Thinking of switching from vintage campy bb to phil wood

[kopride]

I have a classic 1977 Masi GC and I'm thinking about swapping the Campy bottom bracket since I ride it down the NJ shore where there is lots of sand and salt air with a Phil Wood sealed BB. I know its heresy but I'm worried with the environment that is very hard on unsealed bearings, it might be worth the swap. I'm less worried about the wheel bearings.

Am I just being paranoid?

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Go for it and don't look back. They are great BB's. More important than the seals...Campy BB's are relatively inexpensive and still in stock at a lot of sources...is the fact that the Phil Wood axle is stronger and safer than the Campy Record and Super Record axle. They had the annoying habit of cracking and often breaking into two pieces at the overly deep stamping information on the axle. Keep your old Campy BB for restoration / authenticity purposes and ride the Phil BB.

 

[kopride]

What size do you think? PW has a 110.5 and a 115 spindle.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

You're going to have to pull your arms and measure to be certain.

http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/components/campag-axles-comp.html

Going by the link, definitely shoot for the 115. And I would still measure first. That old **** was all wonky as Hell. Measure your BB shell width also. If English 68 MM your'e going to be golden with the 115. If Italian 70 MM...it's going to be on the limit. As PW does customs as standards, made to measure is the way to go.

I'm trying to remember if I bought 120 MM spindles for some of my bikes. IIRC 120 and 130 could both be used for triples depending on the frame and offsets.

 

[alfeng]

I have a classic 1977 Masi GC and I'm thinking about swapping the Campy bottom bracket since I ride it down the NJ shore where there is lots of sand and salt air with a Phil Wood sealed BB. I know its heresy but I'm worried with the environment that is very hard on unsealed bearings, it might be worth the swap. I'm less worried about the wheel bearings.

Am I just being paranoid?

FYI ...

This is possibly stating the obvious, but although the angle of the taper on Campagnolo BB spindles is the SAME as one finds on Shimano square taper BBs, they are not directly interchangeable because the Campy's wedge is smaller.

The GOOD NEWS is that while you cannot substitute a Campagnolo square taper BB/-spindle for a Shimano BB spindle, you can use a Shimano-compatible BB with a Campagnolo crankset.

MY experience is that an asymmetric 113mm Shimano-compatible cartridge BB works with many Campagnolo (ISO) crank arms from the 80s ... and so, I think the same may be true for your '77 vintage crank arms ...

I would be more worried about the "salt air" affecting the anodizing on the crank arms and on the other alloy components ...

So, I would be inclined to use a different bike than your MASI for toddling down the NJ shore.
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In other words, the equivalent Campagnolo spindle will be 5mm longer than a usable Shimano-compatible BB spiindle ...
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So, if the Phil Wood BB has a Japanese taper then you need to choose the length, accordingly.

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MEASURE your current spindle length and choose accordingly based on whether the taper on whatever cartridge BB you chose is designed for a Shimano-compatible or Campagnolo-compatible crankset .

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[CAMPYBOB]

"Our spindles have a 17 mm diameter and come ISO/Campagnolo, JIS, and JIS Low Profile taper offerings."