Bicycle Mechanics - 87 Raleigh Technium BB threads -26 TPI?

I have 2 Raleigh bikes down with BBs (plus a Bridgestone down with a broken BB).
1 is an 78 Raleigh Super Grand Prix- I have that one apart and confirmed it is 26TPI.
Sheldon's site indicates that Raleigh 26 tpi was used well into the 90s, but would rather order replacement parts before tearing it apart and risking losing things. If it is 24 tpi I'll either put a cartridge BB in there.
Anyone able to confirm the Raleigh USA built 87 Technium is old Raleigh Nottingham 26 tpi rather than 24 tpi?
Alternatively, are there 26 tpi cartridge BBs out there?

AFAIK, the US built Raleighs were all standard English (24tpi) threaded. Raleigh Nottingham sold or licensed the Raleigh name to a US maker and had nothing to do with the actual manufacture.

Phil Wood does make a cartridge bottom bracket and offers mounting cups with Raleigh's proprietary 26tpi threading. These are very expensive and shouldn't be needed with your Technium.

+1 You're not going to find old Raleigh 26tpi threads on any Raleigh Techniums.

Techniums were strictly a Raleigh USA product, built in Kent WA, and unlikely to use the archaic 1-3/8" x 26tpi threading some earlier British built Raleighs used.

AFAIK, the US built Raleighs were all standard English (24tpi) threaded. Raleigh Nottingham sold or licensed the Raleigh name to a US maker and had nothing to do with the actual manufacture.

Phil Wood does make a cartridge bottom bracket and offers mounting cups with Raleigh's proprietary 26tpi threading. These are very expensive and shouldn't be needed with your Technium.

Since my 78 Super Grand has 26 tpi, does that mean it was imported rather than built by Raleigh USA?

Since my 78 Super Grand has 26 tpi, does that mean it was imported rather than built by Raleigh USA?
Yup.

Again, "Raleigh USA" was a licensing of the Raleigh name to Huffy in 1982 and then transferred to Derby International in 1987. Raleigh bikes sold in the US from that point on were US made and had standard English threading.

Here is Wikipedia's entry on the history of Raleigh UK and Raleigh USA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_Bicycle_Company

I'm actually in the process of replacing my Technium BB with one from Velo Orange (http://www.velo-orange.com/grcrubobr.htm (http://www.velo-orange.com/grcrubobr.html)l) and have had a bit of a problem installing it.

As you can see from the website, the BB is 24T, not the old 26T, yet I've only been able to get the detached cup into the shell. I do need to clean the threads, as it has been waaaay too long since, but even now the old BB cups will thread just fine. So, I'm either installing it the wrong way (cup on wrong side), TPI is mismatched (which doesn't seem right), thread direction is mixed (not sure about that either), or I just need to clean the darn thing.

The drive side of your bottom bracket is left-hand threaded so the cup on that side installs by turning it counter-clockwise.

The drive side of your bottom bracket is left-hand threaded so the cup on that side installs by turning it counter-clockwise.

+1. Fixed (right-side) cup is left-hand thread. "Adjustable" (left-side) cup is right-hand thread. This applies to all standard "English thread" bottom brackets.

+1. Fixed (right-side) cup is left-hand thread. "Adjustable" (left-side) cup is right-hand thread. This applies to all standard "English thread" bottom brackets.
It applies to the older Raleigh proprietary 26tpi threading too. Their fixed cups were left-hand threaded also. The only difference between Raleigh and English/ISO bottom brackets is the thread pitch.