Roland Hilgarth wrote:
<snip> I recently aquired a 1985 Puch Mistral frame and I know it was built by Bianchi and is made of Columbus tubing. Can anyone give me any other information as to how the Puch's were originally built up. Also, it is stated to be Italian threaded. I know that there are Italian thread bottom brackets, but is there anything like an Italian threaded head set. Thanks for the help.
+++++++++++ Roland, you've said a couple of things that give me a bit of the hiccups, but I might be wrong. I would be very surprised if it had been built by Bianchi. I think there is a sense on the list that the Puch brand came from Austro-Daimler-Steyr. As far as I know, they made a pretty full range, including many of the Sears-branded 3-speeds and top-end 10-speeds. I suspect that this bike was made in-house. Here is a suggestion: Pull the seat post, and look at the air hole into the top tube. Every bike I've looked at from this firm or agglomeration has a trapezoidal punch-out, wide at the bottom and narrower at the top, to define the air hole. Has anyone ever seen this production quirk on a Bianchi?
If memory serves, my '65 Sears Ted Williams Sport Racing has french BB; my late, lamented, 531DB 74 Sears used shimano ends and English threading. I have not seen Italian threading. But, the 36 mm Italian bb cups are easy to tell from 35 mm. French and 1.370" British, because any non-Italian cups will try to go in very, very, loosely.
Good luck!
harvey sachs
mcLean va