IRD cartridge BBs with replaceable cups in different threadings
 

Did you guys know these are out there? I happened across them yesterday while researching replacement options for a customer's bike that has a Swiss BB. The QB-55 plus a pair of Swiss threaded cups costs less than the VO threadless BB! Now, if only they were available in Raleigh 26 TPI threading....but when I emailed, they said they've never been requested before. Surprising to me...maybe people aren't aware of them?

Bottom Brackets - Square Taper

Yep. If you need Swiss, you go IRD.

As long as what you have to hang on them is JIS taper . . .

I have a set of Phil 26 tpi cups if you find the right Phil BB for your needs. $15 :)

I'm not in need of it for anything specific, it's really more of a general thing that would be nice to have on the market

I've used the IRD Italian cups. The bottom brackets are very nice quality as well with Japanese bearings even on lower priced ones. As mentioned, for JIS taper, but if that's what you need these are good parts.

If I recall they are also available only in limited lengths.

That's what I have on my Grand Record, using the French threaded cups. The quality seems good and the bearings are replaceable so you could even upgrade there if you wanted to. The bearing seals are directly exposed, so you pretty much only have one line of defense.

I'm using one with a Camp Racing T crank. You just need to adjust your length requirement a bit. I know not everybody likes the idea of that, but I think it makes sense.

The IRD sealed bearings also appear to be pretty standard, so if you choose in the future, you could just replace the bearings and keep the spindles.

As clubman noted above, Phil offers 1-3/8" x 26tpi mounting rings for their cartridges. And those rings do fit other cartridges as well. I'm using Phil mounting rings with a SunTour cartridge, have dry-fitted them onto an EDCO cartridge, and IIRC they also may work with some Shimano or Tange cartridges, but I haven't tried those myself.

Must be some ripple in the fabric of space-time, but there happens to be a discussion on the internetBOB list about inexpensive/high quality bottom brackets. Someone commented that IRD bottom brackets are made by Tange. I just toss this out there as a small factoid.

another factoid: Tange reportedly made most (if not all) of Shimano's sealed BB units, too.

I decided to take [MENTION=185977]clubman[/MENTION] up on his offer of the Phil Wood cups....does anyone know if they're compatible with the IRD/Tange BBs?