i'm certain it's the perfect choice for you.

smh. fp.

I looked at this parktool video showing how to check worn chainrings and as I pace a chain roller inside these chainrings idk what to think, but this is fine right?

I have Octalink V 1 on one of my bikes, Octalink V 2 on some of my bikes and the rest is with FSA ISIS and two road bikes with Hollow Tech 2. All the bottom brackets have been installed by Local Bike shop. If you look for simplicity and not spending too many bucks then square taper is the answer.

Er - Hollowtech II BBs are super simple and cheap?

OP, that chainring looks new. That’s the Tourney one you just bought?

Yes it's the new cranks but in the parktool video they demonstrate how a roller should fit in a chainring. I'm sure it's different design for a reason. I hoped it would be just that simple as sticking a roller in a chainring to check wear.

Link to the video?

Also what about using washers for cranks? I asked for them in a couple LBS and seems like nobody has ever seen one.

Wippermann makes THIS chainring wear indicator. I have one, and it seems to work. Here are some images of sprockets; I will try to get some of chainrings, but they should be similar.


Here is the gauge showing a gap between the tool and the base of the notch... a good sprocket (new, actually).



Here is a worn-out sprocket.



This is an un-used sprocket from a cassette. Gap indicates "good" (of course).

If the rings need replacing, I don't know if you can get generic rings that visually match that interface between the rings and the crank spider, or if you must purchase genuine Shimano. I personally hate the look and the asymmetrical bolt pattern, but it saves weight.

Also, in general, that style of crank suffered a recall, I don't recall exactly what series, whether 105, or Ultegra, etc. The problem was, the crank arm and spider, if I recall correctly, is a sheet of steel on the outside, that is forged/bonded to an aluminum core (like clad or triply cookware) for light weight and strength, but they were delaminating over time, often catastrophically (suddenly and completely without warning). IIRC, you brought your bike in and new cranks were only ordered if the dealer saw evidence of delamination. I don't like safety-critical things without "positive" safety design, not relying on something unseen which cannot be internally inspected.

Jobst could be astonishingly wrong on many things, given that he was a (mechanical?) engineer by trade. One was not understanding the benefit of modern bike helmets (lowering the peak impulse/force by spreading the impact energy over longer time), he recommended against helmets.

When I used square tapers, I didn't go dry, but also not grease, I would use a very light coating of anti-seize, to prevent, well, seizing. Usually fine, but my last taper crank, I needed to tighten the crank bolt before every ride. Replaced with HT2 clone when I went 2X.

I could be wrong but I think that might have the chainrings riveted on (extra cheap), so can't replace the rings. From the forming shapes, I'm 99% certain those rings are steel, heavier, but also very durable. I think the arms are aluminum, and appears to have a steel insert at the pedal threads, I haven't seen that before, but a good idea.

You don’t recall correctly 😉. Ultegra and Dura Ace. Some (quite a lot of) 11 speed batches only. It was a steel spindle, bonded to an aluminium spider and crank arm shell.

Thanks

I think your one is fine. Is that roller new or could that be worn?

You don’t need contact all 180° particulalarly on the trailing side, as long as you have good contact from 6 to 9 on your photo. That’s where all the force is applied by the tooth to the roller, assuming we’re looking from the crank arm side.

Maybe they saved a tiny bit of material (and therefore cost) by making the gaps slightly wider on this one.

I prefer checking the wear by wrapping a new chain tight around half the ring and making sure there are no gaps

Ah yes, here it is:

Coincidentally the chainrings on that one also look completely goosed.

Nah. The rings are not molten cast, they're stamped and blanked out of sheet. A larger gap would just mean more offal, the waste metal that is recycled. To save weight, that's a possibility. Cheap freewheels used to skip every other tooth on the large cogs, if I recall correctly, this was 1970s I think.

Yeah more likely a worn roller i suspect. The gap does look biggish but the tooth profiles look legit.

You don't really want to ride this bike again do you? You are going down a rabbit hole of what if's.

Time to just take it to a shop and let them do it all for you.

Some of my favorite cranks
FSA Isis

FSA Octalink

Zipp Isis

Dura Ace FC7700 Octalink V2

Dura Ace FC 7800 Hollowtech 2 Forged

Yeah I picked them cause I wanted steel chainrings anyway so it would last longer, And I can replace these 4 times for the cost of a single 50T alloy chainring locally. It's why I originally wanted to go 1x to keep it simple and just run a generic chainring up front.

Yeah it's fine, the chain wraps perfectly around the chainring. I'm sure it's gonna be just fine I just found this design peculiar, that is all.

It's done. I installed a 107mm BB. Greased the spindle cause it's a wet climate. Nearby car service kindly torqued it for me to 45Nm. Chain line now sits at 43.2mm, a bit inwards, but I was thinking I might hack off the small chainring and as a 2x it would be 44.7mm chain line which is spot on, but I'll see if the small ring comes in handy or not.

Went for a ride, it rides, it shifts. But I had to stop cause the brake pads are intolerably loud. LBS have **** selection of pads for vbrake, I knew I needed some but couldn't find anything decent, even online there is only like 3 choices and mostly generic.

Are the basic shimano pads any good? Long ago I had a road bike and if I remember correctly upgrading from the basic shimano pads the difference was pretty big and it seemed like it didn't wear my rims so bad.

Edit: Remounted the pads so the front contacts the rim first. seems to have fixed the squeak.

So the rings you apparently will use the majority of the time are only "spot on" if the smallest ring is removed? Leave it on and don't look at it. It doesn't weigh diddly in the scheme of things.

New Shimano pads or OLD? Try using the pads firmly a few times and see if it makes a diff.
Read up about toe in etc. under brake adjusting topics you can find with your search engine.
Kool Stop are the usual recommended replacement pad. Various flavors for various conditions.

I remounted the pads angled in towards the front, that seems to have done the trick.

Edit: nah went for a ride again and it didn't take long to get them squeaking again. There is only Kool-stop disk pads where I live. I got shimano, jagwire(the ones that squeak), azimut, saccon if any of these names mean anything.

Edit2: Seems it's the paint wearing off caking up on the pads causing the noise.

How will removing the small ring change the chain line?

I agree. It just technically changes the virtual center of the stack, from the center of three, to the center of the two outboard rings, but none of the rings move laterally. So I'd agree with those saying leave it be.

Rims are typically not painted, but anodized or dark hard anodized. That can get worn off with time, especially with grit on the pads from biking in the rain, but if the dry, clean pads are rapidly wearing at the rim sidewalls, it sounds like the pads are old and hard and should be replaced. That happened with me, using some new-old-stock pads that I had for years, and within a few blocks, they had abraded the rims and aluminum dust was embedded in the pads and they produced a *grinding* sound. Limped home, replaced pads with new ones, and had to resurface the rim sidewalls with fine emery (cloth-backed sandpaper) wrapped around a flat file, to remove the galled surface.