Originally Posted by FERAL
73mm. Its an old Raleigh that had their 26tpi. Measured out the BBshell 73mm on the nose. Bought a new 73x110 and then took a worn out 73 that I had and 'retapped' the threads. Basically go in some, back out go in some more, back out. Took like 20-30 minutes but then the new BB went in nice and easy. Don't know why Raleigh would not comply with the 24tpi like the rest of the world until almost the turn of the century.
Since raleigh made every part on the bikes themselves, they just didn't have to comply with other standards. Thats why some of the higher end frames used regular english threading. They wanted to make the frames compatible with campy and huret parts. For the lower end frames all components were made in-house. I would definitely use loctite on the bb cups if i were you. What you call "retapped" some would call "damaged." It will probably hold find, but the blue loctite will lessen the chances of it loosening.