-holiday76

I've been trying to find a cheaper veloce or better 175mm compact crank for my 10 speed campy system i'm putting together. I'd like to spend less than they $75 shipped on the crankset.

Anyway, I can find veloce 172.5mm compact 10 speed cranks on ebay, but never a 175. The onle 175 compact cranks I can find are 9 speed.

SOOO - will a 9 speed veloce/centaur/chorus compact crank work with a 10 speed chain and front der?

joejack951

There's been a few recent threads about people having issues with 10 speed chains not properly engaging the chainrings on 9 speed cranks. I'm using a 9/10 speed Stronglight crank with a 10 speed chain without issues though.

Basically, in theory it should work ok but it's not guaranteed.

zacster

I highly doubt you will have any problems, in fact I'm not sure the chainrings are any different. I use a crank from the old days with a 10speed Shimano chain and cassette and Campy NR rear derailleur. It works fine.

I do have a problem with a 9speed chain on a 6 speed freewheel. On that setup the chain slips.

DaveSSS 

Campy moved the big ring .4mm closer to the little ring when 10 speed was introduced in 2000. They did this by machining the big ring mounting tabs .4mm thinner.

Both Centaur and Veloce were 10 speed as far back as 2005.

When looking for a cheap crank, consider the price of both the crank and BB.

You can get a new Veloce UT crank, with BB cups for only about $100.

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/produc...ue=CAMPCHAR895

-holiday76

so, do I just need the outboard bb cups in place the a bb? What about the spindle and bearings or is that part of the crank? You'll have to excuse me as I'm only familiar with the older square taper style bb's.

DaveSSS 

A Campy UT crank requires BB cups to fit your frame, in addition to the crank. The cranks have permanent spindles with bearings mounted on the the spindles. Most frames use English threaded sups, except for some Italian frames and Merckx frames.

Also, the prices at Ribble include 15% VAT that is deducted upon checkout.

UT cranks installation must be done properly. If you buy them, read the installation info carefully, but don't use the loctite cup installation method. A lot of people don't read the instructions, don't get the BB faced, don't measure the BB width and then wonder why they have problems. If the BB shell is the proper width, the threads square to the faces and the paint removed from the BB shell faces, all you do is grease the threads and torque the cups to 35Nm.

A BB cup tool like the Park BBT-19 is needed.

-holiday76

I see. My bike is Italian thread, it's an older steel Bianchi frame I'm updating with modern parts. I've installed many a bb, but never one with the permanent spindle as part of the crank, so I'll make sure I read the directions fully.

Anyway, I checked the site you linked and with the bb cups and the crank, everything comes out to $127 USD shipped, so I'm probably going to pass.

I'd really like to find a Veloce square taper 175mm compact. They sell on ebay all the time for around $50, (plus I can get the bb for aother $30 ) but i cant seem to find a 175mm one, they're always 172.5

HillRider

In the forum's tradition of not answering your real question does the difference between 172.5 and 175 mm really matter and can you tell the difference? I ride several bikes with 170 mm cranks and one with 175 and, when I make the change, I never notice it.

Not saying you won't but is the difference really that important?

-holiday76

yeah i've thought about this too. I can tell the difference between a 170 and a 175, but a 172.5? I'm not really sure in the long run it would make a big difference. If I can't find exactly what I'm looking for that's probably what i'll do. I held a 172.5 crank up to a 175 I have and the difference really isnt much.
about 2.5mm! seriously it doesnt seem like it should make much of a difference, but every bike I've logged a lot of miles on have been with 175's, so I just wanted to stay consistent if possible.

joejack951

On the 172.5/175 crank length, I like to run my seat quite high for my inseam. When I try to get the same leg extension with 175 cranks that I have with 172.5's, the front of my knees ache. To get rid of the front knee ache completely, I have to go up even higher which then results in too much leg extension. Only my short distance bike has 175's on it now with both longer distance bikes having 172.5's. With that said, I probably wouldn't notice the difference between 170's and 172.5's but I've never used 170's for any appreciable distance.

DaveSSS 

Man, that's tight***** to pay $80 plus shipping for some old crap from E-bay, when you could get something modern and new for $130. You can save enough on a few other items to more than pay the shipping cost. Tires, chains and cassettes are all dirt cheap from the UK.

-holiday76

who said anything was old? The Veloce cranks on ebay I was referring to are NOS in the box brand new from a bike shop.

Why pay $130 when you can get something that's few grams heavier that does the same thing for $50 cheaper?