Originally Posted by grolby

LOL. The bike industry isn't a cartel. Trek et. al. have no motivation to help Shimano et. al. sell more components into the aftermarket. It's really pretty simple. The people selling complete bikes design their various models pretty carefully to hit specific price points, and choose OEM parts accordingly. FSA hit upon an opportunity to make money by selling a relatively inexpensive external bearing compact crankset to manufacturers in enormous volumes, and it worked out pretty well. The reason for the "poor" reputation of the Gossamer is because it was, for a while, pretty much ubiquitous on mid-range road bikes. Because it was lower cost than an equivalent Shimano crank at the time, it was also (somewhat) heavier and less stiff than the name brand alternative. And it's really that non capital 'B' Brand status and the obvious conclusion that the presence of a non-matching crankset on a bike otherwise clad with Shimano components was a cost-cutting measure that cemented the impression of FSA cranks as crappy products. In reality, of course FSA cranks were fine and functioned well even if they were not quite as refined as Shimano's product. They also let a lot of people get the low gears they needed without the shame of a triple crank, so in that sense it was a great product for those folks. Shimano just wasn't selling compacts when FSA first came out with them. The larger difference in size between compact and standard chainrings could've contributed to the perception of poor quality associated with FSA, but I'm not sure. These days, I still don't think anyone makes as good a crank as Shimano does, but the FSA cranks were never bad and their high end models are very, very good.