Bottom Bracket Facing Guide Italian

For Italian-threaded BB shells, the facing operation runs the same sequence as BSA: chase the threads, mount a guide into the chased shell, then run the 1699 facing tool against the outer shell faces. The Italian Facing Guide is the thread-matched pair of guide inserts that handle the second step on Italian shells (M36 × 24 TPI, both sides right-hand thread).

What this piece does

A pair of Italian-pitch threaded inserts that screw into a chased Italian BB shell and present the flat coaxial mounting surface that the 1699 facing tool registers against. Both inserts are right-hand thread; one seats from each side of the shell, bottoming against the shell face. Once both are mounted, the 1699 frame passes through, and the cutter cuts each face square to the bore the guides registered against.

The guide is what turns the shell's own thread geometry into the facing tool's setup reference. The cutter does not find its own coaxial line; the guide pair establishes it, and the cutter follows. Italian shells use the same approach as BSA, with the thread spec swap and the same-direction-both-sides simplification.

Compatibility

• Italian-threaded BB shells (M36 × 24 TPI)
• Mates with the Frame for 1699 Bottom Bracket Facer 1699.2/4
• Part of a complete Bottom Bracket Facing Tool 1699 setup, with the Italian guide replacing the BSA guide pair

Specs

• Thread: 36 × 24 TPI (Italian)
• Pair: two right-hand thread inserts (both sides right-hand on an Italian shell)
• Function: threaded reference inserts for the 1699 BB facing tool, Italian-thread variant
• Tightening: use the 1699.5/4P facing-guide wrench
• Made in Slovenia by Unior

Includes: Two Italian-thread guide inserts.

Made in Slovenia, since 1919

Unior has been forging hand tools in Zreče since 1919, and is the official technical partner of multiple World Tour and downhill teams. The Italian guide variant covers the smaller fraction of threaded BB work that comes through North American shops, but the precision spec is identical to the BSA pair; the geometric reference is what the bearings care about, and the guide's mounting accuracy is what determines whether the cut comes out square. Same tight thread tolerance, same flat outer face, sized to the Italian spec.

Pro tip from our mechanics

Italian guides spend most of their bench life off the bench. A shop that services Italian shells a few times a year wants the guides stored cleanly when they're not in use; thread protection (a wipe of light oil, a labeled storage bag) is the difference between guides that thread in hand-smooth on the next Italian build and guides that fight the chase because they've picked up bench dust or oxidation in storage.

Both inserts should reach the shell face by hand-threading first; if hand-threading binds, the shell threads need another pass with the Italian tap cutters before the guide goes in. The guide is a precision reference, not a tap; forcing it past damaged thread does damage to both pieces.

Italian BB shell prep runs the same procedure as BSA with the thread-spec swap, and the BB-shell pillar walks through the sequence in order: Frame prep: threaded bottom bracket shells →