I’m doing a v hilly race (like crazy hills) and want to change my road bike set up to a compact crank and 11-28 cassette, just for this race. My options from the LBS are FSA Gossamer compact crank (on sale for $139) and FSA BB-6000 bottom bracket ($47) vs the alternative of a Shimano 105 compact crank ($212) and a 105 bottom bracket ($25). The 105 bottom bracket may not be necessary.
Questions:
- Is there much difference in quality between the FSA Gossamer vs 105?
- The FSA is cheaper overall, even if I don’t need the 105 BB. For just one race should I just go with teh cheaper FSA, or is the 105 superior enough to warrant the extra $s?
I will go back to my Ultegra groupset after the race.
Thks
no substantive difference.
my wife has a lot of course records on a gossamer =)
Either would work fine and I can’t imagine you could tell the difference between the two, but if you are going to keep the compact crank for future races it would be
simple for someone to change back to the Shimano 105 compact with out changing the bottom bracket for furture hilly courses. If not I would go for the cheaper Gossamer if your LBS is going to charge the small install charge for either crank.
Gossamer is good enough for Cancellara (from here):
By the way, the Gossamer is unique among FSA offerings, it is 24mm BB spindle, just like Shimano. There is no need to change BB from 105 to FSA Gossamer. Other FSA cranks are different, but the Gossamer cranks work with a Shimano BB.
Thanks - looks like the FSA is probably the way I’ll go. And I’ll ask the LBS about not needing to switch out the Shimano BB with the Gossamer crank. Appreciate the feedback.
jmh, follow up question regarding your post:
I have Shimano Ultegra (2010) on a Cervelo R2. Will this BB match the FSA Gossamer crank, or are you saying that just a 105 BB is compatible with the Gossamer? Thks. Sorry if a stupid question!
All Shimano BB are the the same 24mm crank spindle – 105, Ultegra and Dura Ace. (Some others Rotor, Chris King, and others are also 24mm as well). You should be able to remove the Shimano cranks you have now and install the Gossamer cranks without changing the BB. If your LBS tells you differently, they want to sell you something.
I’m anticipating my LBS says there are ‘width issues’ with using the FSA Gossamer crank with the Ultegra BB. But you think not?
I’d think that they need to do their homework. I’ve used/installed this combination (Gossamer with Ultegra BB) with no issues. If they tell you that, start looking for another LBS or learn how to do it yourself.
OK many thanks. Will see what they say.