I just took a look at my daughter's first "real bike", a Norco Gypsy from the 1980s that's still in the basement (16" girl's frame, 24" wheels) and the BB is the standard 68mm width, although the cottered cranks are just 6". Doesn't look like this one has a narrow BB.
It really looks like we need a database of correct spindles for bikes of various vintages. I have a 1980 Sutherland's 3rd Edition with a table on English cottered axle interchangeability and it just confuses me. However, the very first entry shows a 43mm centre dimension and a 117.5mm overall length for "Miniature cycles", so that must be the funny one you have. (Don't know how they measure overall length, maximum overall, or to the end of the straight part, not including the domed end, but I'd guess the latter.)
I recently acquired a 1951 Claud Butler frame that came complete with a cottered BB, so I thought that was one less component I had to worry about, but it turned out that while the cups and lockring were probably the original TDC, the spindle was a 147mm long YST-420 (Japanese?) one put in backwards for single speed use. I got 4 more spindles on eBay, three BSA ones, about 115-118mm long and an Asian one. I guess I still don't know what will work untill I build it up.
Anyway, according to Sutherland's, the centre dimension for English (except Raleigh) is 52.5mm and the BB width is 66-67mm, although often listed as 68mm. For French it's 54.5-56.5mm, Italian 56.5-58.0mm (varies), Japanese 52-53mm or 55mm. For most cottered on-topic Raleighs it's 55.0mm. There's another page on just French cottered axles and another on German, Italian and Japanese that may include what you have, but there's just too many variations to type out. (If you're really interested, contact me off-list and I'll scan them for you.)
John Betmanis Woodstock, ON Canada
At 10:12 PM 09/12/2007 -0500, Harvey Sachs wrote
>I'm setting up an early 50s bike with appropriate parts, so this meant
>diving into the collection of bottom bracket spindles (AKA axles). Some
>came from a defunct bike shop. What struck me was the range of spacings
>between the internal cones. I tried to measure from the high point
>where concave bearing survace meets the flat shoulder, to the same point
>on the other side.
>
>Here are some of the variations I found:
>
>43 mm cone-to-cone
>119 mm long
>tagged #6AB
>
>49 mm ctc
>131 mm long
>tagged EXH
>
>52 mm ctc
>mostly 135 mm long
>tags include TDC (on a 52/131), BW 2C, F113, 11-58 (assumed to be date
>stamp), D670c or D670o
>
>57 mm ctc
>137 mm long
>tags include ATB (in triangle, with T like cross), G, A-166C, Raleigh
>16GC, FL 40, and 130 I.W. (I.W. upside down re 130).
>
>Yes, the relative offset of the right side varies, some seem to have
>enough length for a "full gear case."
>
>So, the questions:
>What were the super-narrow cones for? Some kind of juvenile bike with a
>narrow bracket?
>
>Were the 52s for 65 mm. BB shells, and the 57 for 68 mm? (Funny thing is
>that one of the 57s is stamped Magistroni, which I'd expect to go on a
>70 mm BB). I didn't check diameters on these critters.
>
>Ah! I forgot: the ones with herons I take to be Raleigh (duh!), and the
>one or two with BW I take to be Bayliss Wiley.
>
>Any help would be most appreciated, so I can label the bags with these
>sorted but still dirty (sordid?) spindles. And find other homes for the
>ones that are for kidbikes, Raleigh 20s, and other things I just don't
>find myself interested in.
>
>
>harvey sachs
>mcLean VA