Another Dumb-Ass Bottom Bracket Question

Guys,

be gentle, but I have another dumb-ass bottom bracket question. I'm currently building an old raleigh frame as a single speed, first time builder, and need some advice on the bottom bracket.

The frame is a Raleigh Triathlon, circa 1987, which I'm sure has a 68mm BB width.

The question is, as I want to build out as a single speed, what spindle length should I go for?

From what I've seen on eBay, 111mm seems about right. However I've also seen 107mm too. What would work best?

Secondly, I need to select a crank set. NOOOOOOWWWW.... I would like to build using Campag. Ok, yes its over the top for the frame but hey I like old Raleighs. I was looking at Pista crank sets but they seem really over priced. Is it reasonable to buy a standard double ring crank set and drop out the inner chain-ring? I can't see why it wouldn't work mechanically but then again, what the hell do I know.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated guys.

I'll try to post some pics of the build when I complete.


Rossco

Its easy to turn a road crankset into a pista permanently, just grind off the inner lip. BITD we did that for our single chainring TT bikes

Or just bolt a single ring.

109mm length seems to ring a bell

Shaun

Cheers Shaun.

Do you reckon I'd need to change the chain ring bolts? If it were down to my old man, (retired naval engineer), he'd tell my to fanny it up with a bunch of washers...

Either change to track bolts or buy the special washers which are made for this situation, they are cheap as chips.

Shaun

You need to consider bottom bracket length, any offset on the chainset itself, and of course the rear spacing of the frame. This should help you decide what you need:https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/130300/

99% of 1/8" track chainsets which use a Shimano taper use a 110.5mm bottom bracket. Italian taper cranksets use between a 103 and a 107mm bb. When you buy a new crankset it usually tells you what width it uses for a correct chainline. If you're reusing a road crank then you'll have to fit it up with a single chainring, measure from the teeth to the centre of the frame and work out how much width you need to take out the bb.

Thanks boys. Some excellent advice here.

I'll let you know how it goes. I'm hoping to start the build next month after pay day.

Its taken a while to explain the appearance of yet another bike in the garage to the wife. I've tried to explain the theory of N+1 but maths was never her strong suit.