Originally Posted by
TireLever-07
Hi Ether, If the old crankset is a 130MM Bolt Circle, the smallest chainring it will fit is 38 Teeth. A compact (double) crankset wil give you lower gears and less torture to the chain than with a triple. I'm 50 and the old 42-52 cranksets always annoyed me. I like climbing like a caterpiller,not zig-zagging all over the road.
The cyclocross cranks are geared lower. You can get a trekking crank, seen on many hybrids (28-38-48) teeth pretty cheap. If you replace it with another double crank, the old front derailller should work. Triples have longer tails on their cages. Try Sheldonbrown.com and Parktool.com too. Chris
I have a 46/36 double from Velo Orange to put on, and its paired with a 32 in the rear for Seattle hills. This is friction and bar end shifters, which have turned out to be more enjoyable than I thought they would be!
I grew up on friction and its no big deal. The only drawback on the old Fuji is that the trail is huge, and you get wheel flop. Other than that, smooth as butta!