Replacement for Campy triple bottom bracket
 

I have a Campagnolo Chorus Triple Crankset, and I am moving it to a different frame. The old frame has Italian threading and the new frame has English threading. I will need a new bottom bracket but the 111mm cartridge bb is asymmetrical and I can't seem to find a campagnolo replacement.

I have looked into the Phil Woods bottom bracket but I was wondering what my other options are.

Will the 111mm symmetrical bb's work? like the Centaur bb.

I prefer to use this crankset and not get a new crankset.

If you're talking about a Chorus cartridge BB from about 2001 forward, and it's in good shape, you don;t need a new BB. You can simply replace the two mounting rings, and keep the English ones in case you switch back.

Can the mounting rings be easily found or do i need to get a different similar bottom bracket in the 102 mm size with the proper cups?

Thanks for the suggestion.

They were offered as separate parts when these BBs were in production, and you might still find a pair. I might habe some, but I'd have to check. The rings alone were pretty kind of pricey, so buying a 102 in Italian keeping the rings, and selling the cartridge mike make sense.

Soyou know the cartridge is the same, the added 2mm BB width is built into the rings.

Here's a Record triple (111 AS)at a pretty good price http://www.velomine.com/index.php?ma...ex&cPath=86_83

If you have easy access to the symmetrical one at a low price, you might try it. I think I found the offset was rather low, and the price for the assymmetrical one was rather high, at least in Record grade.

I was hoping to avoid the cost of trying something that I wasn't sure would work. I thought someone may have tried this before or would direct me to the 115 mm symetrical bb.

I think the 115.5 is assymmetrical, as well. It's intended for several different cranksets than the 111's were.

If you bought your first Campy BB new in the box and you kept the little booklet, the booklets usually have a complete directory of what cranksets require what BB. You should be able to find the exact spec requirements from that. Or you can get on the Campy website, look for the Technical Literature section (may require some trial and error) and find the specs.

I fully agree with you buying one bb and have it be the correct one, that's always to be hoped for. I think that if you know the campy spec you will be the most likely to find one with the least amount of compromise. My opinion on that based on my recollections is as follows: The 111 asymmetrical has, if I recall, a 1 mm difference on each side, rather than being balanced. The biggest positioning error you can have is 1 mm. 115.5 has one end about 4 mm more offset than the 111 symmetrical, which means the biggest positioning error is up to 4 mm. The 1 mm error in chain line is hardly going to affect indexed shifting of the front rings. The 3 to 4 mm error of the 115.5 could affect rear shifting due to the fact that chain offset angles in big-little and little-big positions will not be how Campy engineered them. These two problems are worse than the ones due to the 1 mm each side position error.

The current Veloce series BB costs in the $40 to $50 range and is 111mm symmetrical, I think. The "low-price" Record 111 assymmetrical is indeed cheaper than I paid, but the current Veloce is less than half of that (less than a third of what I paid!). You might think it's worth a try.

I've installed a Centaur compact, a Racing Triple, several Records, and a Record Triple in recent years. I think my Record Triple uses the 111 asymmetrical, but I don't recall exactly. When I had the BB out on the table I compared its measurements to those of the 111 Centaur bb, and found them to be very close in offset. To replicate the data exactly I'd have to disassemble two BBs, and to compare with the 115.5 I'd have to disassemble a third one. If you can't find good info on the Campy site, I can try that over a weekend.

At least nobody here is telling you to use Shimano, yet.

Phil has an ISO taper 111, that can be shifted by pressing the spindle thru the bearings

I just got the symmetrical 111 for my 'race triples' used as a 50,40,24t ..

just measured the bottom bracket that I have and it is close to symmetrical. Seems to be less than 0.5 mm difference. I may look at look at getting a centaur bb if I can't find the proper cups that FB mentioned.

Thanks for the suggestion, I had looked at the Phil bb as an option but due to the cost, I decided that it would be a lower option.

There is often a bit of confusion with the current Campy square taper Bottom Brackets. Record/Chorus double cranks use a 102mm symmetrical BB and the triple uses a 111mm asymmetrical BB; the offset is 1mm (only BB for these sizes still manufactured by Campy is Chorus). The Centaur/Veloce/Mirage use a 111mm symmetrical for a double and a 115.5mm symmetrical (not asymmetrical) for a triple. I'm pretty much OCD about using the correct spec'd components, but in the real world I wouldn't think 1mm will make any difference using a 111 symmetrical with a Chorus triple.

Thanks, Onespeedbiker, your detailed info aligns with my recollection, except for the symmetry of the 115.5. I have one that's not installed, I'll have to check it.

Is the 111 AS longer on the drive side? If not, it can be substituted with near perfection by the Centaur/Veloce/Mirage 111 sym with the addition of a 1 mm or 1/2 mm drive side spacer under the fixed cup.

I'm usually OCD about the correct part as well, but I have trouble seeing a 1 mm deviation in lateral Q balance or chainline resulting in a practical problem. For how many bikes are the axle spacers as original, and the rear triangle alignment within 1 mm?

Yes it is..but your statement is confusing. I'm sure you meant,

Since the offset is 1 mm, then a 1mm spacer would do the trick.:thumb:

ah... what language is Campy written it? I looked on a couple of sites that sell lots of it and darn if I could figure out what might fit what. No wanting to be mean, but it seems closer to Klingon...