ColonelBlaha

Hi everyone,

so I need to replace my bottom bracket so I can use a campy crankset (that i'm trying to find on ebay.) I unfortunately do not know that much about bikes and do not know what the size/threading I need.

My frame is a Trek 370 road series cro-moly frame, but I don't know what year it is from since I bought if off of craigslist. it also doesn't look like any of the 370s I saw on vintage-trek.com.

I can post pictures of the frame if it will help identify it.

thanks in advance

Panthers007

You will need a square-taper bottom-bracket if the Campy uses one. Real question is - will one of these fit your bottom-bracket shell? Probably is the answer I'd come up with.

For the Victor VPB-31W bottom-bracket that came stock on the 370, all I can find is it's size is 68mm. So far, so good. That's English and Campy comes in both English and Italian - of course. Being from '98 it's not likely to present too much of a problem in integrating the Campy into your Trek 370.

What is it running now for a crankset? I see 42/52 being stock. What'cha got? And yes - photos are always a +

HillRider

Your Trek is English threaded, that's certain. You will need an English threaded Campy bottom bracket in the proper width to match what ever crank you buy.

If the crank is square taper, you must use a Campy (or other ISO) taper bottom bracket. Shimano, Tange, et. al. bottom brackets are JIS taper and not fully compatible with Campy cranks. Close but no cigar so get the right one.

ColonelBlaha

well it looks like i should be okay
but here are some pics of my frame anyway (for the sake of identifying the year)
I'm pretty sure it's not any of the three that "vintage-trek.com" lists (94,95, or 98)

https://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...a/IMG_8771.jpg
https://i698.photobucket.com/albums/v...a/IMG_8778.jpg

and this is the crankset/bottom bracket I was hoping to win off of ebay
https://cgi.ebay.com/Campagnolo-Choru...3%3A1|294%3A50

and to answer Panters007 question, I don't actually have a crankset yet because I only bought the frame and fork and I'm trying to build this guy from scratch

Panthers007

That is one sharp-looking machine. Quite worthy of turning into a fast-spinning beauty!

Good luck!

ColonelBlaha

okay so last question with regard to my bottom bracket.
found my bottom bracket. I just got a veloce 68x111 english threaded which is going to work. I removed my old bottom bracket and it is apparently a loose bearing type(where its only the spingle, exposed bearings, two caps, and a ton or grease.)

My questions (probably one that just shows how much of an amateur at this) is, do I need to clean out all of that grease before I install the new bottom bracket or is it okay to leave all that grease in there and just install them. And I guess if I need to clean them, how do I go about doing that (since grease is not the easiest thing to clean)

Thanks everyone

Panthers007

Start fresh - remove all the old grease, and get it fresh grade 25 ball-bearings. Should be 11 per side of 1/4 inch. I've found charcoal lighter-fluid cheap and available and does a great job of removing old grease - or new.