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Ha! Have exactly the same dilemma, by coincidence.
I’m hoping I can use an Italian thread Mirage BB I have (my bb is also 70mm) as it’s ISO and won’t make the Mavic cranks crack...
I called a dozen independent bike shops and no one has the facing tool, so looks like I’ll be heading the Campag/Mavic route. I’ll take some pics and pm you if that’s helpful?
Mavic/Campagnolo square taper axle and BB cup and bearing compatibility/help sought please as my brain hurts.
-I've got a beautiful old Mavic Starfish square taper crank that needs a ISO bottom bracket with a 114 mm axle
-I want to fit it to a steel frame with 70mm BB shell that needs an Italian threaded BB
I did look into getting the matching Mavic BB for the Starfish, they are highly regarded as being bombproof and would obviously be a good fit. What put me off more was they seem to use a bearing size that is not longer available, so not sure I'll ever be able to get replacement bearings, but also that the Mavic BB required the BB area to be faced to accept the Mavic cups which are at 45 degrees or something. I obviously don't have this tool, and I'm not sure any London bike shops have this either? I saw a thread that mentioned Hewitt cycles had such a tool, but posting the frame off to Lancashire just to get the frame faced seems a bit ridiculous. Is there a generic tool bike shops have that allows angled BB facing?
And I'm guessing once faced at 45 degrees the BB is not going to be able to take 'regular' BB's again unless its refaced again, how many times can you reface a frame? I'm guessing you can't continually keep refacing BB areas without running out of frame. I obviously don't want to invest in a Mavic BB unless I know I can fit it, and am wary of doing so if its a total cul de sac with no or very limited replacement crank and BB options.
I can't seem to find any new ISO square taper BB's with 114mm axles and Italian threaded BB cups. If my googling is shit and they exist, please let me know. I can only see JIS ones.
In the absence of any new ones I started looking at old ones, and then realised I've got a Campagnolo square taper axle that's 114mm that I got in a box of parts, my middle aged spec-less eyes can't tell exactly, could be 113mm or 114mm. I don't have any cups or bearings to go with it, so have no idea what model its from, and I've never used it.
As the Mavic BB route sounds like drama, I was hoping to just get some Italian threaded cups and bearings to work with the axle I have, but don't know if all old Campagnolo square taper cups and bearings are interchangeable with all their axles, or if there's some model specific ones I need. Here is a pic of the axle I have, it has the Campagnolo logo and it has markings of 68 and SSG....I guess the 68 corresponds to the 68mm shell width, but SSG?? Anyone know what model this is from, and what cups and bearings it needs, and are these available or is this likely to be unobtainium/eye wateringly expensive.
My weak googling seemed to bring up both Gran Sport and Athena as possibilities, so I'm not even sure on the model?
Sorry for the essay, but what do you think is my best option to get these lovely cranks on my bike instead of gathering dust?
-Can I get cups and bearings to make a BB with my existing axle? If anyone has any for sale please let me know, I will gladly cycle to collect in an acceptable socially distanced fashion if in London, or pay for postage.
-Go the Mavic BB route and worry later, if its a bomb proof as described all my fears may be unfounded as it may outlast me if looked after. If this option who can do the frame refacing?
-There's a new off the shelf BB I can buy that will fit the crank, if so what and where? This sounds the easiest option in theory but I can't find any options.
-Other?
EDIT: I realise the axle I have marked 68 is not going to be the right size to fit a 70mm Italian thread BB, so guess using this axle for a BB for this bike is ruled out.