside from the test ride I did.
Is it instead possible to just put a new modern BB in with a matching spindle length?
After 25 years the grease has probably hardened. If the bike wasn't ridden a lot (as you said) then the cups, spindle and bearings are fine and all they need is cleaning and new grease. Without new grease it could wear quickly.
You can install a new cartridge BB- there are plenty with the correct spindle length. A complicating factor is that the BB is Italian thread (36mm x 24tpi). The vast majority of BB's made today are English thread.