I have the good fortune of working with Ritchey. Their cranks should be available the third week of February. I have a sample of the crankset and it is going to be very nice. It is quite light and probably the easiest crank to retrofit to an exsisting Shimano equipped bike.

I've heard great things about the Stronglight cranks. I recently came accross some older Campagnolo 110 BCD cranks in 170 mm I'm installing on my wife's bike. they have 52/36 rings and are drilled (but not spaced) for an inner ring.

Ritchey's will be worth the wait.

-SD

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

You don't need to pay $300+ for the FSA carbon compact. Bulltek will sell you the FSA Energy compact for $160. Design exactly the same, only in Aluminum.

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Proud member of Team Tooth Pick (TTP): like a leaf in the wind.

If you want a pair of the lightest and arguably the best compact cranks, yes, you do have to pay.

Your statement holds true for any top 'o' line equipment. Decide what is important and what you are going to use the bike for. Compare the cost of the "wish list" to your budget and spend accordingly. I don't spend the extra money on Carnac shoes, but for hilly courses when I am trying to lighten my bike as best as possible, the FSA carbons were an easy decision.

Brian

According to the site its only available in Feb, are they available now?

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Simple Simon
Where's the Fried Chicken??

I have received two sets of Stronglight compacts. Going to put them on both my road and tri bikes for spring. Will testify that these are a very high qualility and a great value for the money. I had to order them online from a website in France but was amazed how quickly they arrived. The only problem was the BB's were back ordered and I had to wait about a month for them.

They use a square taper BB so you can either use a Sora/Tiagra BB or you have to buy the Stronglight BB's which are very high quality. They aren't compatible with the higher end Shimano BB's. For this reason, I'd have to agree with Supe Dave and you might want to wait for the Ritchey's.

I can't justify the extra cost of the FSA carbon. Extra performance from a few grams lighter?

"They use a square taper BB so you can either use a Sora/Tiagra BB or you have to buy the Stronglight BB's"

FSA makes square hole BBs. i've ridden stronglight cranks with FSA BBs for years. just make sure you get the right axle length. otherwise, no problem.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman