Pub Bike - Part 27?

I'm very much the amateur when it comes to building bikes. I've never worked as a mechanic nor taken a training course. Trial and error has been my main way of figuring out how things work - making mistakes and learning from them (sometimes). YouTube videos have come in handy, as have books ('Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance' and Park Tool's 'Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair' being two favourites). Teaching myself is how I've gone about much of my learning full stop. I had two lousy A-level chemistry teachers and ended up teaching myself. I hit the ground running at university, as a consequence. I could get along fine independently. Learning is a big part of my life; I hope to never stop.

I now have all the bits for the The Pub Bike - its alias, The-Bike-That-Never-Gets-Built may soon be no more. The missing piece was a set of wheels. Being a Stumpjumper frame from the 80s, 26” ones were required. I bought some cheap on eBay (on the cheap being part of the ethos of the build). “Run true but notchy” the description. Item as described - my feedback. Well almost - the front wheel ran smoothly, it was the rear that didn't. The hub is a Shimano Exage one, cup and cone, and perfectly serviceable. 

If only all bikes parts, in fact stuff in general, were so easily repaired. If something exists, it should be used and designed to be reused. Not overly complicated, no built in obsolescence. I removed the axle and ball bearings, gave everything a good clean, repacked with new grease, and voila, a smooth running wheel. The rims are Alesa, a Belgium brand, and that's the sum total of my knowledge of the brand.

The frame had come with a stuck bottom bracket. My last-tool-of-resort, The Persuader (a length of scaffolding), made short work of it. Having re-tapped the threads, I expected the new bottom bracket to screw in with ease. Let's try the left hand side cup first - going in nicely, almost there….hang on it won't budge any further and about 5 mm of it is sitting proud of the shell!

Eyeing up the inside of the shell, with the cup removed, the width of the threads looked smaller than the width of the cup. What to do, tap out the shell further? Let’s have a root around in my bottom bracket collection. Turns out, left hand cups come in different widths.

The white plastic one and the metal one both come from a 68 mm bottom bracket but are of significantly different width. The plastic one fitted a treat.

I wasn't sure on the length of bottom bracket to use. I put in a 110 mm one, slipped on the crankset and clearance was fine with respect to the chain stays. Chain line won't be an issue, as shifting will be friction, but will the chain hit the mudguards in the lowest gear? We'll find out. Trial and error as always.