Swiss BB - How to use Phil Wood rings with Shimano, Miche?
 

I have a late 70's Motobecane with a Swiss threaded BB.

As I've pretty much given up on finding a new Swiss threaded BB, I've searched forums for possible solutions, which seem to be:

1. Get Phil Wood Swiss BB cups
2. Combine with Phil Wood sealed BB, Shimano UN72, or Miche Primato

My confusion is this, the Phil Wood sealed BB's have no threads on them, they are held in place with the cups:

http://www.philwood.com/BB-Sta2.jpg

All the photos I could find of the Shimano and the Miche show them WITH threads:

http://i20.tinypic.com/ohpac7.gif
Shimano

http://i20.tinypic.com/16hq8zp.jpg
Miche

but I've read on here that people have used these BB with the Phil Wood rings.

My question: How? Is these some easy way to remove the threads?

I seem to recall that the Phil rings do NOT work with the Miche Primato, can't remember if it's a diameter issue or what. I think you can use Phil rings with any of the Shimano units that have removable cups on both sides, but again there may be some fit issues with the width of the Shim body: you may need to run the Phil rings very deep into the BB shell. Unfortunately, the simplest solution is just buy the Phil BB, it fits and lasts, just costly is all.
To answer the question: you see that the Phil unit uses threaded "rings" which are just shorter versions of the threaded "cups" that the Shim and Miche use, they are all removable from the BB "body" (just pull off), and all 3 use a different specific tool to install/remove the units in/from your BB shell

It's the Shimano UN-72 sealed BB that had removable rings on both sides; unfortunately, it's no longer made.

Neal

I tried the Miche Primato with Swiss Phil cups and it didn't work. A machinist could probably make it work, but that may cost more than a Phil bottom bracket.

The Phil will probably end up being only a little more expensive than finding a NOS UN72 when you factor in BB lifespan. Those bearings last forever.