Cycling UK Forum

Just to clarify, if you go down the Royce (or Phil Wood) route, you won't be able to use cups from anyone else. Both units use cartridge bearings so both the cups and axles are made to fit those, and not traditional loose bearings. So you'll have to have everything Royce or everything Phil Wood.

One of the benefits of going that way is that either manufacturer will be able to tell you exactly what length of axle you need to get a given chainline with a given crank. Cliff at Royce is particularly helpful with this sort of thing - it's worth the money for his advice alone in my experience. My advice is to go for a lockring version of a Royce BB. You can run them without but if you do they can be a bit prone to creaking.

At the end of it you'll have a bottom bracket of the very best quality available, far better than any of the other options being discussed here.

Another suggestion, again not cheap, is the framebuilder route. The B/B shell can be either built up with brass or cut across and crimped back together at a slightly reduced diameter, then re-tapped to a standard thread. In itself no bother but the brazing trashes the paint so it needs re-enamelling or powder coat, whichever.

I've done some follow-up googling of the recommendations. Have you seen the price of the Royce stuff? It looks absolutely fan-bloody-tastic, but for this project, far too expensive (though worth every penny, I'd bet).

I think I'll save the Royce stuff for another project more befitting that quality of BB. I've now 100% decided to go all steel on this old bike. It's not like there's a whole lot of bike there so the weight won't be a big issue, and at the end of the day, this is a Sunday afternoon 'meander round the lanes' bike.

30s replica Mk II will be another matter though, an all-alloy lightweight for medium distance rides, and that will certainly be worthy of Royce. I'm saving up all this valuable knowledge for both projects

You are all stars, I've learned so much in this thread that I've had to make notes and pin them above the bench

Wish I'd discovered this forum years ago

Have you seen the price of the Royce stuff?

I've got 3 Royce bottom brackets and a pair of hubs, so yes

PW wrote:Another suggestion, again not cheap, is the framebuilder route. The B/B shell can be either built up with brass or cut across and crimped back together at a slightly reduced diameter, then re-tapped to a standard thread. In itself no bother but the brazing trashes the paint so it needs re-enamelling or powder coat, whichever.

Looked at that particular option a few weeks back when chatting to the rather fabulous LBS. Then I looked at my bank balance. Then I got up off the floor. Then I looked for something that would fit the existing BB

Anyway, this way of much more fun, I get the thrill of the hunt

One day I'm going to design my perfect bike, and have the whole lot made to my exact spec. But until my boat comes in, I'm just going to do the best I can with pther peoples cast-offs. There's a certain amount of satisfaction in that

GrahamNR17 wrote:One day I'm going to design my perfect bike

don't be silly. it'd need to be light yet unbreakable, racy yet relaxed, quick yet comfy for long days of tootling, look ancient, yet modern.... it'd be so full of compromises, it'd be jack of all trades and master of none.

much better to go the route you've chosen, and get a dozen or so different bikes

hubgearfreak wrote:

GrahamNR17 wrote:One day I'm going to design my perfect bike

don't be silly. it'd need to be light yet unbreakable, racy yet relaxed, quick yet comfy for long days of tootling, look ancient, yet modern.... it'd be so full of compromises, it'd be jack of all trades and master of none.

much better to go the route you've chosen, and get a dozen or so different bikes

Good point, well made

Ok, one day I'm going to design my perfect garage.........