Crankin

Looking at chainset/crank & chainring options for my Kumo 650B rando.
The current plan is a set of Sugino Mighty Tour cranks with 48/34 rings.
Wondering if I don’t want something a little lower gearing wise.
Maybe something like a 44/30 or 42/28.

Middleburn have a very sweet looking 110/58 BCD rig but I’m not sure how current FDs would run with a wide ring spread.
Otherwise Sugino have a 110/74 BCD setup which could also work.

Thoughts, thinking out loud appreciated.

The middleburn’s are so hot,
Would campy ultra shift handle them?

I had the Sugino 0x108080 or whatever they are, really nice, 46-30 (with middleburn ring) shifted by a road mech fine.

Cheap & good …
Pre-Order - Assorted lengths IRD Compact Crank 46/30 New!

Not so cheap and good …
Compass Bicycles: Cranks

Much depends on the look you want, q-factor, what the other parts are, gearing systems, # of speeds etc

More importantly, I’d ask Keith. He’s building the bike so will have thought a great deal about the bike he’s building for you and I’m sure would have a range of options and help wade you through to find what’s best for you.

We’re all gonna pick shit we like and don’t have your big picture in mind. Sometimes free advice is shit advice !!

I have a set of Surly MrWhirly’s gathering dust…

There have been a couple of prompt for this.
Those OX801D cranks that Mike had and then finding that Midleburn are doing this too.
Rivbikes have a Sugino triple setup with two ring but as Ben points out, q-factor comes into play.

Keith & I have talked about the rest of the running gear & it’s silver Athena 11 speed.
So I’d like the cranks to be more like road cranks than MTB so a length of 172.5mm & reason Q-factor.
155mm of the IRDs might be ok. 145mm of those Suginos would be better.

Which spindle & spider to you have for the Mr Whirly cranks Sime?

FWIW - the MAP tested in the latest Bicycle Quarterly was running an RX100 FD on a 46/30 Rene Herse crank.

Maybe 50.4 (TA/Stronglight/Sugino/VO) would give a good low Q and run whatever rings? VO are making 50.4 rings, although they’ve got VO laser etched into them.

OX601d are cheaper and just as good. Easy to get rings, nice and stiff, shift fine with C11 levers and 48-32. Takes shimano BBs too.

94/58 MTB cranks cost practically nothing, nice rings from raceface and middleburn available so you can run 94 double with a shorter BB or 94-58 and ditch the outer if you need super low gears.

I’m guessing the Athena FD might have some issues shifting from a ring as small as 30T.
The OX601D certainly has the asthetic that I’m looking for and using a standard 24mm external BB is a big win.
Do you have a recommended supplier of this?
I think Alexscycle used to have them but not at the moment. Renehersestore has them in stock.

A 94BCD double would more than cover what I want and both the TA Carmina and the Middleburn road cranks have this covered.

I did pickup a set of Deore LX 94/58 cranks from MikeD recently so I could get a 30T ‘inner’ ring for that and run it as a double on the Soma DC and see how that works with a couple of different FDs. The Soma has DT shifters so will shift anything within reason.

Do you REALLY need a 30? C11 can go to 29 in the rear. 32:29 is ~29", you only get to ~28 with the 30t ring.

If you want 1:1 gearing, get a triple or don’t use campy. (Shimano 10sp/9sp mech or sram10/med cage plus xx-34

I’m not sure if I REALLY need a 30T. The cassette I have is a C11 12/29 so that’s sorted.
Fat tyres, uphill on dirt roads with ‘old man’ knees means a low gearing but MAYBE not 1:1 (or as close to)

I don’t like Shimano shifters so that’s not an option.

Found this which indicates that people are running Campy 11 speed with the OX801D chainset.
Just pushing the two rings 0.5mm closer together for the narrower chain.