I picked up this Sugino triple used. I've never had one, though 3 of my bikes have older Sugino AT triples.

Here's the crank:



Do these things take spacers under the middle ring to get the spacing correct? There are no spacers under the middle ring, and the spacing looks way off. On a shift from the middle to the granny, the chain will definitely fall into the gap. Big ring and middle are too close.



I have a biopace triple that has ~1mm spacers in that spot...perhaps someone just made off with the ones on this crank before it came to me? I can mic all the spaces, etc, if needed, but this seems like something simple, like missing spacers. Looked all over online and couldn't find a photo or spec for evidence of spacers.

It's an illusion.

Not according to my digital caliper, but I'll figure it out.

Mine has thin spacers under the middle ring- maybe .5mm. Also check to see if the small ring has been flipped over- not sure whether the stock ring had recessed bolt holes.

Are they Sugino chainrings?
Chainrings
So if you try using a TA ring with a Sugino crank, the inner ring on a triple ends up spaced further from the middle ring than it should.
Either the middle and outer ring are too far apart or the middle and inner ring are too far apart, depending on whether or not you place a spacer between the spider and the middle ring.

Thanks, @rccardr for noting yours has spacers. I'm an old hand at triples, got everything oriented correctly as far as recesses go. I may scavenge the spacers from the biopace I'm not using right now. @Slash5 - yup, it came to me with all Sugino rings on it, though the large ring looks of a newer vintage than the other two. The middle and small look like the old rings I'm used to from the AT cranks I have. You can sorta see in the first photo above. First 'modern' XD crank I've ever had. Thanks to the two of you for the replies. Much appreciated.

Just for future reference, I grabbed some spacers off a biopace crankset to try. They are precisely 1.18mm thick. Stuck them under the middle ring of this XD and it still didn't shift the middle ring far enough toward the granny. Looks like spacers around 2mm would do it. Though I'm not a 'rivendell guy' -- I did find this thread out on their google group. That was about XD2's though. A .1mm spacer would do NOTHING for me.