Bike is in good shape, and is being used by my wife for riding on the road. Because it's got MTB gearing, she easily spins it out. I'd like to just change chainrings, but here's the catch -- I'm not sure these are changeable.

It's got an Acera X crank -- again, from the early 90's, and I can't for the life of me find any way that it looks like the chainrings will come off. Nothing that looks screwed together - are these some kind of press fit type fastener?

So - am I missing something, or can I really not replace the chainrings on this? If I can, how do I do it?

And if not, what kind of crank could I replace this with to give her better gearing (being cost effective, since it's an old bike)?

EDIT - I found some info that helps me here: https://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-312517.html

But I still need to know if I can get the chainrings off this crank.

What's the model number of your crank? FC-??? (look on the inboard side of the arms). If it happens to be an FC-M290, FC-MC12 or FC-CT90, it's under recall, so you're entitled to a new crankset and stuff. Your LBS can help out, if that's the case.

Otherwise, given that those cranks are nothing special, you can replace the crankset with another basic Shimano crankset. Shimano has the very basic Tourney model with a 48-tooth big ring (use a 122mm BB spindle). A 48 x 11 isn't a bad high gear. You can also go upscale to the FC-M590 trekking crank and get replaceable rings in a 48-36-26 with integrated spindle and outboard bearings.

Thanks mechBgon -- I'll check the crank later today. So even on a bike this old the recall would still be effective? I'm not the original owner - bought it from a buddy of mine.

Yeah, Shimano is still dishing out the replacement kits