Originally Posted by
oneclick
I'm looking for a decent cottered axle solution. Good axles have nice bearings, all of the new stuff on ebay looks bad even though new, used won't do, and NOS is dear.
Sunrace make a cartridge cottered BB. SJS has them with english BB cups. Ebay has them with 35/38/40 press-fit cups. Both are for 68mm shell.
It's got real bearings, not a pair of chrome-plated round-ish places on a forged-and-forgotten bit of steel.
I have an italian shell. SJS says theirs takes "Shimano style splined cups", and the bearing outer dimension is 31mm.
Are Shimano (or anybody's) cartridge cups 31mm id and available or salvageable - if the latter what is a good candidate.
I have pretty close to zero experience with cartridge BBs. I've lead a sheltered life.
I can deal with the 68 vs 70mm.
Not a problem. There are a few different sellers offering Italian or French bottom brackets. Right off, I like
Velo Orange quite a lot. Their products are decent quality, and I've had no complaints about anything I have purchased from them. Reasonable pricing too. Secondly, if you want the best of the best, look no further than
Phil Wood. Any combination of threads and widths can be had here. You will pay dearly for them, imho, but you'll never need another one - probably - for the life of the bike.
Cheers!