oldschoolbike

I am finding that a 34-50 compact road crankset gives me an overall range that is too high. It seems that a 46-30 would be just about perfect, ie give me low enough lows, no gears higher than I need, and most of all, a big ring sweet spot in the middle of a typical 13-26 or 13-29 10-speed cassette. I really prefer square taper BBs for a few reasons, and I want a modern crank profile with the width at the axle narrower than at the pedals, for ankle clearance. Shifting aids on the outer ring

are required. Cost and ring availability in the future are considerations. Bonus, it would be available in silver. Any suggestions?

trailangel

https://www.compasscycle.com/shop/co...double-cranks/

Marcus_Ti

What is your budget? FSA's Vero Pro ticks your boxes, so does IRD's Defiant,Rene Herse cranks, also White's VBC cranks. All I believe are JIS taper. Ordered from cheapest to most expensive.

NOTE: FSA's is not available in silver.

unterhausen

I'm waiting for this size to go mainstream. Until then, I'm using a 46/34. I have a 36 tooth in the back. I am really happy with the 46 large chainring.

Marcus_Ti

I presume you mean the Big 3 selling it? I think everyone else does, ATM.

Campagnolo ofc has publicly written off ever selling bigger cassettes ("we're a racing parts company")...so smaller cranks would be off the table as well in their logic.

C9H13N 

Sugino OX 601/901.

Canker

Sub-Compact Gearing with Wide Ratio Cassette
Thread about this subject over in the cyclocross section.

Cyclist0108

I have an Athena 11-speed triple. Smallest ring is 30T.

Cyclist0108

Sugino, Rene Herse, White Industries, IRD, FSA all offer 46/30T now.

fietsbob

OR.... by mainstream , do you wish bike factories, and Importer - product managers start specifying a huge batch order of bicycles with the cranks you liked?

prepared to wait for a while?

FlMTNdude

dsaul

Its not mainstream, as in the big 3, but FSA has a whole adventure series of subcompact cranksets with a 46/30 option.

TimothyH

There is a thread on 46/30 subcompact cranksets with several hundred posts.

Anyone using a 46/30T crank on a road bike?

Everything you want to know.


-Tim-

u235

Not square like OP watns but my 0.02 cents anyway..
I'm interested in the FSA Omega 46/30 165 option but I am hung up on the 19mm spindle and the limited selection of BB choices, basically one option and it's roughly twice the price of a proven HT2 BB you can get one of those just about anywhere. I had an Omega 170 compact for about 2500 miles with the FSA 19mm BB and it was fine and took a beating and still in good shape when I removed it but...

MattTheHat 

The Praxis Alba is available in 48/32 which is close. I have that setup with an 11-speed 11-32 on my Diverge and really like it. Very rarely I do wish it was a 50 tooth on the big ring, but not very often.

-Matt

hokiefyd 

OP, does it have to be new? There are hundreds (or thousands) of cranksets on eBay for pretty reasonable prices. Silver is the color of vintage. I bought what appears to be an NOS (or VERY cleaned up, with no shifting marks!) Sugino Impel MTB crankset for 25 bucks. For your application, you could look for standard road triples, with a 74mm BCD inner pattern and a 110mm BCD outer pattern. You can do like I am and make a double out of a triple. I have a Sugino 74mm/110mm crankset that was originally a 30-40-50 triple and I replaced the 30 with a 26, I will keep the 40, and will replace the 50 with a 42 or 44 sized chain guard. So I'll have a 26-40 double with a pants cuff protector. PM me if you're interested in my old 30 tooth 74mm BCD ring.

Visual reference of my Sugino 30-40-50 before changing anything up on it. This may work well for your application.

IMG_20180612_181428991 by jnjadcock, on Flickr

jlaw

The 46-30 option for a 'road' crank is still a fairly expensive set-up from what I've seen on the internet - have been watching this for a couple years. I agree with you that a 'compact' road crank is too tall.

Have you considered a 2x10 MTB set-up? You can use a 39-26 crank (for example, SRAM x5 GXP) with a suitable 10 speed cassette that provides the gearing that you are looking for. I have done this on an 'all-road' bike that I fitted-up using a vintage frame. With the 39-26 crank I used a 11-32 10 speed cassette. I didn't worry about chain line and haven't had any issues related.

The x5 crankset and BB will cost around $125 or so assuming that you can get a BB for your bike that fits this crank. I ride the 39T 'Goldilocks' ring (for me) most of the time but have the 26T for steep hills.

Here's the crank for $79.

https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...BoCyJMQAvD_BwE

oldschoolbike

Thanks everybody. Lots to look in to. It seems many new cranksets designed for lower gearing are decidedly vintage in style, Must be baby-boomers driving the market yet again!

I think the "triple as a double" approach suggested by hokiefyd is the sensible way to try it out. Among other things, I want to fiddle with chain line so that the system will work well as a 1x plus bail-out. I wouldn't install a guard, just use single ring bolts. Ultimately I might go for the White Industries crankset, or hope to get lucky and land a 94mm BCD crankset in 170mm from eBay and get some new TA rings to fit from Peter White.

Road Fan

wgscott, they do indeed make that, and it seems non-racing, but it is a triple. The 46/30 needs a double platform, and with bolt circles that can handle the smaller rings. You can configure it on a triple arm with the 30 inner and 46 at middle, but the big ring position is empty. Resulting issue is that the Q is that of the triple, not that of a double.

blamester

Any reason why you can't change the cassette to match the rings you have.
By moving the cassette range up a tooth or two.
Might take two cassettes mixed to get it right.
I have removed the 11/12/13 from my 10 speed cassette simply because I don't use them.
14/28 7 speed with 10 speed spacing.
No chain rub in any combo.

CroManganMan

Blamester, I've thought of doing this with a 11-32, 8 speed cassette and just making it a 7 speed with 13-32 cogs (since Shimano stopped making the 14-32 7 speed cassette). Did you have to replace the 14 with an outside 14 to keep the cassette lock ring in place? I've always wondered if that was really necessary. Will it loosen when you coast? Can you locktite it in place? Etc.

Also, did you place spacers on the inside or outside of the smaller cassette to recenter the 7 speed cassette?

Thanks!

blamester

I don't want to derail this thread so p.m on the way

oldschoolbike

OP here. I have several reasons to not want to go past 29T on the cassette. I can just make it up the biggest hills here now with my 13-26 and 50-34 and have a 13-29 awaiting installation, but I want some reserve capacity and some path forward into my dotage. Sooner or later I will stop pedalling down hills and won't miss anything over about 85 inches anyway. 46-30 would set me up for at least another 8 years, and after that I could see going even lower.


Maybe somebody will introduce an affordable and flexible option that is not vintage style with dead straight cranks (Velo-Orange and SunXCD TA copies and IRD Campy style cranks all take silly-long BB axles and offer no heel clearance) or maybe the Sugino OX601 or IRD Lobo will be be upgraded to square taper. That would be ideal. One can hope. In the meantime I think it will be a Sugino XD2 triple (110/74mm BCD) with the outer ring absent. I suspect the Q-factor penalty matters little to me, given that I ride a triple and a double and don't notice a tread width difference. I would prefer to start with a Campy Racing Triple or less costly version of such, but I am not sure about the ongoing supply of chainrings in 135mm BCD. In the meantime I am collecting pictures of converted triples. None are attractive, and some are remarkably unattractive.

ThermionicScott 

I wouldn't hold my breath for a square-taper option that is not also vintage-styled. Seems like the vast majority of buyers who want one aspect want the other.