Old 12-27-12 | 10:18 AM
  #15  
Juan Foote's Avatar
Juan Foote
LBKA (formerly punkncat)
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,324
Likes: 1,016
From: Jawja

Bikes: Spec Roubaix SL4, GT Traffic 1.0

Originally Posted by RTDub
Unqualified statements like this are what keeps the cycling industry profitable. It is true FSA is used to save $$$ on floor builds, it does not change the fact that SRAMano is overpriced for what it is. There's a happy medium in the grey area there.

I've used bottom-line Lasco for many seasons of 3,000+ commuting and they still have lots of life left. If you're talking about wearing out cranks on our Fredly endeavors, it's just an overstatement.

EDIT: Not saying you are unqualified punkn, but the statement has no fact in it.
It was the short answer. Most of my issues with the cranks have been addressed in others statements. Here is where I list my qualifications....work in shop, worked on shifting issues with manufacturer who uses these cranks (or lesser level) on everything below the 3K level, owned a set myself that I swapped due to same.

Here is where I detail some of my subjective experience. FSA Gossamer has been plagued for years with stiffness as well as shifting quality issues which resulted in a recent re-design of the crank. They happen to be making BB30 w/o adapters, so in addition to cost saving on the crank itself, manu. can avoid putting on the additional adapters (price). Even with the redesign the shifting quality, particularly from the small to big ring has almost always been muddy, and also have to echo the statement about the common chain drop to the center of the rings.
Swapping to 105 cranks WILL improve your shifting. If nothing else, using manu. matched components in a groupset will commonly do that on it's own, but as compared to the Gossamer crank, the 105 just works better, at the cost of a bit of weight.

Will they work fine over the life of a bicycle? Yes. Do they operate "well enough"? Yes. Can you improve with a crank swap? Yes.

There, better for you?

EDIT- I would like to clarify, my work at a bike shop does not make me think I am an expert at all that is bicycle. I have a lot to learn, and a lot that I simply don't know, however this subject is something that I have had a lot of experience with due to my own situation based on what I own and what we sell.

Last edited by Juan Foote; 12-27-12 at 10:29 AM. Reason: clarification
Juan Foote is offline  
Reply