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Stronglight spindle, non Stronglight cups.

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Stronglight spindle, non Stronglight cups.

Old 05-04-18, 02:54 PM
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ironwood
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Stronglight spindle, non Stronglight cups.

I would like to use a Stronglight 49d crank on a bike with an English threaded bb shell. I have a Stronglight spindle but no English threaded Stronglight cups. I do have some Nervar English threaded cups that seem to spin while the bike is up on the stand. I haven't ridden it yet. I'm wondering whether the concave surfaces on the spindles and cups match, or will they cause the bearings to fail? I guess another option would be a Phil Wood bb. Any thoughts?
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Old 05-04-18, 03:11 PM
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Both brands have identical 1/4" balls with identical rolling diameters, and it seems hard to imagine any load-path contact-angle differences big enough to cause a problem.

What can cause problems is the thickness of the cups, particularly the positioning of the race relative to the inner face of the flange. This could affect the ability to secure the lockring with sufficient thread engagement, and will affect the offset of the spindle within the bottom bracket shell.

Test it out and see how your lockring and chainline fall into place. Likely your spindle isn't JIS-taper, which would surely throw another wrench into the works since the arms would each sit a couple of mm further outward.
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Old 05-04-18, 03:43 PM
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Check the pedal threads, they might be French. If not (or assuming you don't have any French pedals to use), you could try getting an appropriately wide Shimano UN55.
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Old 05-04-18, 04:07 PM
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I’ve mixed and matched Nervar and Stronglight spindles and cups without a problem.
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Old 05-04-18, 05:33 PM
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Only issue I’ve seen is if the spindle was mated with “thin cup” races such as stronglight with french threads of the early 70s - in these, the race spacing on the spindle is a bit further out than standard (e.g., non french)

I dont recall the exact dimensions, something like 52 on std and 56 for thin cup models
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Old 05-04-18, 07:14 PM
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I used Campy Victory cups with a Stronglight spindle on a Raleigh Pro (104 crank)
I was much happier with this setup than I was the Shimano UN I used for a while (because my NDS crank was not so far out)
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Old 05-04-18, 07:16 PM
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Originally Posted by jcb3
Only issue I’ve seen is if the spindle was mated with “thin cup” races such as stronglight with french threads of the early 70s - in these, the race spacing on the spindle is a bit further out than standard (e.g., non french)

I dont recall the exact dimensions, something like 52 on std and 56 for thin cup models
I have had the same experience w/ various mix-and-match spindle and cup combos. This, and sometimes the BB shell width, has been the only limiting factor.
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Old 05-05-18, 06:50 AM
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Unlike most other manufacturers, Stronglight used the same spindle for both 68mm and 70mm wide shells, and varied the cup thickness to accommodate the different shell widths. I'm not that familiar with Nervar bottom brackets, so it may work to mix & match, but no guarantees.
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Old 05-05-18, 11:19 AM
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Originally Posted by specialmonkey
Check the pedal threads, they might be French. If not (or assuming you don't have any French pedals to use), you could try getting an appropriately wide Shimano UN55.
They are French, and I will be getting them tapped to English. Thanks for the responses.
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Old 05-06-18, 06:35 AM
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Originally Posted by JohnDThompson
Unlike most other manufacturers, Stronglight used the same spindle for both 68mm and 70mm wide shells, and varied the cup thickness to accommodate the different shell widths. I'm not that familiar with Nervar bottom brackets, so it may work to mix & match, but no guarantees.
I never knew that - how very French - another factoid to add to my French quirkiness list

i came across this old shot I tool of a std vs stronglight spindle, showing the difference in the race width

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Old 05-06-18, 04:49 PM
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Originally Posted by nlerner
I’ve mixed and matched Nervar and Stronglight spindles and cups without a problem.
Thank you for this. I was pretty sure it would work, and you've confirmed it.
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