Holdsworthy 'Allez' (Takagi) chainsets

[Brucey]

In about 1984 or 1985 I stumbled into my LBS and enquired about a triple chainset, because a tour to the alps was in the offing. They offered me an 'Allez' chainset; I'd seen these chainsets fitted to various Holdsworthy bikes (Claud Butlers and Holdsworths mainly) mostly as doubles and whilst it wasn't my first choice it seemed OK to my eyes; not a TA triple, but then I couldn't afford one of those anyway, whereas this one was more like it, price-wise, being a bit strapped for cash at the time: I think it was about £30, including BB. I nearly didn't buy it because of the ring sizes fitted (which seemed a bit odd to me) and because the chainrings had odd bolt circle measurements I hadn't previously encountered. If I could have found one I liked at the right price I would happily have bought a 144/something triple, since I already had a fair stash of 3/32" 144BCD chainrings from my road bike and various fixed gear bikes.

But 'that'll do' I thought, and for no other reason than it might involve spending money otherwise I decided to give the rings that were fitted a shot; 50-44-32 it was, then. And the 'funny bolt circles' were 5x 110/74mm; rare then but they soon became almost ubiquitous. Well that chainset has been on at least three different framesets since then and through it all is has been my main touring chainset. And whilst I swapped the 32T for a 30T sometimes I never did bother to change the other chainring sizes, but instead came to understand and appreciate the ones I had.

Today I was sorting out some stuff and I came across my 'spare chainset' which I picked up at a cycle jumble a few years ago; the same cranks but configured as a 48-36 double.

Holdsworthy 'Allez' (Takagi) chainset, 48-36T

Holdsworthy 'Allez' (Takagi) chainset, 48-36T

You can see that the 36T ring has a substantial chamfer on it, because it is meant to be the middle ring of a triple. I might yet fit a third ring to this and make it a 48-36-24 triple.

Whilst cleaning them I noticed the words "Takagi Japan". I must have seen this before but it probably didn't register then. Takagi were an independent Japanese manufacturer of cranks and according to this page

https://www.sscycleworks.com/components/cranksets-Takagi.html

had been making cranks since 1897. They made cranks under their own Takagi brand and 'three arrows' brand as well as for Holdsworthy (I didn't know this then but their "Allez!" brand name had been applied to all kinds of third party products Holdsworthy sold for decades) but their main outlet was probably production for shimano. So if you bought an early set of Dura-Ace cranks (for example) you got Takagi manufactured cranks. [They made some pretty nice BMX cranks too, and even shimano got in on the act; somewhere I have a set of DA 7200 cranks which were sold as a BMX chainset; they are anodised bright red! ] Sometime in the 1980s Takagi were bought lock stock and barrel by shimano and the Takagi brand was dropped. Shimano started 'making' some really rather good 110/74 triple chainsets and the rest is history. In reality very similar cranks (give or take) had been on sale with Takagi branding (eg in the US) or with 'Allez' branding in the UK for some years.

When Deore XT 'deer head' was one of the best gearsets available, not everyone was convinced by shimano's dyna-drive cranksets. A lot of bike manufacturers fitted a Takagi 110/74 triple instead for the US market. There were models with names such as 'Tourney XT' and 'Tourney GS', which sound like shimano models but they weren't, they were Takagi models. They come up for sale in the USA fairly often eg

https://thea.com/Cranksets-Takagi-Tourney/

One of which is almost identical to the "Allez" branded cranks. Some of these are dead ringers for sugino branded models too; whether there is any link there or not I don't know. It seems Sugino, Specialized, SR-Sakae (SunTour) and Takagi all came out with very similar cranksets at about the same time.

So it isn't clear to me who 'invented' the 110/74 arrangement but Takagi were certainly in it almost from the start. And whilst I was almost looking down my nose at my 'Allez' chainset, BITD, in reality I was falling on my feet; If I'd have had more money I would probably have ended up with something worse....!

cheers

[NickJP]

When building up a touring tandem in the early 1980s, I bought a Sugino AT tandem crankset which used the 110/74 bolt circle. That was the first crank I came across using those BCDs.

[pwa]

As late as 1989 I went into a LBS to ask their advice on gears for a new touring bike and nobody thought to mention to me the possibility of a triple. At that time I didn't know such things existed, and so I ended up with a double and rode the Alps with a smallest ring considerably bigger than I needed. I can't be sure but it was probably a bog standard 42. And sprockets in those days did not go as big as they do now, so I was forced to stop "to admire the view" on many Alpine climbs, with all the camping gear. I had only just started to take an interest in quality bike stuff so my knowledge was somewhere above zero but not beyond superficial. I now find it quite amusing to think of me and my future wife slogging up long climbs on gears that were higher than they needed to be. Triples were out there but I hadn't seen them.

[Brucey]

Takagi BMX cranks, circa 1980



Apparently they are well regarded in BMX circles.

cheers

[peetee]

SR Sakae also used the 110/74 pattern. My first MTB, a circa 1985 Ridgeback had one fitted. Somewhere along the line I fitted an SR crank to my road bike too and had a stock of spare chainrings, some of which I subsequently fitted to the Deore crankset on my next (and current) MTB. I think, though I’m not certain, that it presently sports a 46t SR ring purchased in the late 80’s.
While the SR rings were compatible, one curious oddity was the size of the inner ring fixing bolts. A small, shouldered, coarse thread which was incompatible with anything in my bits bin. Odd because the cranks were plenty big enough to support a standard bolt.

[Brucey]

examples of other (much older) 'Allez!" branded products;





cheers

[cycle tramp]

Takagi BMX cranks, circa 1980



Apparently they are well regarded in BMX circles.

cheers

Having used a frame set with a BMX bottom bracket, and seeing the conversion kit shown in the bottom right hand corner, I've often wondered why it the BMX bottom bracket was never adopted for frames either intended for load carrying on expedition use - the larger bearings certainly seemed solid whenever I stood on the pedals.

[jimlews]

My first bike shop enquiry after a triple chainset was met with a response along the lines of 'You don't want one of those, lad. They are for folks with weak legs and you'll be forever fiddling with the gears'. I got my triple chainset but not from that shop.