French Threaded Bottom Bracket

I love VO Bottom Brackets!

I have maintained thousands of bottom brackets in my life. It is not something I care to maintain on my vintage bikes anymore. It is hard enough to find a decent quality French or even Italian threaded bottom bracket that isn't being sold for a premium price. And again, that I would have to regularly maintain. The French and Italian sealed bearing BBs from VO are a godsend. They are good quality and spin maintenance free forever. Most of my bikes are riders, not show bikes. The VO BBs are the way to go every time. I see some reviews complaining about the JIS taper or the limitation of the available spindle lengths. If you have a very finicky chainline you are trying to maintain (ie. Simplex) or are dealing with a pre-70s Stronglight crankset, admittedly you should probably not be looking here. But if you signed up for dealing with Frenchy parts and bicycles, then you should already be aware of what you are getting into.

Taper

The spec for this item states that the JIS taper works with most cranks. I am restoring an old French bike which not surprisingly has a French manufactured Stronglight crankset. Although the will go on the JIS taper, it will not go on far enough so the chain will not align properly. The same problem would have occurred with a Campagnolo crank. The BB is thus useless unless you are using a Shimano crankset or similar.

French threaded bottom bracket

All aspects of the French threaded cartridge bottom bracket are perfect, except for the choice of spindle length. This one I bought from you is 113 mm, which works, but is just slightly too long. While the original was 112 mm, the 113 mm makes the chainline a bit too far "outboard." No matter, I am pleased with the bottom bracket. Thank you. Used to keep a 1972 Mondia Super running.