Hi all, what sort of BB is this? The markings on the spindle are "Stronglight", "marque deposee" and what is probably a partial stamp of a "1" followed by "18" which I'm guessing is the length (the spindle length is 118 mm). Closest thing I could find on VB is the 651, however, that one has 2 adjustable cups for chainline, and this one has fixed + adjustable. There was a Sakae crank originally on it, though that may be a later addition (I thought you weren't supposed to put JIS on ISO...)

In 1975-76 Stronglight introduced sealed bearing BBs with alloy cups. They were made up into the early 80's. Stronglight made several different styles of BB cartridges after that.

The Ref 650 model had a titanium spindle and titanium bolts. They also made the Ref 651 BBs with steel spindles and steel bolts. They came in 118mm for doubles and 124mm for triples. All of the models were available with French, British and Italian threaded cups. Occasionally the cups show up on eBay.


Ref 650 with titanium spindle.



Once crank arms have been mounted on a spindle, the soft aluminum deforms to fit and in many cases the the fretting and gnashing of teeth over ISO vs.JIS becomes inconsequential. If it fits, it works! Same goes for "Q Factor".

verktyg

Thanks! I knew someone here would know. It's still quite a nice unit, the spindle is hefty but but with the alloy cups the BB itself is fairly light.