Author Topic: Hello, heed help picking a crank... (Read 3832 times)

Vitaliy · « **on:** April 07, 2003, 04:35:33 am »

Hello everybody, i trhinking about getting new crank, right now I have Deore crank and its on my old ChroMol hardtail, and I still Building my Evo Frame.

So here is the question which crank would be better for me

1. '02 Truvativ Firex XR $29 @ Cambria Bike Outifiters

2. '?? Truvative SP PRO $29 @ Cambria Bike Outfitters ( I've never heard of that crank but it looks like Specialized StrongArm PRO, any Ideas?)

.

I do mostly XC, some freeriding (without big jumps) and urban riding.

By the way here is the link to that website

http://cambriabike.com/SALE/crankset/index.htm

they have some good deals there:

1.Raceface Next LP Crank Set (with carbonfiber inserts) $189

2.TruVativ Hussefelt DH4 Crank Set $84

3.FSA Carbon Pro ATB Crank Set $219

Also they have brake levers and more.

Thank you,

Vitaliy.

P.S. Here in Illinois we have snow today [smiley=upset.gif] [smiley=bleh.gif].
When is it going to get warm?

Matno · « **Reply #1 on:** April 07, 2003, 04:58:40 am »

If you're looking to go splined, I'd stay away from ISIS bottom brackets. There are too many reports of failure starting to come in because the design is poor. If you want a strong, reliable splined BB and the best shifting in the industry, you're gonna have to go Shimano. Nobody else's rings shift like Shimano's, and the octalink splined BB are very good. You can get LX's for about $50 from several places online. That is the best bang for your buck that you will likely find, IMHO.

If you need a square taper BB, Shimano also makes a hollowtech version. I got one for $12 new, but that was just lucky. Shop around.

Vitaliy · « **Reply #2 on:** April 07, 2003, 05:09:59 am »

Thank you Matno, the deore I have is Octalinlk, so if i would want to put it on my evo i would need to get bb for it, cuz the one from hardtail is too short, the Truvativ cranks both Square taper, and I already have bb on my bike I gues it's XT, but not sure need to check on it.

Do you think if its square Taper I should get it?

P.S. Which Online retailers( for LX) are you talking about?

Thank you again.

RED5 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 07, 2003, 05:31:57 am »

I personally would stay away from square taper cranks. Go with a Shimano LX octalink. It's cheap and plenty strong enough for any XC riding. As for ISIS, i cannopt comment personally yet, but I too have heard the rumours of failure/problems.

slowride · « **Reply #4 on:** April 07, 2003, 06:17:49 am »

I have both of the cranks you mentioned. The Firex SL I have is ISIS, it's a fine cheap crank... nothing special.

The other one I actually got from Cambria, and regardless of what they call it, it's a Specialized StrongArm. Also seems to be a solid crank.

If you're looking for a cheap square-taper crank, either one would be fine. They might both be made by Truvativ.

As far as ISIS, I think maybe Matno is jumping to conclusions. I've seen maybe a few reports of bearing failure and that's it. I've been on the same ISIS BB (Truvativ Sealex XR) for over a year and no problems yet, same with at least 3 other people I ride with. I take that back, 1 had a crappy Raceface Signature BB crap out on them after 4 months.

People have been saying "ISIS is dead" for months now. What's really happening is the design is being tweaked to use larger bearings. However, the interface will stay the same, and the advantages of the spline are well known (both Shimano and ISIS). If you're buying new expensive cranks, definitely get some kind of spline over square taper.

###EDIT###
Just searched back on the Drivetrain forum over at MTBR. Looks like ISIS might be in more trouble than I thought. So, might be better to hold off on that one. If I were you, instead of buying new square taper cranks, I would buy a new BB for the Shimano cranks, and put those on the EVO. Then, if you decide to rebuild the hardtail, you can buy the cheapest square-taper cranks you can find. In my experience, Shimano BBs are about the best out there, as far as durability and reliability go.

Matno · « **Reply #5 on:** April 07, 2003, 08:18:03 am »

Quote

P.S. Which Online retailers( for LX) are you talking about?

Well, Shimano kind of muddied the water by changing to a new bottom bracket for the LX cranks. If you use an ES-70 BB (which was for LX and XT) then you need the M-571 cranks. The newer LX cranks for '03 use a different BB and are no longer compatible with the ES-70. (Stupid on Shimano's part). The newer M-572 cranks can only be used with the ES-51 BB. The ES-51 uses lower quality bearings and is only $3 cheaper. Bad news. The good news is that you can still get the old cranks just about everywhere. Also, Shimano really does make the best BB's in the industry, so you're probably still better off with the ES-51 than an ISIS BB. (From what I understand, the ISIS design just doesn't have enough room for properly sized bearings. Chris King did the research and decide the design was inherently too weak for their stamp of approval).

Nashbar and Cambria both have the M571's for $59.

JensonUSA has the M572's for the same price.

As for the Specialized cranks, my bro-in-law's family has a few of them on their bikes (his brother used to work for Specialized). They are durable and work fine, but like everything else, they don't shift quite as smoothly or as crisply as Shimano. The difference is subtle, but if you ride both a lot, you would notice it.

GET · « **Reply #6 on:** April 07, 2003, 08:38:01 am »

For my two cents, I second the pre-2003 LX splined cranksets with the ES-70 BB. Best bang for the buck is right. Get 'em while you can. I can't imagine what Shimano was thinking with the new BBs [smiley=disbelief.gif].

slowride · « **Reply #7 on:** April 07, 2003, 09:00:32 am »

I was about to say that I've never noticed one chainring being better or worse than the other when I realized that it's been a very long time since I had any Shimano chainrings... the only ones I ever had were Biopace. [smiley=dead.gif]

I dunno... perfect chainring shifting is lower than price on my priority list, although I do run a bash ring istead of a big ring and climb most of what we have around here in the middle ring. I can count the amount of times I was in the little ring in the last 2 years on 1 hand.

Can you truly notice a difference with the new ramped chainrings from Raceface and the like?

numbnuts · « **Reply #8 on:** April 07, 2003, 10:18:54 am »

I agree with much of the above, definately the shimano Lx comments, best value. I have been toying with the idea of just using the middle ring and scrapping the big and granny. My friend just did it and seems not be suffering at all.I don't think that there is that much difference in the shifting with the various cranksets I've used, I am more concerned with durability.

Carbon_Angus · « **Reply #9 on:** April 07, 2003, 12:22:49 pm »

i am going to second or third or fourth the pre-2003 Shimano LX splined crank for XC riding. best bang for the buck and i can tell the diff between my XT splined crank on my Oz and the LX non splined on my singlespeed....i also did a crank/bb swap on a hardtail going from taper to splined...again felt the difference.

i know there are some high end taper BB (Phil Wood) that are bombproof and extremely stiff, you just can't beat the price of the shimano LX crank/splined bb

Matno · « **Reply #10 on:** April 07, 2003, 03:10:18 pm »

There's an LX crank with a bash ring instead of a big ring on eBay right now. I don't have the URL right now, but I'm sure if anybody's interested, it shouldn't be too hard to find...

Scott · « **Reply #11 on:** April 08, 2003, 03:22:58 am »

I've run a set of bearings for my square taper Action-Tec b.b. for about eight years-plenty durable and about as light a setup as you'll find at 143 grams or so. 180 pounds + it's not meant for, but couple that with a plain old LX or Truvativ crank with alloy chainrings & bolts and it'll be close in weight to combos costing hundreds of dollars more. At what rider weight is the added stiffness of the new bb of use? 150, 180? I put out about a third of a h.p. so don't notice any flex.

Vitaliy · « **Reply #12 on:** April 08, 2003, 06:24:02 pm »

Thank You everybody!

I pull out my bb today, nd found out it's Shimano BB UN72 (242gr Vs BB - ES71 260gr)

So I decided to keep it and got Specialized StrongArm PRO (683gr)

.

I will probably upgrade it, to LX or XT by the end of the Summer. I just need to get a cheaper crank now, because I want to finish the bike as soon as possible, so I can ride it. We had some nice weather last week, but now we it's about 3-5" of snow outside, and it's in April can you believe it?

I also ordered SRAM 9.0 SL shifters set (they will be much better than my curent Shimano Deore shifter/brake levers combo) Universal Cycles have them on sale right now at http://www.universalcycles.com/x_specials.htm, they are only $29.99 here is the picture

It's an older style but I think it looks even better than new-white ones, it matches carbon fiber swingarm. I also got Avid Speed Dial 2.0L Brake Levers and some LX brake cable/housing, to change my weared out deore ones.

Now I need to get Rear derailleur, I'm thinking about SRAM 9.0sl with same carbonfiber finish, maybe Sachs Plasma or Sachs D.I.R.T. Quartz, there is couple on ebay right now, so I will try to get eather one, any one used any of them?

Later,

gonna go to bed now [smiley=yawn.gif]. It's 1.25 am here.

Scott · « **Reply #13 on:** April 09, 2003, 03:25:28 am »

Those are good shifters-very light and equal to the newer white ones. The carbon rear derailleurs are not as durable though they look good-reports of failure may be due to rider error more than a weak design, often stuff needs to be over-engineered for our mistakes in the field. I think the Plasma r.d. was slightly better. Be certain you have the right chain length by installing it then removing your rear shock spring, putting the shifters into big/big gears and SLOWLY move the swingarm through its arc to check that there is enough chain slack. Leave just enough to avoid snapping off the rear derailleur, the shorter your chain the better your shifting

Mike_Farris · « **Reply #14 on:** April 09, 2003, 03:44:41 am »

Vitaly,

Keep in mind that since you've bought 9.0 shifters, you HAVE to use a ESP rear mech... the Plasma D.I.R.T. derailleur is compatible with Shimano type shifters only.

Here's the deal: the 9.0, 9.0 sl, 7.0, XO, etc. rear derailleurs require a shifter that pulls a different amount of cable than typical. SRAM calls it 1:1 actuation... for every inch of cable your shifter pulls, the derailleur moves one inch... or something like that. The ESP system is compatible with regular cassettes and chainrings, so no worries there. You can also use Shimano front mechs with the ESP shifters, so all you'll need is a rear derailleur.

Think of it this way... any SRAM/Sachs product with a "word" type name (Attack, Plasma, etc.) is Shimano compatible. Any SRAM product with a numerical type name (9.0, XO) is ESP only.

I've been running ESP on my bikes for a while now, and the system works great. The shifting action is much crisper and lighter than running twist shifters with Shimano rear mechs. You'll definately notice the difference.

Enjoy the new bike! (know what you mean about the weather... I'm in Detroit, so I'm in the same boat as you...
[smiley=dead.gif])

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Author Topic: Hello, heed help picking a crank... (Read 3832 times)