Need help with Gitane BB.
 

Stripping and painting a Gitane mixte frame. Hubs said 81, but 78 is stamped on the upper edge of the front headtube lug.

I want to remowe the fixed cup of the BB. The BB was totally dry when I opened it and the cages of the BB bearrings was ground to almost nothing. Would like to replace the whole thing.

Could anybody tell me if the threads in the fixed cup is left or right? Do not think there is a lot of rust (frame is fine but terribly chipped) but it is not at all loose, and I`d like to know I do it right when I start being serious about it.

Thank you.

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You have the adjustable cup out, so you could:
1. Measure the cup with a set of calipers
2. Take the lockring and try it on a known English or French cup
3. If you have a thread pitch gauge you could see if it's 1mm or 24tpi

These are all things I could do with my box o' stuff and a few inexpensive tools

Or you take the cup & lockring to your LBS and let them do same

my guess is that its right thread. But, to be on the safe side, I'd follow Bob's advice.

I'm willing to bet if you take a closer look at that '78' on the head tube lug you'll see in fact that it's a '73' instead for the head tube angle. If the letters BCM appear next to it you have Bocama lugs. Also, photos of the cups/bike would be helpful.

Spindles often have date codes as well (Ditto the crank arms). Wheels may not be original, so the code on the hubs may not be meaningful.