Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Dig these old cranks.

So I was home in Sacramento this past weekend, and I decided to pull out my dad's old road bike, to fix up so I'll have a bike for when I'm there. The bike is a C.Itoh, which is a pretty crappy brand, but check out the cranks it came with. Sugino Maxy's from the Early 70's. and 165mm, to boot, which I though was unheard of on road bikes. I can't decide if I want to throw them on a fixie or what, but you gotta appreciate the funky design.

So I was home in Sacramento this past weekend, and I decided to pull out my dad's old road bike, to fix up so I'll have a bike for when I'm there. The bike is a C.Itoh, which is a pretty crappy brand, but check out the cranks it came with. Sugino Maxy's from the Early 70's. and 165mm, to boot, which I though was unheard of on road bikes. I can't decide if I want to throw them on a fixie or what, but you gotta appreciate the funky design.

no way! C. Itoh did some pretty rad stuff if i remember correctly. i think kabuki was affiliated with C. Itoh and they had some sweet rides.

Really? I'm just going off Sheldon Brown's site, as well as some vintage bike forums. Either way, I am in the process of restoring the bike, which hasn't been touched in 25+ years.

i think you should leave the crank set on it, and build a conversion! the color of the frame is tight.

some old stuff might not be "top of the line", but if it's functional and cool, why not keep it?

what kind of chainrings are those? can you even find new ones for it?

is the outer ring built in to the crank? it looks that way.

Isn't C.Itoh pre-Bridgestone Bridgestone?

i'd use 'em. see if there's a way to lose that inner ring and run a big ass cog in the rear.

Isn't C.Itoh pre-Bridgestone Bridgestone?

Kinda, C.Itoh was the name of the trading company that first brought Bridgstone bikes to the US and marketed under that brand. So yes, they are pre- Bridgestone USA, Bridgestones.

So I was home in Sacramento this past weekend, and I decided to pull out my dad's old road bike, to fix up so I'll have a bike for when I'm there. The bike is a C.Itoh, which is a pretty crappy brand, but check out the cranks it came with. Sugino Maxy's from the Early 70's. and 165mm, to boot, which I though was unheard of on road bikes. I can't decide if I want to throw them on a fixie or what, but you gotta appreciate the funky design.

The Sugino Maxy was the first "affordable" cotterless crank ever, brought cotterless to bikes at a price level for general cyclists for the first time.

However, I would not recommend them for fixed gear use. The swaged connection betwixt the big chainring and the arm is not intended to work with a two-way load. I had one of these on my Raleigh International when I first set it up as a fixed gear, sometime in the mid '70s, and it didn't last long.

One day I started resisting a bit down a hill and found myself "freewheeling" as the crank rotated in the chainring. The rest of the ride home was challenging, sort of like driving a car with a blown clutch. I could keep the bike going on the level and downhill, but as soon as the road started to rise a bit, the crank would start to slip again.

Sheldon "BTDT" Brown

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| It is good to learn from your mistakes; |
| It is better to learn from the mistakes of others. |
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Didn't C Itoh make floppy disks?

i had the same cranks on my crescent, they were original so i kept them for a while because they looked cool and i liked the 165ness of them, my problem was that i was using the inner ring, which had 3 little bolts holding it on, one time going up a fairly steep hill on my way to work one of the little bolts told me to **** off and the inner chain ring mangled itself and the outer chainring followed suit since it was still semi attached, hard walk home with my bike on my shoulders

also i always thought those little red dust caps were awesome, until one cracked up on me and i had to melt it out, i still use the one, because half of awesome is still awesome

Sheldon and Soyboy, thanks for the tips. I'll probably just restore it as an 18 speed, I just love that design though. Ima do some more research into the C.Itoh thing.