Hi all, I have an early eighties Raleigh Olympian Mixte (probably an '83) that I am trying to fix up for my wife. I pulled the old bottom bracket and am trying to instal a new cartridge bottom bracket (68mm english threaded) with little luck. I've cleaned the threads pretty well, but I can't seem to get the bracket to thread in at all. Are my threads possibly stripped or are some of the early-eighties Raleigh Olympians cursed with the wonky 26 tpi threading Raleigh used on some of their old bikes? Nothing on the internet has suggested raleigh olympians ever used a different threading for the bracket shell, but I'm having no luck at all getting it installed.

The only other problem I can think of is the derailleur cable guide is still attached to the bottom of the bracket shell. There is still a small bolt end that sticks through the middle of the shell to attach it as a result. Would that be enough to foul-up a bottom bracket installation? Any suggestions would be helpful. I'm also cross-posting this in the classic and vintage forum.

Thanks

As far the BB goes yes it is 68 MM . You should remove the bolt for the dérailleur cable drive if it sticks thou the BB. and makes sure you are install the cartridge into the right sides of the BB. Most goes in on the drive side (right side ) and there are others which goes in on the non drive side (left side). The cables can hold the guide in place. you can replace the bolt with a smaller one if needed.

If you have the old BB, you can compare the threads to make sure they are the same.

English built Raleighs used their proprietary 26tpi threading into the '90's according to Sheldon Brown so you may indeed have one. the suggestion to compare the threads is a good one.

Thanks for the responses. Turned out the BB shell threads just need to be chased at the LBS and the bolt holding the cable guide needed to be removed in order for it to fit properly. Couldn't get the bolt out, actually, so I had to drimmel it flat a bit and then the cartridge threaded in fine.

The Olympian was a Taiwan-made model, one of the good ones.

Tom's correct it's an Asian built one, normal english threading. Try turning it the wrong way and feel for it to drop into the threads, then go the correct way. Oops, see the problem was solved.