Wanted: Italian bottom bracket or axel

I was wondering if any of you guys had a 70mm width bottom bracket going spare?

I'm trying to source a shorter axle for a frame with a raleigh bottom bracket. From the relevent Sheldon pages it says:-

"If the digit is "5" the spindle is made for in Italian-sized 70 mm shell, and may work in your Raleigh if it has a 71 mm shell."

Well mine is a 71mm bb and the axle that came out of mine has "5S" on it but is 128mm long which makes for a wide chainline. Therefore I was hoping to get a 70mm sealed unit and break out the axle to use with my existing cups - didn't really want to get a brand new one and break it up in case it's not compatible.

Thanks

Richard

PS - I'm in Reading so would need it posted.

I have an italian campag centaur, fag fitting. Probably 111mm £17.50 posted. This only had a few hundred miles before I sold my frame. It may not give you a perfect chainline but it will be less than 1% out which is nothing given the deflection a chain will tolerate.

I have an italian campag centaur, fag fitting. Probably 111mm £17.50 posted. This only had a few hundred miles before I sold my frame. It may not give you a perfect chainline but it will be less than 1% out which is nothing given the deflection a chain will tolerate.

Hi - any chance you could email ma a photo so I can see how it compares to mine?

Richard

Can you put any axel on any BB, so long as it's the same type of axel ?
i.e I have a french threaded BB on a road bike I am convertin, and don't really want to buy a new Velo Orange BB when I have a perfectly good Sugino one already. Could I buy a modern JIS square tapered 107mm axel and put it into my BB ? [/hijack]

Can you put any axel on any BB, so long as it's the same type of axel ? [/hijack]

Nope.
How can you judge idf the axle is the same, apart from the length?
You have to deal with various ball race radius, ball diameters, designed to combine with corresponding cups, contact angles.
Of course, you can give it a try, but the chance is small that it works out perfectly.

E.g.: if it is a BB-set with caged ball bearings, sometimes the cage is pointing inwards, sometimes outwards.
You may understands that those axles / cups are not interchangeable.

@ Rapepper:
I have a Shimano BB-UN90 cartridge type BB, italian thread, 107mm axle length, new. You can NOT take it apart.
Let me know if you are interested.

You cannot fit an Italian thread cartridge BB - the threads are totally different. If you have an old style cup and cone BB you can almost certainly use an Italian width BB axle. An alternative is get a bicycle shop with a BB facing tool to reduce the width of your BB shell to 68mm - you can then use any BB axle from a British threaded cup and cone type BB set.

Dammit, I didn't read it correctly.
But of course it's possible if that same dealer cuts Italian thread in your Raleigh's BB-shell. That's probably easier than facing 3mm. ;-)
Anyway, you van easily install a 68 BSA Shimano BB-UN9x or BB-UN7x in a 71mm BB shell with BSA threads. The left cup has no stopper, so it can go a bit deeper into the BB shell.