I have a Felt B2 with the Krono 54/42T crankset and I’ve been having trouble getting it to shift from the small to large ring. When at a higher cadence if I shift it will just rub against the large ring, if I slow down my rev a bit it will eventually go over. I’m pretty sure I have the derailluer upper and lower bounds set right, could this be a problem with the chainring design or an adjustment? Anyone else run into this?
On another note, I live in a pretty hilly area and tend to do a lot of hill repeats and hill riding. I was thinking of going from a 11/23 to a 12/25 or 12/27 rear cassette. Any recommendations here?
The FSA rings aren’t ramped like Shimano and are a problem to shift although 54/42 should work. I’ve heard of several people experiencing the same challenge. See if you can get a 54 (or larger) ring from Shimano. I’ll bet it will shift just fine.
Thanks for the advise. I took it down to my LBS and had them take a look at it as well, checked the alignment of the FD and what not. They came to the same conclusion about the ramping issue and no matter what they tried couldn’t get it to work right. I have a dura ace crankset and BB on order. I wonder why Felt decided to go with the FSA crankset that obviously has problems, especially on a $3500 bike.
I have the same bike/setup and I always have trouble shifting up to the big ring. I feel like I have to grab the lever and pull with all my might to shift rings. Also, I tend to drop the chain easily when shifting into the small ring (have to be VERY careful which gear I’m in in the back). For this reason, I tend to do all my rides in the big ring so I dont’ have to shift! Sadly, this is a bad tactic here in Colorado.
yeah, thats a bummer, if you haven’t had it too long I would check with your shop and see if they would replace the FSA with Shimano. I wonder if felt has anything to say about this problem?
Oh, and by the way, as an answer to your second question, I have SRAM 11-26 on my training wheels for those hill climbs. Those extra 3 teeth help a lot in the hills! But I still get the 11 for the flats and downhills.
Curious - is this a 9-speed or 10-speed installation? I ask because I installed the Krono on my TT bike setup with Dura Ace 10-speed and I have yet to have any problems shifting from the 42 to 54 of couese I am riding in Houston and typically only have to shift from the small to large chain ring once during the warmup!
I don’t particularly like the idea of the Krono crankset. The Q-Factor is high, the shifting is sub par for a lot of people (I’ve adjusted one for a friend, and that came out fine. I have a feeling it is something that can be fixed). When choosing an aero crankset, I went with the Vigorelli instead of the Krono. I put it on only when the terrain warrants it, and the rest of the time I run a compact FSA Energy on the same BB. The switchout takes only a few minutes unless I go all the way and remove the front shifter/cables/der.
I previously had the Dura Ace on this same rig, and while it shifted better, I didn’t find it particularly fun to climb on. N=1 though, as I am a high cadence rider in the 105 range for most TT efforts.
its a 10 speed. I don’t know what it is with the FSA krono but I adjusted it twice myself, and just to make sure I had the LBS do it too. 1 out of 10 times it would shift up as it should but the others it would require me to slow my cadence. I’m betting its a quality control issue since its not an across-the-board problem. Being in Austin I’m in and out of my big ring constantly. I’m going with a DA crankset and BB just because I know it will work.
It’s not necessarily harder to climb in, but the bigger your front gears are, the bigger the rear cogset has to be to compensate. Having a bunch of plate-sized rear cogs means there are bigger jumps in between each gear, and in the end it can be very difficult to find the right gear for the condition you are riding in.
I have the exact same problem with my QR Seduza and FSA crank. I’m going to swap out for a Dura-Ace big ring because of it. Its brutal when I crest a climb and can’t accelerate for 10-15 seconds because I have to cycle through my gears to get to a small cog and then make the jump to the big ring, and even then it takes a few rotations before it catches.
Like you, I pretty much spend all my time in my big ring to avoid the little ring / big ring shifting issue (unless I’m climbing).
I don’t mean to be an ass, but the difference between something aero, and something non-aero, is usually the ‘aero’ part, right?
According to Cees Beers (of ADA fame), the aero crankset really does make a difference. I have not tested this myself, as the power meter I borrow for my testing is an SRM pro. I am planning to get myself an ISIS Ergomo sometime soon though, and maybe after that I might be able to design an experiment to show an improvement with an aero crankset.
Dave Z and the CSC squad run them. Astana is using something hacked together by the BMC engineers. It must help a little, but I doubt anyone has reliable numbers.
you’re probably right, to be honest thats a big part of the reason I went that way and not to another areo set, better or worse its proven and reliable.