BB threading on Columbus starship frame?
 

I am thinking of upgrading my 2002 Orbea team euskatel to a compact crank and external bearing BB (Ultegra 6800). I need to specify English or Italian threading; can someone please verify which?

If it helps this is the frame with an integrated headset; it came with dura ace 9 speed and an octolink BB.

Shimano usually stamps the threading/diameter on the cup, 1.370x24 would be ISO/English and 36Mx24 would be Italian.
Do you still have the OEM BB? Italian seems pretty unlikely but depends on where the Orbea was originally sold.

Look at the fixed cup (drive side) threads. English is left hand thread, Italian is right hand thread.

thanks guys, i will get the tool to pull the old BB and check it out

Orbea is a Spanish company, they too get frames made under contract in TW, so Odds are its BSC

I should add - I bought the bike second hand on eBay from a person in Louisiana, and the frame does have a bike shop sticker from that state...so I reckon it'd be a good guess that it was made for the North American market.

I just didn't know if maybe all Columbus frames, or at least their higher end tube sets, would be Italian threads only Most of my bikes have been tange or reynolds and definitely USA market at that.

Columbus only makes the tubes; what fittings hold those tubes together and what thread those fittings might use is up to the frame builder.

True. Being it's an Orbea and other than the shop decal there is no other id info on the frame (no SN, etc) I wasn't sure what the likeliest threading wold be. I guess pulling the old BB is the only way to know for certain...

measure the shell width, 68mm english, 70mm is italian

If there's already a bottom bracket installed, the thread spec ought to be marked on it.

Not necessarily true. Over the years, I've encountered Italian thread shells with widths ranging from 65mm to 70mm. Italian track frames from the 60s are particularly likely to have a narrow shell and Italian thread cups. That, and stripped English or metric thread shells may be reamed and tapped for Italian threads.

A far more reliable test is to measure the inside diameter of the threads: 36mm is Italian, and an English or metric thread cup will drop inside without even enaging the threads.

And a 68mm wide shell could also be metric (35 x 1) thread. Metric thread was not limited to France; Spanish built frames such as Zeus (Orbea's predecessor) often used metric thread.