Easy upgrade for Raleigh 26TPI bottom brackets.

2,390 views
Skip to first unread message

Mark Stonich

unread,
Sep 27, 2012, 11:50:23 PM9/27/12
to Gentleman Cyclist
While it's great to keep bikes original, sometimes an upgrade is in order.

 Jane needs short cranks and low gears so the 6-1/2 inchers and 46t chainwheel on her Robin Hood
weren't cutting it.  She was already at 26t on the rear so lower gears meant a smaller ring.  The typical Raleigh 26TPI, 71mm wide bottom brackets have necessitated some ingenious or expensive workarounds in the past.

But now it's simple, thanks to an ingenious new threadless square taper BB from Velo Orange.  It fits into any 68-71mm wide shell with a 1.375" or 35mm ID BB shell and is available in 8 lengths from 103mm to 127mm.  It installs with the same tool used for Shimano/FSA/SRAM/etc, external bottom bracket bearings.  (If you don't have the tool, stop over and use mine.) Easiest, fastest BB installation I've ever done.

Not cheap at $66 MSRP but less than the total cost of many of the other fixes and sooo easy.  And it's 80 grams lighter than Shimano's best square taper BB.   Your local bike shop can order you one from QBP.

In a perfect world, there would be a longer version for the 77mm BBs of Raleigh Twenties, DL-1s and Moulton MkIIIs. 
-- 
Mark Stonich;   
  BikeSmith Design & Fabrication 
    5349 Elliot Ave S. Minneapolis, Minnesota 55417 USA
       Ph. (612) 824-2372   http://bikesmithdesign.com

Paulos, Richard G

unread,
Sep 28, 2012, 12:11:10 AM9/28/12
to gentlema...@googlegroups.com
hardly new. We used to install a similar threadless bb in Lamberts in the 1970s to replace the pressed in sealed bearings, the un-tapered axle with the circlip grooves, the un-tapered 4 sided TA clone crank arms. The un-threaded Lambert BB shell was just too thin to try to cut threads.

rick

________________________________________
From: gentlema...@googlegroups.com [gentlema...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Mark Stonich [ma...@bikesmithdesign.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 10:50 PM
To: Gentleman Cyclist
Subject: [Gentleman Cyclist] Easy upgrade for Raleigh 26TPI bottom brackets.

While it's great to keep bikes original, sometimes an upgrade is in order.

Jane needs short cranks and low gears so the 6-1/2 inchers and 46t chainwheel on her Robin Hood weren't cutting it. She was already at 26t on the rear so lower gears meant a smaller ring. The typical Raleigh 26TPI, 71mm wide bottom brackets have necessitated some ingenious or expensive workarounds in the past.

But now it's simple, thanks to an ingenious new threadless square taper BB from Velo Orange<http://store.velo-orange.com/index.php/components/bottom-brackets/grand-cru-threadless-bottom-brackets.html>. It fits into any 68-71mm wide shell with a 1.375" or 35mm ID BB shell and is available in 8 lengths from 103mm to 127mm. It installs with the same tool<http://www.parktool.com/product/bottom-bracket-tool-bbt-9> used for Shimano/FSA/SRAM/etc, external bottom bracket bearings. (If you don't have the tool, stop over and use mine.) Easiest, fastest BB installation I've ever done.

Not cheap at $66 MSRP but less than the total cost of many of the other fixes and sooo easy. And it's 80 grams lighter than Shimano's best square taper BB. Your local bike shop can order you one from QBP.

In a perfect world, there would be a longer version for the 77mm BBs of Raleigh Twenties, DL-1s and Moulton MkIIIs.

--
Mark Stonich;
BikeSmith Design & Fabrication
5349 Elliot Ave S. Minneapolis, Minnesota 55417 USA
Ph. (612) 824-2372 http://bikesmithdesign.com

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Gentleman Cyclist" group.
To post to this group, send email to gentlema...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to gentlemancycli...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/gentlemancyclist?hl=en.

charli...@verizon.net

unread,
Sep 28, 2012, 3:04:02 PM9/28/12
to gentlema...@googlegroups.com
OK so what is the "NEW" chainring teeth size with a standard rear cog?
 
Charlie P.
 getting ready for the Lake Pippin tour
 
 
near Jennersville PA
 
 
On 09/27/12, Mark Stonich<ma...@bikesmithdesign.com> wrote:
 
While it's great to keep bikes original, sometimes an upgrade is in order.

 Jane needs short cranks and low gears so the 6-1/2 inchers and 46t chainwheel on her Robin Hood
weren't cutting it.  She was already at 26t on the rear so lower gears meant a smaller ring.  The typical Raleigh 26TPI, 71mm wide bottom brackets have necessitated some ingenious or expensive workarounds in the past.

But now it's simple, thanks to an ingenious new threadless square taper BB from Velo Orange.  It fits into any 68-71mm wide shell with a 1.375" or 35mm ID BB shell and is available in 8 lengths from 103mm to 127mm.  It installs with the same tool used for Shimano/FSA/SRAM/etc, external bottom bracket bearings.  (If you don't have the tool, stop over and use mine.) Easiest, fastest BB installation I've ever done.

Mark Stonich

unread,
Sep 28, 2012, 8:11:16 PM9/28/12
to gentlema...@googlegroups.com
26/39 for an input ratio of 1:1.5 using a 155mm Origin8 BMX crank. With an S5 hub this gives her a gear range of 26 to 59 inches. The crank flares out a bit, giving good crank arm/chain guard clearance.

Mark Stonich Bikesmith Design
612-824-2372
5349 Elliot Ave S. Minneapolis MN 55417
www.bikesmithdesign.com

John Thompson

unread,
Sep 30, 2012, 9:58:30 PM9/30/12
to gentlema...@googlegroups.com
On 09/27/2012 11:11 PM, Paulos, Richard G wrote:

> hardly new. We used to install a similar threadless bb in Lamberts
> in the 1970s to replace the pressed in sealed bearings, the
> un-tapered axle with the circlip grooves, the un-tapered 4 sided TA
> clone crank arms. The un-threaded Lambert BB shell was just too thin
> to try to cut threads.

I used a threadless EDCO "Grip" cartridge in my Viscount. It worked well
in the summer, but once the temperature started dropping the EDCO's
eccentric cups lost their grip -- I suspect because the aluminum cups
shrank more as the temperature dropped than the steel BB shell.

I ended up cutting Italian threads into the shell and haven't had any
problems since then.


--

-John Thompson (jo...@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages