Cycling UK Forum

Chunky crank arms. Blobby crank spiders. Even Campy cranks aren't immune. What happened to all the minimal, elegant cranksets?

What a relief.....I thought it was just me.I hate the damn things,well,the look of Shimano at least.I like the ease of removal to clean,even though the bearings are not as durable as old style 3 piece cranksets with recessed bearings.There must be some nicer 2 piece designs out there?

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and when the beholder gets older, he thinks wistfully of the beauties he knew when he was young.

matt_twam_asi wrote: ↑21 Feb 2024, 7:03pm Chunky crank arms. Blobby crank spiders. Even Campy cranks aren't immune. What happened to all the minimal, elegant cranksets?

er, they all broke or were deemed to be insufficiently stiff.

One of the things which has happened is that frame designers are now able to vary the composite lay-up so as to provide more stiffness where it matters for pedalling whist providing a comfy ride too. Chainsets probably need to keep up in the race for improved stiffness. For myself, I am somewhat less concerned with the demise of elegant chainsets as I am about the imminent demise of elegant pedalling.

BikinGreen chainsets are available new and are a lot less... um ah, "surgically enhanced" than most contemporary models are - I mean from the main stream offerings, and conveniently come with more suitably sized chainrings 46t anyone? for touring and randonneuring... even though they are not 'completely' beautiful in the way the slender, polished and and elegant Italian and French models of the 70's were...

cyclop wrote: ↑21 Feb 2024, 7:15pmWhat a relief.....I thought it was just me.I hate the damn things,well,the look of Shimano at least.I like the ease of removal to clean,even though the bearings are not as durable as old style 3 piece cranksets with recessed bearings.There must be some nicer 2 piece designs out there?

Sugino OX look OK. They use the same 24mm axle size as Shimano cranks. And BETD still make the nice looking Middleburn RO2 cranks, that also use a 24mm axle.

Here's a Sugino OX 801 I installed on one of my wife's bikes and an RO2 on one of my bikes:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Most cranksets can be improved with a course of drillium.

Just seen the price of 2 piece Sugino OX....... ......even used......

rjb wrote: ↑21 Feb 2024, 10:37pm Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Most cranksets can be improved with a course of drillium.
drillium_crank_48_t_square_tap_1683962809_4300ab6c_progressive.jpg

Of course,any weight lost/performance gain offset by increased turbulence around the drill holes I think

The Spa cranksets are good.

I have a unused FSA Gimondi Crankset sat in its original box at home.
The lack of modern silver components to complement means it will probably never get used.

I use an old beaten up one my commuter, which otherwise has all black finishes.

( ah....perfect topic for a retrogrouch......silver 90's shimano kit .........the Zenith.......Carbon is non-recycleable evil and black kit is just dull with potential to look more rubbish when scratched......21st century is very disappointing so far)

I quite like the Spa touring set.



So much so I downgraded 105 to a silver set with black highlights when they built my bike. Plus you get to choose the rings they put on.

cyclop wrote: ↑21 Feb 2024, 7:15pm What a relief.....I thought it was just me.I hate the damn things,well,the look of Shimano at least.I like the ease of removal to clean,even though the bearings are not as durable as old style 3 piece cranksets with recessed bearings.There must be some nicer 2 piece designs out there?

Too right. Everything is overstyled these days - seemingly by either Darth Vader or the Power Rangers. Horrid.