Bicycle Mechanics - FSA Crankset

I have a Bianchi Campione, steel frame about a year old now.

Specs are here-

http://www.bianchiusa.com/bikes/road/steel/campione/

It has, or rather had, until I started, erm, working on it, an FSA Tempo Compact 50/34 Crankset on it. I've made quite a mess of the crank arms or at least one to such an extent it's now garbage. The bike came with pedals and cages and I was wanting to go clip-less. The pedals were integral to the crank arm, they went over a spindle that is/was welded to the crank arm. This appears to be a base component that's on lower end bikes, such as mine, and not available for replacement. I'm ok with that.

Where I need help is I need to know if the cranksets I've been looking at, again lower end specs, are compatible with my bike. Specifically, my rear cassette is a Shimano HG50 8sp 12/25 and the replacement Cranksets I have seen (square bottom bracket, I believe) all state 9 speed compatibility. Will a crankset such as the FSA Tempo here -

http://www.fullspeedahead.com/products/44/Tempo-Compact

be able to work with my 8sp rear cassette?

Alternatively, can anyone recommend a crankset that might work as well or better (Shimmano 2300?) that is also square taper JIS compatible?


Thanks in advance for any help you can give. Hopefully there's enough/ not too much detail there.

I don't know if I've ever seen a pedal spindle welded to a crank arm, especially on a modern $700 bike. Seeing as the FSA linked looks to be the same model, without the pedals, I don't know what happened with yours. Any pictures of the offending crank arm?

You do know that the left side (non drive side) pedal threads are left handed?? Did you try removing it and destroy the edges?

Thanks for the quick responses. You don't think the 8 speed cassette will be an issue? Yes, I'm aware of the reverse thread, thanks. It's the pedal end of the crank the damage is done not the BB. I could drill it out and re-thread the crank arms but that's a lot of messing around for a $60 replacement, if it's compatible. Once again, thank you guys.

Photos, I'm only just getting to grips with digital cameras.

I have yet to see a crankset with integral pedals. Sounds more like the bike was assembled poorly by whomever put it together- they neglected to grease the threads when they put the pedals on, and they have rusted themselves to the crankarms. Another Tempo crankset will work fine with an 8 speed setup, but you may be able to find something used on CL, or on closeout from any number of internet retailers that will work just as well.

Posting a picture of your problem might help.

Yes, I'm away of the reverse thread, thanks. It's the pedal end of the crank the damage is done not the BB.

The BB hs nothing to do with dbg's question.

The non-drive-side (left) pedal threads are reversed. Just to be complete, the drive-side (right) BB cup is reverse-threaded (for English BBs), but again, that's got nothing to do with the pedals.

Well, if you are dead set that those are welded on, I'll buy the useless things from you for real cheap!

Thank you all for your help. Emboldened by your steadfast belief that the spindle couldn't be integral and with the attitude that I really couldn't make it worse, I took the bike out of my dark garage and took a big big wrench to it in the sunlight. By God those spindles were in tight but I have the Egg Beaters on now (and my glasses).

Have a good laugh chaps, I'm laughing, you should too.

Once again thanks.

Congrats. Sounds like another of those %*#@^% learning experiences. Don't forget to thoroughly grease the threads on your Egg Beaters.

tcpasley

Reduce, Reuse, Rebicycle