Kinda silly question, but I’ve got a cup’n’cone bottom bracket but I don’t have the plastic accordian sleeve for it. Is there a way I can improvise one? I want to install it tonight, that’s all.
Mount Franklin water bottle. Cut a strip around the somewhat ribbed area and wrap it upon itself. Use some double sidded tape if you wanna get really tech with it.
Thanks Gypsy! I knew there would be a way (hopefully you’re not joking).
I have a Dura Ace sleeve, so nyer 
I pulled apart a 1982 Claud Butler with Suntour drivetrain and there was a cardboard sleeve lining the BB shell. 3x as thick as a TP roll, the exact size of the BB ID. It survived 30 years just fine.
No joke. Like Blakey i have pulled apart a million old bikes and found heaps of different home made sleeves, none made from cardboard though :S
This wasn’t homemade, this was OG factory fitted by Holdsworth!
Thanks for the info guys. I’m gonna rock the Mt Franklin water bottle mod.
I just removed/regreased a cup/cone BB with NO sleeve. How necessary are they??? Not keen on pulling cranks off again 
Just used to divert water, dirt and dust from entering the system. Pro-longing the life of the grease and BB itself.
Thought as much. No cutouts in the bb shell so should be ok!
FYI - Water comes down via the seat tube and headset as well, so no cut outs in the BB shell can also be a bad thing and cause issues such as a siezed seat post. Is it the bike you just built for your old man? If so, realistically how often will it be out in the rain. I wouldn’t think to much.
Yeah, never ha ha unless he gets crazy into cycling again like the old days (I’ll tell him no more tubs on the street though) in which case I’ll recommend he buy a new bike lol
ive had some PVC piping in the olmo, seemd liked it did a good job.
I’m gonna use a toilet roll to save weight
corrugated plastic tube (like that on the back of your washing machine or small diamieter sprinkler/agi pipe) works a treat.
All that fuss over a seatpost and then DIY on a BB sleeve?
LOLz Ben !
do yo realise how heavy that will be if it gets wet?!
i’d go for a section of crabøn frîbé tubing. should be shitloads of it in the bin behind any bike shop right?
Hardly needed, never saw one until the 1980s, but there’s some good suggestions here if you really want to use one. I’d build it, ride it, try and find one along the way sometime, by which time the BB will inevitably need an overhaul.
If you feel that you need a sleeve you are probabaly better off just fitting a good quality sealed cartridge BB instead.
Some of the older Ultegra square taper BB’s are really quite nice or you could even try to find a sealed Syncros BB (they have a very nice Ti axle).
I am not supposed to offer parts in this section although if you need more info on either BB’s please PM me…