Anyone have any experience with TA cranks?
08-30-12, 03:24 PM
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Anyone have any experience with TA cranks?
Does anyone have any thoughts or impressions of the TA Zephyr cranksets? I know Peter White still sells them ( https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/zephyr.asp ), but I've never seen any in the flesh. Just the usual Shimano, Campy, Sugino, & Davinci. I'll still likely wind up with Davincis, but I try to maintain an open mind.
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Jeff
Learn from other people's mistakes. You won't live long enough to make them all yourself.
2004 Co-Motion Speedster
2010 (Specialized) Carmel comfort (my neighborhood bike)
2008 Raleigh comfort (wife's neighborhood bike)
08-30-12, 05:28 PM
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Another possibility is the Stronglight Impact Tandem triple It is square taper, and priced quite favorably. For some reason it is available only in 170 mm. It is used by the Cyfac tandem World Champion team. Stronglight is well regarded, but the only place to purchase it is the bewildering French site XXCycle, which I've linked.
Edit:
At the Stronglight site, a 175 mm is available.
Edit:
At the Stronglight site, a 175 mm is available.
Last edited by Ritterview; 08-30-12 at 05:36 PM.
09-02-12, 08:21 PM
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Used TA CycloTouriste triple crankset back in the 70s and 80s.
About the best tandem crankset available at that time period.
Put well over 100,000 miles on TAs in the past. A huge selection of chainrings at that time too.
About the best tandem crankset available at that time period.
Put well over 100,000 miles on TAs in the past. A huge selection of chainrings at that time too.
09-04-12, 02:11 PM
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I have a set of TA Zephyr cranks on my Santana tandem. They are very nice and have held up well. I like that they are 110/74 BCD so can take a wide range of chainring sizes. PLUS they are also drilled for a 56mm BCD chainring in the smallest position. I haven't used that to run a really small ring (like a 20) but it's a cool idea.
I also have TA Carmina cranks on my Co-Motion single bike. They are really spiffy looking.
Note that I bought both sets used for a reasonable cost. I'm not sure I'd plunk down the cash required to buy them new. They are nicely made and finished, to be sure, but I don't think they warrant the premium price over, say, a set of Sugino tandem cranks.
What I really love are the set of old White Industries cranks I have in my parts box. Super stiff, nicely finished, simply a great set of cranks. The only reason I'm not running them now instead of the TA set is compatibility with my stokid setup (the White Ind cranks have an odd size BCD for the timing cranks).
I also have TA Carmina cranks on my Co-Motion single bike. They are really spiffy looking.
Note that I bought both sets used for a reasonable cost. I'm not sure I'd plunk down the cash required to buy them new. They are nicely made and finished, to be sure, but I don't think they warrant the premium price over, say, a set of Sugino tandem cranks.
What I really love are the set of old White Industries cranks I have in my parts box. Super stiff, nicely finished, simply a great set of cranks. The only reason I'm not running them now instead of the TA set is compatibility with my stokid setup (the White Ind cranks have an odd size BCD for the timing cranks).
09-04-12, 04:54 PM
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As Peter White mentioned, TA no longer makes the Zephyr crank. They continue to make, apparently, the Carminia crank, with its separate spider for tandems.
There is also the Vortex crank, with an integrated spider, and a tandem version. However, I don't think it has a triple spider version.
There is also the Vortex crank, with an integrated spider, and a tandem version. However, I don't think it has a triple spider version.
