Originally Posted by
Chombi1
Solidas were cranksets used on many lower end model French bikes in the 80's. Many of their cranks were of the swaged spider type. Nothing wrong with them, just a cost effective alternative to Stronglights and other more expensive brands.
Nothing wrong with them? I'm feeling ill...
Almost all cranks that style look
CHEAP to me... Like looking for an integral derailleur hanger on a frame, I instantly look to see if the large chain ring or spider is swagged onto the arm.
When I first moved to the Bay Area in 1980, there were a lot of foundries, pressure cast and injection molding businesses in the area that that made parts from aluminum, brass and Zamak zinc alloy also known as pot metal. I dealt with a lot of them.
I saw first hand what a cheap manufacturing technique the "melt forge" pressure casting process was. The most expensive part was making the molds or dies. One place in Oakland made promotional belt buckles for Snap-on in both brass and Zamak.
Early memories of my experiences with the first Sugino Maxy crank failures, spinng several out plus seeing the same kinds of failures in the first Takagi and SR Sakae Ringyo cranks persist to this day.
One exception that I found are the SR Apex cranks. They're really beefy and have a well designed web and swage. They feel just like a good forged crank.
I'm sure there are others made like these but...
No offense intended
Chombi but...
WOW! I COULD HAVE HAD A V8! (forged crank)
verktyg
