I saw this beautiful crankset on an older Italian bike that had mostly campy stuff on it.

Nervar?

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NERVAR Star from the firm Etablissements Peyrard, of St. Etienne, France

this is the first generation

it received a cosmetic revision for the 1976 model year but all parts interchange between the "G1" & "G2" editions



below is the later type -


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Could it be a Nervar Star?

Whoops, jervela and merziac got there before me…

Definitely Nervar Star. I had a set on my first "quality" bike. Paid $20 to upgrade from the cottered crank it came with.



Sorry for the fuzzy picture, bestg I could do back in 1977

Very underrated little crankset. Light as heck and usually very non-French compliant! Normal extraction threads too.

since OP has the dust caps (or at least one) my 2¢ is
clean the threads with alcohol and apply a drop or 2 of LocTite (Blue or Purple) and maybe you'll always have those caps!

IMO only downside to the Nervar Star is the uncommon BCD(s) the early Gen used 122 bcd and later Gen used 128 bcd (which DOES allow use of some Stronglight rings, maybe some other FR brands that made a variety like TA?)

Are you sure about that? I (vaguely) remember it opposite, that they were 128 at first, with some 122 mm ones later. 128 is close enough to use 130 rings with some filing, not ideal but do-able. 122 of course is a perfect match with Stronglight 93 and similar (49, 57, 63, 104 et al.)

Funny [MENTION=381793]gugie[/MENTION] put them on his Super Course — me too! (not hashtag me too, just regular me too). Mine is a '71. I rode it for a while with cottered steel but when I went to work in the bike shop in '71 or '72 (I forget), my first paycheck went to a Nervar Star. It came in a display box with the matching recesses in the styrofoam liner, super classy with the cups and axle all laid out in a "buy me!" pose... Mine had been water-damaged, some corrosion on part of the crank, which is the only way I could afford it even with my employee discount, but I was super-stoked anyway.

A couple years later, Raleigh made a SC that came with Nervar cotterless, but it was steel cotterless, and the spider was swaged-on, not forged integral like the Star. I pitied the fools who bought that! Even at 14 y.o. I was a bike snob.

I didn't know the brand, but guessed it was French. Don't ask me why, there's just something about the aesthetic.

of course...
Not.
I recalled there being 2 BCDs for Nervar Star and checked on Velobase, where there is some contradictory info!

But then found this entry by none other than our own Chas, and he agrees with our own Bulgie, so... end of story!
"These are the earlier model Nevar Star cranks from the Bike Boom era of the early 1970s. They take proprietary 128mm BCD chainrings. The later version from the late 70's used 122mm BCD chainrings - the same as Stronglight."

Revisiting your photo, I have a couple questions:


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1. Why doesn't it have "Nervar Star" stamped into the outer face, below the extractor hole? Did it have it once but it got rubbed off?
2. Does the guy in the background know his pants have fallen down? I mean no disrespect, if that's a fashion statement. Ya gotta "do you".

Hmm, I always lubed the threads, to ensure they come out easily when the time comes. Anti-seize is probably best, but I use whatever's handy, such as grease or a med-heavy oil. Never had one come loose accidentally. As a mechanic working on other people's bikes, I've found them seized up too badly to extract non-destructively, so I'm twice shy about preventing them seizing. I note the OP's cap is already slightly damaged in the hex-key hole, so we want to keep the torque there as low as possible. I thread them in barely more than finger-tight.

The cap in the original pic appears to not be stamped with the Nervar name. All the ones I have (about 4 caps, maybe more) have the name stamped in. Makes me wonder if this was a "private label" or house brand crank that Nervar made for another company.

"I'd like a new belt, please."

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[MENTION=160106]bulgie[/MENTION] have seen other machines fitted with the G1 Star OEM where the set was like the one in the OP's image with no marking

always assumed this may have been an option at the OEM level but no hard information


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my experience is opposite: I've seen so many come unscrewed and lost I have lost count! But also hate it when they are so cemented in you have to ruin the cap to get it out!

I also generally follow the "grease all threads" rule of thumb, except when easily lost bits are concerned such as crank and pedal dustcaps or the notorious Sun Tour barcon slotted locknuts!

I find LocTite will both "glue" the threads (but not too tight for removal when it's time) plus form a moisture barrier that prevents corrosion/galling as well as grease does. Since I started using the "low strength" Purple it has become my choice for most bicycle applications. Cleaning the threads is a critical step for LocTite (any color) so it's a bit more involved than greasing.

As with so many topics:
YMMV

That's a *great* upgrade list on that receipt.
How did you decide - did you already know or did the LBS suggest?

I was 15 at the time, didn't know squat about different cranksets, I just knew a steel cottered one was "low quality", and and wanted an alloy crankset. That's what they sold me.

I noticed one more thing. The ones stamped Nervar, in this thread and the other one ("122 BCD Nervar Star?"), all have a plain smooth finish to the recesses on the spider arms. Only this one without the stamping has the pebbly finish on the spider recesses. I don't remember ever seeing another one with the pebbles there.

I have the Never crankset on my 1974 Follis and it is stamped Star.

Here's one of mine that I triplized, "Campy style", but at 86 mm BCD for a Stronglight 99 granny.



It's 175 mm too, so a bit of a unicorn. They're out there... I have another 175 mm set too, haven't decided yet what to do with it.

And now we know the historically-correct building to buy to set up the long-awaited Museo di Gugie!

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yes, but will it have adequate square footage to house both workshop and collection?


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Im quite impressed you still have these kind of paper records.
I bet you have no evidence issues if your ever audited by the IRS

Well, outside of my birth certificate, this is the oldest record I have, for sentimental reasons. It's in on of those things we used to call "photo albums," if you can remember that far back.