Cycling UK Forum

Afternoon all,

New to the forum and cycling and wanted to pick your brains.

I have a boardman road bike (Team Boardman 3XAISL, I think a 2012 model). It has shimano 105 everything except a FSA Gossamar crank 50/34T (170mm crank arm) and tektro rim brakes.

I want to fit a shorter crank, ideally 165mm shimano 105 but can't find one that is 10 speed. They are all 11 speed, so my quesiton is can I fit this to my bike and will it all work fine?

Thanks in advance

Kash

Yes, an 11sp chainset will be absolutely fine running 10sp.

Just note that when you buy a new chainset, you will almost certainly need a new bottom bracket in there too - without seeing your bike I'm assuming that from 2012, if it's original chainset, it'll probably have a square taper unit - a new Shimano chainset will need Hollowtech external cup BB.

A decent shop will be able to supply and fit both.

Thanks rareposter. the BB is a FSA Gossamer BB30 if that helps.

Is there any way to check if it has a square taper?

Kash wrote: ↑6 Nov 2023, 5:01pm.......the BB is a FSA Gossamer BB30 if that helps.

if you currently have a BB-30 then shimano won't fit without an adapter. No splined tools or square tapers anywhere on
FSA Gossamer BB30 last time I checked.

Thank you

When a crankset is 'BB30' it has a larger-than-usual diameter axle at 30mm. As well as your crankset being marked 'BB30', your frame probably is as well, thus denoting it has a larger-than-usual diameter bottom bracket shell in order to accomodate aforesaid axle.

A shimano crankset would be a bad idea because as pointed out it would need some kind of adapter to fit into a BB30 bottom bracket shell.

FSA would be a good choice, but note that they no longer make 'proper' BB30 cranksets. They have moved to 'BB386EVO' standard. This new standard has a 30mm axle diameter just like BB30 but is more versatile ... it would be a good choice for you frame, and it would fit any frame you might move to in the future.

Unless you get a 'proper' BB30 crankset (like second hand) as a replacement, any other type is likely to need a new bottom bracket as well ... so check with your retailer exactly what you are buying.

How to put an FSA BB386EVO crankset into a BB30 bottom bracket shell: https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/searc ... tion=click

You can fit a Shimano chainset no problems, it just needs a BB adaptor (or in this case I suspect a new BB altogether) to accommodate the 24mm axle that Shimano use.

https://wheelsmfg.com/bb30-tech

That's the American home page but Wheels Manufacturing have a UK distributor - they're my go-to for anything BB related, one of the few companies to actually accommodate the vast array of "standards" within bottom bracket design.