madsnake
11-24-00, 02:02 PM
What's the difference between removable v's non-removable spiders?
Mountain Biking - Spiders
Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.View Full Version : Spiders
afelig
11-24-00, 11:19 PM
A removable spider allows you to separate the driveside crankarm fom the smaller "spider" arms that the chainrings bolt onto. Usually accomplished with some sort of spline and lockring arrangement.
With a removable spider, you could replace a damaged spider, switch the number of spider arms, or change the bolt circle diameter. I've even seen some pretty color anodized ones on eBay.
I've got a couple of XT cranks from '98 (I think) One is 4-arm compact, and the other is 5-arm standard (110mm) but both have the same kind of crankarm. I guess it's cool that I could convert the 5-arm to 4-arm or vice versa, but to do so would cost almost as much as a new crank (once you factor in chainrings.)
I see Shimano has already gone back to a fixed arrangement for the 2000 XT, so it looks like it's already fallen out of fasion with them.
With a removable spider, you could replace a damaged spider, switch the number of spider arms, or change the bolt circle diameter. I've even seen some pretty color anodized ones on eBay.
I've got a couple of XT cranks from '98 (I think) One is 4-arm compact, and the other is 5-arm standard (110mm) but both have the same kind of crankarm. I guess it's cool that I could convert the 5-arm to 4-arm or vice versa, but to do so would cost almost as much as a new crank (once you factor in chainrings.)
I see Shimano has already gone back to a fixed arrangement for the 2000 XT, so it looks like it's already fallen out of fasion with them.
madsnake
11-25-00, 01:57 AM
So a removable spider offers some advantages. All down to how often you want to play around changing things I guess.
The fact Shimano have gone back to fixed spiders sounds like the kiss of death for the idea. A bit like their oval chainrings which fell out of favour!
The fact Shimano have gone back to fixed spiders sounds like the kiss of death for the idea. A bit like their oval chainrings which fell out of favour!