Hi, I asked this some time ago, but does anyone know of a set of compact cranks in tapered square bolt pattern available in 172.5 ? I am assuming that the soon to be released campy version will fit the requirement, but not in $$$. Please post links to where I can buy online.
The reason why I ask is that I want to get a pair for some major hill climbing in the Alpes this summer, but want to stay with tapered square since that is my regular cranks as well as Powercranks use. Any help would be appreciated.
Check out Rivendell Bicycles, they often have some Sugino or Ritchey cranks that meet that description, or some of the mtb triples work if you take out the small chainring. Hope that helps. G
there is no way, at least on my bike, that Powercranks will work properly with a 102mm Campy BB. first off, they take JIS, not ISO (Campy is ISO). you can put a JIS crank on an ISO BB since the taper is smaller (a gross simplification). it may not draw on far enough, might be a bit loose, don’t know since I’ve never tried it. put ISO cranks on a JIS BB, and you had better not remove the cranks, since they will have been deformed by the BB. well, you could remove them, but don’t put them on an ISO BB. my powercranks take a 110mm JIS BB, which is about (I think???) what road doubles drilled for JIS square taper take. I believe the Stronglights will take JIS, but it’s as likely as not that I’m wrong.
Is there a reason you cna’t change your BB… I mean an ultegra BB can’t be more than 40 dollars… If you have your heart set on a compact crank it would be the easiest way of going…
Then again if you have some odd ball bike like my Klein with a press in BB you might be out of luck… Although the Europeans are much better about this kind of stuff (specifically making stuff that can be retrofit so to speak) you might want to check with some euro bike sites
Or you can look in to a BB that does not need threads…Mavic (had) one but I bet you can still find one new. I think Chris King, and or Phil Wood has one.
Mavic used to make one and Stronglight currently does. Chris King doesn’t make BBs and Phil requires you to thread the BB shell. In fact the Mavic and Stronglight BBs required that the shell get chamfered to accept the lockrings, and if you are going to cut the frame, why not just thread it. You’d also still be stuck with a Square taper BB and right back to the same interface problem you had with the press in BB in the first place.
Threading the frame Italian allows you to use Octalink and ISIS BBs which isn’t possible with Mavic, Phil, Stronglight threadless, etc.