Purchased a Sunlite Threadless Repair Bottom Bracket, 68 x 113mm for an English Threaded bottom bracket
bike and IMHO, it is a great innovation. Inexpensive and low maintenance.



Since French BB's are also 68mm, I wondering if this would work as well or are the internal dimensions too different?

TIA for your input

It should work for either English or French threaded bottom brackets. (Their dimensions are almost identical: exact same width, 0.2 mm difference in diameter.)

BUT... Some threadless bottom brackets are designed to be installed in a bottom bracket shell whose edges have been chamfered (cut to a bevel). This appears to be one of them. Notice the angled lip on the cups. A chamfered shell would interface with those angled flanges to make sure the cartridge is centered and stays put. The Velo Orange Grand Cru threadless bottom bracket installs differently and doesn't require chamfering. (It's a little more expensive, though, selling for $37 or so from most online sources.)

Yes, it should work, as the BB shell opening diameters should be the same.
IIRC, it's the Italian threaded BB's that have a slightly bigger ID, but then, the tapered bushings that come with these "repair" BB's should be able to take up the difference.

French 34 , Brit 34.8 equivalent, so Probably OK for either .

conic ends of that BB may Creak and such if let get Loose .. since BB shell is squared Off on the edges .

That YST bottom bracket has a terrible reputation. I can remember when Harris Cyclery posted that they would no longer sell them because of quality issues. The BB shell really should be chamfered for it to fit properly. I've read that it's hard to find a shop that has the chamfering tool and somebody that knows how to use it.


I have no personal experience, but they can't put it on the internet if it's not true.

I think it was only Mavic that officially required chamfering the faces of the BB shell, thus they sold the chamfering tool to dealers and the public, which I think why their BBs did not sell too well, and you can still get the easily new, at reasonable prices.
Not sure if the other manufacturers did the same, but it really makes a lot of sense to chamfer the BB faces to maximized support and stability for the BB cups if tapered bushings are used.

French is 35 mm, so they're even closer than that. Just 0.2 mm.

Uh-Oh..... looks like I might need to find a VO bb instead..... not finding any for less than $60.

FWIW, the YST product description says the tapers are for centering the assembly in the shell. No mention of beveling the shell faces.

I thought I found some under $40, but it looks like Google was returning threaded results when I was searching for threadless bottom brackets.

The beveled cups that hold the bottom bracket in place are similar to Mavic's, and their installation instructions state to chamfer the inner edge of the bottom bracket shell. And like Bob & Chombi said above, thinking about how the surfaces of the bottom bracket and shell interface, it makes sense.

If I had to opt for a threadless bottom bracket, I'd probably shell out for the VO myself. The installation mechanism seems like it would be more stable, plus they have a better reputation for longevity and reliability than other options like Sunlite or especially YST. But I'd only resort to a threadless bottom bracket if my frame's threads were damaged beyond reasonable repair.