Originally Posted by
JohnDThompson
No, it's not just a metal spacer with a hole in the center. It's precisely machined and securely held by the shell threads.
And no, I don't see many French thread bottom brackets in a year, but I intend to remedy that. I suspect mine might be the only French thread taps north of Milwaukee...
I stand corrected. I've got a very old VAR tap/face/fixed cup handle assembly like your Park one, and it simply has a thick doughnut with a very precise OD. It's chromed like the rest of the tool, so I assume it came that way to the original owner. I wonder when they changed that, or if in fact it's been cannibalized from something else? As for taps, you might just be the only one. Is there a good solution to replacing French thread BB's? I suspect my tandem (1976 LeJeune) has French threaded bottom brackets (haven't gotten to pulling one to check yet) and am trying to figure out what to do when they inevitably go. I don't really want to put the $$ of Phil Wood BBs into it, and the only thing that has come to mind otherwise is to tap it to Italian threads.