Zeus bottom brackets

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On this page: Zeus English x 109mm bottom bracket | Zeus English 68 x 109 bottom bracket

In 1926 Zeus began making small parts, soon moving on to component production and eventually making complete bicycles. The firm was headquartered in Eibar, in the Basque region of Spain.

Zeus made many components that were clearly Campagnolo-inspired. But Zeus enthusiasts will tell you that Campagnolo was making Zeus-derived parts and that Zeus was the inventor of the parallogram derailleur. We'll stay clear of that argument. In any case, Zeus was capable of making components displaying superb workmanship that were visually stunning.

Luis Ocaña, who won the Tour de France in 1973, rode Zeus bicycles with Zeus components in 1975 and 1976 when he raced on the Super Ser team.

Surely another casualty of surging Asian production of more advanced components than what the Europeans were making, sometime in the late 1980s Zeus went out of business.

The Spanish Orbea firm has since bought the name and makes Zeus-branded parts.

Here's a photo of a Zeus bicycle with mostly Zeus mid-range parts (the rear derailleur is SunTour).

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Zeus Criterium English bottom bracket with 109mm spindle. Used, $65.00

• We believe, but cannot be certain that is a Criterium model bottom bracket
• Produced from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s
• English threads
• 109mm spindle

Lightly used

In this picture you can see how good the bearing surfaces are.

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Zeus English 68mm x 109mm BSC bottom bracket with damaged right cup & spindle. Used, $35.00

Here are the three pieces.

Another view. The damage to the bearing surface of the fixed cup can be seen.

And a shot showing the spindle problem.