Fixed workshop

Hi everyone

I'm having some problems trying to find a workshop that would do the job...
I'm changing the crank set on my peugeot fixed conversion
I recently got a track SR Royale crank that fits my actual bb, but it obviously affects the chainline as well

now here's the tricky part:
I have a SWISS BB, which means that the only possible way to affect the chainline is to substitute the BB AXLE with a shorter, compatible one.
I need a workshop that could do the job: everywhere I've been, I've been told that it was too complicated or stuff like that. Where can I look?

Besides, as I don't have the tools to take off-mount the new crank myself, I'd need to:

• take it to the workshop, have the crank mounted, measure the difference in the BB Axle lenght (to go after the new one)
  
• remount the old crank
  
• re-do the operation once I've got the new BB Axle
  resulting in paying twice for something that could be done in one "sit". Is there any way to avoid that?
  
  

thanks everyone for your time, it's really appreciated

I don't know if this might be at all relevant:
http://www.velo-orange.com/grcruthbobr.html
Very sorry if it's not, but would enable you to change to an easier to deal with bb.
I have a crank puller you're welcome to borrow.

I'm surprised that the BB is Swiss, are you sure? Either way, a threadless BB similar to the one suggested above will do the job, alternatively I can probably re-tap the BB shell to take a standard English BB as long as it actually is Swiss currently. Either way I can help you with both tooling and advice. I've just done a similar job with a French threaded BB. Rgds Hutch

it is swiss, I have a picture of it
http://mattiabonanomi.com/bike/1/3.jpg
it shows the ring on the fixed cup that according to sheldon brown is typical of Swiss BBs

I've been reading dreadful things on threadless bottom brackets. The one posted by inkymitts seems to be better though, claiming to have a new system etc. I'm no expert in this, honestly...do you guys reckon that's a reliable solution?

otherwise how much would it be to re-tap the bb shell?

thanks again!

I've been running a threadless bottom bracket for 2 years now. It's come out twice in that time, once two weeks after being installed by the shop, I then installed it using thread lock, it lasted another 2 weeks, then I installed using a shed load of grease and even more torque, no problems since then.

I have one of these.

Nothing in that picture confirms it is Swiss to me - why would a Peugeot have a Swiss BB? French possibly, but Swiss? If it IS Swiss then re-tapping is easier because the drive side is same handed thread as British, so after re-tapping a British BB should fit. If it's French you can do the same but because the drive side is RH thread you need a BB with loose cups and you need 2 sets of cups or blag a spare RH thread one from somewhere as you will need two! How difficult (i.e. expensive) the job is therefore depends on the exact threading and mainly on how easy (or not) it is to remove the old BB. Look pretty cruddy in the pic :(
BTW, are there no markings on any of the BB components?

Unfortunately I couldn't take the crank off, so I have no idea about markings etc.
Where should I look?

I said it was a swiss bb because, according to a Sheldon's article (which of course now I cant' find anymore) most of french peugeot bikes from the early 80's mounted a swiss BB, and the main characteristic was the presence of an engraved ring in the fixed cup side, like the one I have on mine

my model from the label (barely legible) is a PFN-13 in a sort of weird colour, which makes me think that is a model made only for the british market - the one on the bottom actually (It's the only catalogue where I could find model and colour matching)

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OK, fair enough, I'm no expert on Peugeot's and Sheldon was an expert on everything! In a way it's academic anyway, you need to decide wether to go the threadless BB route or another. I recently solved a similar issue with a French BB by reversing the spindle - it was asymmetric so when re-installed the 'wrong' way round the chainline was near enough perfect. That's cheap ;-)

I see...
which one do you reckon would give me the best price/quality ratio?
Considering that the threadless bb seems to give some troubles by time to time, and after re-taping I'd still need to get the english-threaded BB (so it might be a bit expensive)?

up, does anyone have any idea on the reliability of the threadless BB, or where to do the retaping job evenually?

I can do that for you. The BB itself need not be expensive, something like Miche Primato has the advantage of allowing some adjustment of the chainline and can be bought online for less than £15. A good few people say bad things about Miche BBs, I've used loads and never had any complaints/problems, I've had the same one on my everyday track bike for nearly 2 years and it shows no sign of giving up yet.

I'm happy with mine, I forget it's threadless and for a tenner it's not too bad although some people will say buy cheap buy twice but I think it's a decent product. Once mine was installed with enough grease and torque I haven't had an issue with it (over 1.5 years commuting in edinburgh) I expect the Velo orange will work out to be even more reliable with the expanding cups but I am happy with mine (especially for ten pounds). If you buy the tools and grease as well it will still work out cheaper than the velo orange one and you can always fix it yourself if it ever goes wrong. One issue I can see would be the standard of your cranks square taper, is it ISO or JIS as the threadless bottom brackets only cater for JIS square taper.

As for retapping I couldn't say, hopefully someone else can come along and give advice.

Im pretty sure my Pug had a Swiss threaded BB, as the UK threaded replacement (BB-UN26 68x113) would only go in freely about half way (even after wire brushing threads). However, I applied a bit of force and it fitted nice and snug. Its never worked loose and I've swapped the BB with a replacement since, with no issues.

Heres sheldons crib sheet
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cribsheet-bottombrackets.html

Ok just for completeness' sake, I am updating the thread after progressing

I decided to go for the Threadless option, it seemed to be the easiest and cheapest solution to my problem (in retrospect, I was probably wrong about the latter).
After purchasing it from Velo Orange (and paying the item + shipping + bloody duty charges) I proceeded to have the framed re-sprayed. I loved the decals, but the paint job was in pretty bad shape.

I went to Vaz and I was not completely satisfied: the paint job was very good, but he messed up with the decals (he was supposed to get the same old ones and call me to confirm before applying: he did not). he applied this one which is still ok, but it was definitely better before. Besides, there is a bloody hair below the lacquer -_-

Anyway the result is more than satisfying for £70, so here it is all mounted.

Thank you so much everyone for your help and support. It was really appreciated.

Looks quite nice.

awaits foot retention police

holy mother of head tube

If it had a shorter headtube it would turn into a low pro.

Still not as good as Braker's Ti frame

huahuahua yeah I know, I never got used to toeclips and straps...
I'll probabily give those re-strap things a try, though.