Bottom bracket for framebuilding This question has got me hugely excited about building a bamboo bike. I've found some instructions and tips here and here.

I plan to find/buy an old bike to use as a donor. I think I'll use the head tube, forks, stem (basically the whole front end) from the donor bike to minimise compatibility issues. I'll use the dropouts from a bmx, since I'm building a fixie and it has horizontal dropouts.

Which leaves the bottom bracket. I could buy a new one from a framebuilding supply site or use the one from the donor bike.

My questions:


What do I need to consider for the bottom bracket? Should I use a cartridge style bearing and buy some single speed cranks?
What are the odds that my old donor bike will have a bottom bracket shell that will fit with the new bottom bracket bearings? Do I need to buy a bottom bracket shell from a framebuilding site?
Are there any other complications I've overlooked?
I would agree with Daniel about the cartridge style BB. Just make sure whatever cranks you get that they're compatible. One thing to think about with bonding, if you plan to use carbon fibre you will need to do some form of barrier layer to protect the steel, otherwise overtime the carbon and steel will have a chemical reaction that causes corrosion.  Applies to any carbon and steel bonds, not just the BB shell.