Jon writes, and I snipped ...
>what seems a relatively uniform aspect of the frames built with Nervex prof
>lugs. In particular, none of them seemed to make use of the Nervex prof
>bottom bracket shell. I've also got a custom frame of my own and it
>doesn't use this bottom bracket shell either; instead it has what looks
>to be a modified Henry James bb shell. Why don't builders use that
>shell?
I think I know the reason for this one, and I'm not a framebuilder! I seem to recall a couple of our more skilled members trying to locate Nervex BBs that were English compatible, and having little luck. I strongly suspect that far more head and seat lug sets were made than full head-seat and BB sets. Somewhere I recently read (was it here?) about Schwinn's decision to use a different BB with the Nervex Pros on the Paramount. Peugeot stopped using the Nervex BB at some point, too - probably around 1970 or shortly thereafter, and I apologize for not knowing for sure.
Part of it may also be that the Nervex BB was stamped like the lugs, right? And the preferred BB shell by the early 70s was a casting, correct?
Russ Fitzgerald, raising his hand in class and shamelessly going for the brownie points, in Greenwood SC rfitzger@emeraldis.com