So what is it?

I picked up a frameset on eBay a few weeks ago and it came with an unmarked bottom bracket.

I figured I’d pull it at my leisure and then take the frame to a shop and have the BB shell chased and faced. Well, Murphy’s Law reared its ugly head and I was unable to get the bottom bracket out. It has two holes for a pin spanner, but it wouldn’t budge. It also had splines for a removal/installation tool, but they didn’t fit any tool I have. I’ve broken pin spanners before and I wasn’t about to go all Red Green on this frame, so I know when I’m defeated – I took the thing down to the shop to have them pull it.
I went to Avenue Cyclery to have a new headset installed – it came with a Suntour XC Pro that was a little rough, and they had the Chris King headset I wanted in stock, so they got the job. He couldn’t get the BB out though, so I took it down the street to American Cyclery, the oldest bike shop in San Francisco. I figured that they would either have the right tool, or the ingenuity to get this thing out, and they did! (The ingenuity part, that is.) So, I owe them beer.

Here are some pictures of the offending bottom bracket.

You can see the rounded splines for the mystery removal tool.

As you can see, it has cartridge bearings and a pretty beefy spindle. Everything is nicely machined but there are still no markings!

I think it’s a vintage Phil Wood BB. Here’s why:

-cartridge bearings
-machined aluminum sleeve
-rounded splines for the installation/removal tool (although mine only takes 12 splines, whereas newer Phils have 18)
-hollow spindle

Without any markings, though, it’s impossible to say; but here’s a blurry photo of Phil Wood BB #1, which resembles mine. This photo is on the Classic Rendezvous website, and the BB is at Shaw’s Lightweight Cycles in Santa Clara: