C Record BB spindle designation

[foz]

Can anyone confirm what was stamped on C Record BB spindles? I know they were 111mm symmetrical spindles, but was just wondering what was actually stamped on them? I have 3 possible options, and was just wondering which (if any) of them is the right one.

The first is stamped "68-SS-120", and the other two are stamped "68-SS", but have the bearing races at different separation (I think one of these was for ordinary cups, the other would be for the thicker cups with rifled holes)

thanks!

 

[Midlife]

Had a quick check and my 68-ss-120 and later 68-ss are asymmetrical and a few mm longer......... are you talking about the later 111mm Record / Ergopower era from 1992 when I think all they had stamped on them was a shield?

Shaun

 

[foz]

Hi Shaun, these definitely have the 68-SS stamping on them, but maybe they aren't symmetrical after all... will check again tomorrow. They are definitely 111mm long though, if they're not symmetrical then it's just that the bearing races are not central.

Maybe they're all for earlier NR/SR (or another model) chainsets - I know C-record was 111mm symmetrical, but have never had a C-record cup and cone BB (only the later sealed cartridge units from the early 90's)

Were asymetrical spindles used because drive/non-drive crank arms needed a different offset from the centre of the BB, or was it because the fixed/adjustable cups had the bearing races at different distances from centre?

thanks, Andy

 

[Midlife]

Certainly during my era (70's 80's) all Campag road axles were asymmetrical to allow for the width of the chainrings. Pista axles were symettrical and had thinner cups. My early 70's axles are 68-ss-120

The axles changed slightly in 1977 to allow for the USA safety regs which brought in a curved front mech cage and were a bit longer and I think stamped 68-SS (the rear width stamping was dropped)

The next change was after my time (1985?) and was for the C- Record crankset that had the 5th spider arm hidden behind the crank arm and that had a 111mm symmetrical axle but I'm sure it only had a shield on it, maybe the early C-Record axles has the old 68-ss markings?

Shaun

 

[foz]

Thanks Shaun, maybe none of mine are actually a C-record spindle... I've been googling for images and checked the catalogues in the archive, but can't find anything that definitely shows what they had on them.

Will check the measurements tomorrow!

 

[Midlife]

Been thinking about this, some of the lower campag stuff like Athena were symettrical and were stamped 68-ss. I was just thinking about nuovo record and c-record.

Shaun

 

[stringfellow1946]

I'm 99% sure the C-Record, Croce D'Aune & Chrous Axels were silver & all marked 68-SS & 111mm in length & also had a shield logo on them. NB they all used Thick Cups but the axel (& I assume the cups as well) could vary with different ball sizes 3/16 C-Record, 1990 Record 7/32 & another using 1/4
The lower group sets Athena etc had black axels from memory.

 

[Deax]

Re:

All,

To use British (68mm) BB width as an example:

Format 68-SS-120 = pre '78 US consumer council ruling.
68-SS-120 +1 +1.5 came immediately after for the redesigned cranks, later simplified to 86-SS.

These are around 114mm for a double axle, asymmetrical.

Victory double would be 109mm, and also 68-ss, an this would also be the correct length for a single, track axle.

Athena = 68-SSg; Croce = SSa; Chorus= SSb and all 111 ish symmetrical.

C-Record should also be symmetrical ans 111mm.

The confusing (because the axles were not marked accordingly) thing with Campag axles is that Record and Nuovo Record have different shoulder widths (space between the outer edges of the bearing seats) to accommodate respectively thin and thick (rifled) cups. From memory (way from home without the reference table) an Italian Record would bwe 54mm and Nuovo Record 51mm..

These are hardly ever properly described on online sales..

I hope that helps a little.

Paul Deacon
Wiltshire UK

 

[foz]

Still need to accurately measure the ones I have, but that helps a lot, thanks!

Out of interest, do you know where exactly campagnolo take the measurement for the bearing seats? On the tech drawings it appears to be the tip of the shoulder (part of the axle with greatest diameter), but measuring and comparing to the tech docs, it appears to be the actual point where the bearings touch (about half way up the curve of the bearing surface)

 

[Deax]

It's on the outer edge on each side i.e. nearest to the ball bearings and crank arms.. as per diagram `A' distance:



Incidentally, the technical docs suggest that C-Record axles changed from the first iteration 109mm (1985 Catalogue 18bis) to 111mm 1988 C-Record Catalogue.

Paul Deacon
Wiltshire, UK