Boot sale find benotto 2500: gravelly buildy thingy

[Mod-Master]

I’ve set up shop outside as it’s a lovely day for wrenching.

The mystery is solved. There is a very faint “TTO on the seatstay lugs so it must be a benotto!

(Or it’s just some other bike with tto on the end

 

[Woz]

so with luck, £30 get's you access to the bike snob world these days

 

[Mod-Master]

English weather won’t stop me from wrenching no mwuahahaha

 

[Mod-Master]

English weather did stop me from wrenching

My umbrella clamped in stand idea didn’t work

 

[Mod-Master]

Here is the bike as it stands now:


I couldn’t get the bolt off the NDS not even with a 2ft breaker bar. And I can’t get the crank off the drive side. Everything else came off really easily

Thank god they’re not cotter pins eh @Woz ?

 

[Mod-Master]

Here is the underside of the bb:

 

[Mod-Master]

The serial number is something like: 519

It’s hard to make out due to all the rust dimples

It looks like the lugs were bonded using bronze braze(?)

 

[Mod-Master]

So I’ve spent the past hour trying to get bb/cranks off and I’ve done it successfully! Though, for the reason is beyond me, the frame/bb is right hand threaded on both sides??? Is this Italian thread? I thought Italian thread was just slightly bigger in diameter and the thread was a bit longer?

Anyway it’s just the frame now, and I’m debating wether I should strip the paint, go bare metal/do a full repaint. Or rebuild it and leave it as a rider.

 

[Mod-Master]

Oh and I got an xt bb out of it so I’m happy. And got even further confirmation as it says benotto on the dropouts

 

[Mod-Master]

Further research proves that this is the 2500 model. Reasons being:

It has a 27.2 seattube which only the 3000 and 2500 had
It has benotto dropouts which only the 2500 down to 800 had
And the cable routing is under the chainstay which means it’s a 1979 or later