Help ID my Ti frame and BB issues

scd83

Hi Guys,

Well I brought this bike second hand almost 12 months ago and it has become my pride and joy, things were running smoothly until 1 of the bottom bracket cups had loads of play between it and the frame. After taking the BB out and cleaning everything up all the threads seemed ok and there is no crack in the frame, that I can see. I took it to my lbs and he was left pretty baffled all he said was that the thread in side the frame didn't seem to be as deep as normal and that I should try and find out the spec of the bike and make sure it didn't have and 'italian' thread (if that means anything to anyone then good) or if there was something non-standard about it before he tried re-tapping it. I am un sure what else to say about it when I re-greased the cups 3 months ago everything went in with ease did them up finger tight then just finished them of with the BB tool. Below are a couple of pics if anyone has any ideas about what could be going on or would like some more info please let me know. I am also keen to find out what tpe of bike it is as there are no marking on it at all. I really don't want to scrap this frame and am keen to find a resolve









Oh and it takes on a new look of a weekend so don't laugh at it in its commuter stance.

Your help and thoughts are appreciated cheers Steve

njee20

Italian threads are found on Italian made road bikes, they have 70mm BB shells and are threaded the opposite way to BS threads. If an LBS suggested that, I'd be inclined to take any other mechanical advice he offered with a pinch of salt.

No idea what the frame is, those cowled dropouts remind me of early Ibises, but it's far newer than that.

supersonic

Can you measure the internal diameter of the BB shell, and identify thread pitch and orientation? Also width of shell?

nicklouse

sounds like the cup thread is on the small diameter and the BB shell is on the big diameter.

it happens try a different BB cup.

scd83

Thanks for the feedback i'll look into getting the internal diameter measured along with the thread depth i'll also see if one of the lbs will let me try a different BB cup before I fork out for a new set of cups the current ones are only 8 months old. Could this be something that the warranty would cover????

supersonic

You have no warranty on 2nd hand goods I'm afraid.

Balaclavas

That looks exactly like my mates Merlin Taiga (except his doesnt have disc tabs. The hole in the monostay is exactly where his (old school) cati-boss is.

His has a standard bs bb thread. Though since his was built Merlin has gone through a few changes. But hopefully that will point you in the right direction.

scd83

supersonic wrote:

You have no warranty on 2nd hand goods I'm afraid.

I meant on the cups I brought a new slx chainset 8 months ago...

I think I'll try new cups and get it honed and re tapped. Fingers crossed it sorts it and doesn't cause any irreparable damage.

Thanks for the Merlin Tiagra lead i'll follow it up

nicklouse

scd83 wrote:

I think I'll try new cups and get it honed and re tapped

yes and no. what do you want to do make even bigger.

scd83

nicklouse wrote:

scd83 wrote:

I think I'll try new cups and get it honed and re tapped

yes and no. what do you want to do make even bigger.

Im not to sure, I guess i'll try a new cup if that doesn't work I'll look into what can be done to the frame. I'll take it to another lbs on Saturday and get a second opinion.

Thanks for feedback guys