sen2two

I been riding my giant for a year now, and love it.but as with everything I get into, I have a need to upgrade and customize. But instead of upgrading my current bike, I plan to build one from the ground up. Yes I know it will be more expensive, but its a hobby for me. I have built many race cars as with many other types of things.but I am new to building and working on bikes.

One major question I need answered is concerning brakes, gears, shifters, ect. I only plan to have rear breaks and only a single crank up front. I live in Florida and rarely have to do any shifting. So a double crank does me no good and only ads weight. Same reasoning goes for the breaking.

My question is can someone recommend a fairly priced carbon crank with only one set of gears on it? And a good light weight choice for rear brakes, derailleur, and shifters. I will be buying most, if not all my parts used on Ebay, craigslist, ect.

Thanks in advance.

RollCNY

Crank: buy any double carbon crank that is available, since you are shopping used, and then buy and mount a single ring to the front, probably an unramped, unpinned ring. Many folks run a bash guard on one or both sides of a single ring. You will need shorter chain ring bolts, they make them for single, but the double may work depending on bash guard. Or look at track cranks, as they are designed for single ring.

Brakes (Not BREAKS): If you only run one, make it the front, where the bulk of your stopping power is. Planet X makes machined brakes that are very light, and get good reviews. Also, as you seem very weight concerned, the front uses less cable and housing, so there is another savings.

Have you considered a single speed / fixed gear? It seems they hit many of the things that you are looking for.

Vlaam4ever

If you go with only one brake, it will more effective to go with the one in front. As for the crank, plenty of track cranks available, that can hold various chainrings. If I were in Florida or else where with flat roads, I'd go single speed, much easier to assemble and adds some hipster cool factor.

sen2two

good point on the brakes. i mainly use just the front brake while riding my motorcycle as well. guess that didn't dawn on me just yet.

and as for the track cranks, they seem like a great option. i just havn't found any that are that light as of yet.the lighter option might be to get a used carbon crankset and add on a single chairing.

also i am a machinist/Welder by trade and i was thinking if i was to get a full aluminum crankset, would it be safe to mill a few slots in the arms to reduce some weight? anyone on here ever done anything like this before?

by the way, i'm not really into fixed gear or single speeds.

twodownzero

Why wouldn't you be into single speeds or fixed gears if you never have to shift?

Then again, I can't imagine taking off from a stop sign without shifting, but it's your money.

TrojanHorse

I think if there were a reasonably easy & safe way to reduce the weight in a crank, the manufacturer would have already done it.

There are folks on this forum who have built up 13 pound bikes with full drive trains - how much lighter are you trying to go?

Biscayne05

If you're willing to go for used parts then it won't.

I think you're just itching to spend. Think it over again.