zootsuit81

Hi

So i recently bought a Sugino Super Mighty crankset as an upgrade to my existing Sugino Maxy cranks. They both weigh about the same but the Maxys are swaged to the spider , whereas the Super Mightys are 1 piece forged.

I actually prefer the look of the Maxys , they are a bit narrower and more elegant to my eye, and have no writing on the outside. The Super Mightys have 'Super Mighty' written down each crank arm and the crown logo (see pics)

I have since seen some Sugino Mightys for sale. (see other pic) These are forged like the Super Mightys and have the crown logo but have no writing so look a bit more like the Maxys.


So... does anyone know the difference between Mightys and Super Mightys? Are they the same, but from different eras? Or would I be down grading from the Super Mightys?

btw i pulled these images off the Internet for reference as i didn't have a camera to hand so apologies if these are your pics!

can anyone shed any light on this?


cheers

Peter

auchencrow

I thought all the Super Mighty's came with drillium rings and 144 BCD vs 110.

Velobase tells more.

AZORCH

I've got a Super Mighty NIB, waiting for the right build. If there's something specific you're wanting to know, I am happy to inspect it closely and let you know. I also have a Sugino Mighty installed that I can compare it to.

zootsuit81

Hi

Thanks. Yes my existing maxy is 3 hole 110bcd, the super mighty is 144 bcD. I guess it comes down to the fact I don't like the ' super mighty' writing on the crank as I prefer a cleaner look. So (ignoring my old maxy) should I sell the super mighty and get the mighty instead , which seems identical apart from the writing , or will I be down grading ?

Azorch, have you noticed anything else different between your two cranksets?


cheers

JohnDThompson 

"Super Mighty" is simply later production than "Mighty." Both are excellent products.

zukahn1 

+1 the "Super Mighty" and the "Mighty Competion" that is in the OP second photo basically equivelant cranks the differences a basically cosmetic. While the plain the 3 hole maxy is a a older vintage and not quit as nice. All are very good cranks with the same gearing I doubt someone could tell the difference when riding. So I see nothing wrong with making the decion on which to use based on cost and cosmetic reasons.

khatfull

ftfy.

AZORCH

Bingo!

gmt13

I have a Mighty Comp on my 78 Nishiki Pro - it has a 144 BCD. I had a Mighty Tour (BCD 110) crank on my vintage Raleigh commuter up until a few weeks ago when the right side arm broke and I was rudely introduced to Mr. Pavement. See link here. I really like the look of these cranks and contemplated finding a vintage replacement, but I'm a bit gun shy at the moment. I would recommend inspecting the arms for any evidence of cracks before you use them. The consensus in the BM forum is that all alloy cranks will break sooner or later one they have reached their fatigue limit.

-G

old's'cool

FIFY
Many factors go into determination of cumulative fatigue damage, for starters the geometry and material quality of the crank, installed preload, number of cycles, and the cycle by cycle load history.
The probable area of initial failure may vary by design, but I suspect is typically at a corner of the square taper hole.

zukahn1 

Didn't think of this earlier but if the Op is looking for a replacement or upgrade crank the BB/spindle used with the early Maxy is not compatiable with the Competion or Super Maxi which if I remember right used a ISO type spindle with a Sugino offset so ideally if one gets one of these cranks they should also get the correct Sugino BB which was sold with the crank.

jimmuller 

FWIW, I rather like the Maxy too. Bought one decades ago to upgrade my UO8, used it quite a bit on the UO8 and Raleigh, and recently put it back on the UO8. Despite the swaged spider/arm joint it has functioned nicely. But then, I tend to spin instead of mash, and I"m not a heavy guy.

Back then I chose it not for the 110mm BCD but because it was cheaper than the Mighty and I was a poor graduate student. Years later when I started dropping my gearing I was glad for the 110. 144mm sure is limiting!

zootsuit81

Thanks for the info. My bottom bracket is completely pitted on the cups and cones so Ill need a new one anyway, that's what got me thinking about new cranks, and I picked up the Super Mighty very cheap. Was looking at the Velo Orange French Thread Grand Cru bottom bracket. I know its JIS but from what I've read it shouldn't be too much of a problem putting iso cranks on a jis bb spindle, especially of the cranks are well used. I know it may be offset by 4mm or so so may have to use a shorter spindle.

BTW has anyone used this combo? There seems to be differing opinions on whether all Sugino Mighty's are all iso or jis anyway...

T-Mar

The Super Mighty series was the late 1970's successor to the boom era Mighty Competition series, even holding over many of the model dsignations. Based on the chainring sizing, both use 144mm BCD. Mighty appears to have been the name for the 1960's series which used unfluted spiders and a 151mm BCD. While my collection of literature is fairly broad, it is fair from complete and I can only provide general periods.

Drilled chainrings are not an indicator to tell the difference between the Mighty Competition and Super Mighty series. Both offered models with and without drilled chainrings. The upper models in both series offered drilled chainrings with the inner web removed, namely the Custom and Victory models.

As previously suggested, the Super Mighty series appears to have been primarily an aesthetic redesign, though I suspect they were also slightly lighter and stiffer. Besides the addition of the series name, there appears to be a subtle difference in the shape of the arms themselves. The spider itself is different, most notably in the absence of the flaring at the chainring junction.

jimmuller 

I know your thread and query are really about the Might/super Mighty, but since the Maxy has been raised, I'll continue on that theme. Are you saying your Maxy has a 3-arm spider? Mine is 5.

Just as an interest point, your Maxy crank arm length would what? Mine is the curious 171mm.

AZORCH

Sounds very French.

ColonelJLloyd 

Rather very Imperial. 171mm is closest to 6 3/4".

Anyhow, I'm a fan.

cyclotoine

I have a mighty from 1973. You can tell the finishing was a lot more crude then and I have always found the early 1970s sugino cranks to be pretty spongy.

T-Mar

The boom era, 5 arm version of the Maxy was actually called New Maxy. In the late 1970s both 3 and 5 armed versions were redesigned and called Super Maxy and they even added a version with a larger, 144mm BCD. Based on the converted Imperial sizing, it sounds like you have New Maxy. There were two versions of New Maxy. One had the large chainring swaged directly to the arm, with only the small chainring being interchangeable. The other had a swaged spider so both chainrings were interchangeable.

zukahn1 

This is not all that curious most of the early Sugino's are actually marked 171. They changed to 170 during the late 70's. Looking at the couple of sets of each size I have I can't see any difference between the 171 and the 170's.

Ex Pres 

The Cnl is right with the Imperial knowledge. You'll also see arms marked 165 - you'd think that was [designed as] metric, but you'd be wrong - Imperial as well. 165 = 6 1/2".

orangeology

(not trying to derail the thread but)

speaking of Sugino Mighty, i also hear Suntour's Superbe crank from the same era (namely CW-1000 model on this velobase page)
was also manufactured by Sugino not by Suntour, with literally identical material and quality to the Mighty.

is it a trustable info?
from what i see in terms of the Campy-copied shape/bcd and how the marquee is engraved in the middle of the arm,
it sounds quite reasonable...

T-Mar

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Dia Compe, SunTour, Sugino, and a handful of other components manufacturers were part of a trade organization known as JEX. The JEX members basically agreed not to infornge on each others product lines. When SunTour wanted to issue a complete group to compete with Shimano (who was part of the rival JBM trade group) they went to Sugino for cranksets and Dia-Compe for the brakes,

orangeology

always amazed by the respectable depth and spectrum of your insights and knowledge, T-Mar!!
thanks very much

kkbras

I'm really enjoying this topic.
Anybody knows if there was a 130 BCD Super Mighty crank? A track Super mighty crank accepts two chainrings or will have problems with the spindle lenght?