Touring - Touring Crank Set Advise

I am replacing the chainrings, cassette, and bottom bracket on my MTB commuter. All three componets are worn out and I want to set it up more like a touring bike. Going into this I thought the chainrings would be easy to replace until I discovered that my Shimano STX crank takes 94/58 mm chaninrings. I want to change the crank to take the more conventional 110/74mm chainrings. Being that I have not thought much about crank sets untli now I did a quick search of threads tonight I have found that some people use:

Sugino XD-600 (Lickton's, Harris Cyclery)

Nashbar ISIS Trekking Crank Set

and I was wondering if these are good choices. I am also not opposed to paying more than what these cost if it is worth it.

Also, are there going to be any shifting issues changing to cranks like these on a MTB. I have the grip/twist index shifters.

The Shimano LX FC-M581 (48-36-26) Trekking Crankset is quite nice. I bought one while in America last year at an LBS for $130 out the door. Not a bad price considering that it comes with the BB.

Lately I've seen them being sold online in Europe for 90 euro, I bet you can hunt down a deal on them in America too.

http://www.starbike.com/images/Shimano/Deore_LX/hires/FC-M581+SM.jpg

i don't think the type of crank you get is an issue, other than personal preference and quality ... the big issue is chainring size, or number of teeth ...

i have a shimano xt crank on my thorn nomad 44/32/22 with a 32/11t cassette ... this gives me a wide enough range of gears to choose from and more importantly a low enough gear to get up hills or grind into a head wind ...

my trek 520 came out with a shimano 105sc crankset 52/42/30, but this was way too over geared ... like you are going to use a 52-11 combo while touring fully laden? and the low gear on the stock gearing setup was really quite high for getting up hills, defintiely hard work and hard on the knees ... i have changed this for a shimano lx crankset 44/32/22 which gives me a high enough gear for riding unloaded, and enough low gears for riding fully laden up those steep hills ...

cheers,
hoogie

Quite a few people here have said good things about the Suginos. I got a couple sets for our two bikes (building up two LHTs). I don't know enough about other recent products, but I do know quality when I see it. The Suginos are simple, clean, well-designed, and sturdy. And an excellent choice of gear sizes.

The XD-600's come with alloy rings; they also have an identical model (XD-300 ?) with steel chainrings. Personally, the extra few ounces of steel are well worth the savings, in my opinion.

You know the Suginos use a square-taper BB. These are getting a bit hard to find (at least the Shimano UN-73 or UN-53 are, and I wouldn't go for any lesser quality). So if you get the Suginos, once you know your BB size, stock up on a couple. The BB size is determined by the frame maker. As a side note, you might want to consider taking a crank remover in your toolkit, on tour.

You shouldn't have any issues with the shifter. There are limits, of course, but in this case the the critical thing is matching the BB size you currently have. A mtn bike front derailleur can handle a slightly larger big chainring, or a slightly smaller granny gear. You might have to adjust the derailleur, even slide it up or down on the downtube a bit.

Don't know anything about the Nashbar ISIS crankset. All my bikes have square taper BBs, so I was happy to go with the Sugino (plus I've got a stock of 110/74 rings).

-- Mark

That's hot!

Your front derailleur and its shifter are unlikely to have any issues. You'll need to get the right size bottom bracket, though.

I should add that right now I am more inclined to go with the less expensive Sugino XD-600 and put the extra money into a Phil Wood bottom bracket rather than a more expensive crank set. Only because it seems that the BB takes the bigger beating in the drive train system and in this case it needs to hold up to the daily wear and tear of commuting.

If you are thinkin less expensive the Sugino line is great. Also some shops have older Shimano laying around (Deore or LX) in square BB. The only thing I would recommend if you start looking for the Shimano is to make sure that the chainrings are infact seperate and not one machined piece.

Like everyone else I have not heard anything bad about the Sugino line. If you do end up with the PW bb please send me a review. I am very interested in it as it is one of the last good square bb's.

Good luck!