In 1975-76 Stronglight introduced sealed bearing BBs with alloy cups. They were made up into the early 80's. Stronglight made several different styles of BB cartridges after that.

The Ref 650 model had a titanium spindle and titanium bolts. They also made the Ref 651 BBs with steel spindles and steel bolts. They came in 118mm for doubles and 124mm for triples. All of the models were available with French, British and Italian threaded cups. Occasionally the cups show up on eBay.


Ref 650 with titanium spindle.



Once crank arms have been mounted on a spindle, the soft aluminum deforms to fit and in many cases the the fretting and gnashing of teeth over ISO vs.JIS becomes inconsequential. If it fits, it works! Same goes for "Q Factor".

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