Yesterday I bought a set of cranks that look like this:



Then I saw this:

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/bbsize.html#ofmega

Is this completely true? I quickly fitted them to a TA and a Stronglight axle I had laying around and it seemed like a tight fit. Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks.

That's the first I've ever heard of that. I hate to harbor any doubts about the veracity of the redoubtable Mr. Brown's info...but I'm doubting this until I see proof. I know I have owned that same crankset (or one that looked the same) in the past, and probably used an Avocet/Ofmega BB with it, but I've never seen a Campy-copy crank that didn't fit a Campy-taper (pre '94) spindle. Show us a picture, with a digital caliper, oh ye who know the truth

I have a friend who has that self same crankset, and used it on a Campy BB. I don't recall he had any problems, unless for some reason he lied about the BB.

Hmm, well, like I said, seemed to fit quite snugly on an iso taper TA BB axle. There was no play. I'm gonna give it a go. It would be nice to hear Sheldon chime in...

I have a crank just like that (beautiful polish and light) but I haven't used it because of that Sheldon posting. Please let us know how it works on the campy spindle (Edit) I mean ISO spindle.

Paul

I'm using a shimano 600 crank on a stronglight BB spindle.

I'll keep you posted. I got the set this weekend at a swap for $5. They had been "singleized" (back tabs removed), which is fine, because they are for a SS townie style bike.

I guess the worse that could happen is they could spin off and I could crash into an oil tanker and explode hollywood style.

I really need to get a check on my imagination.

Yeah, we've all been THERE, huh?
But seriously, folks...I snooped around and found the same message quoted from Sutherlands 6th edition ( and THEY aren't usually wrong, either) but note it applies to a certain "indented marking" model of Avocet crank/spindle...wanna guess if that's yours?
According to Sutherland:

"Ofmega and older (indented marking) Avocet spindles and cranks: spindle
end and crank hole are narrower than others; <bold>do not
interchange</bold>..."
Seems like a quick measurement with a digi-caliper would tell what we need to know, before risking any more explosions (and freeway meldowns).

^ So fill me in since I've never had to do this before. Should I just measure the inside of the smallest part of the crank arm?

What is a normal measurement anyway. I have an old pair of tourney cranks I guess I could compare it to.

Guess it's easier done than said (that's what technical writers are for) but here's how I'd do it:
note how far "inboard" the end of a proper-fitting spindle sits in its proper crank hole. Measure the hole at that point and measure the end of that spindle...compare those measurements (which will match each other, BTW) with any crank and spindle in question.

I never heard of Avocet cranks. What is the bolt circle diameter? Will Shimano road chainrings fit? Inquiring minds want to know!

These (made by Ofmega in Italy) are the old Campy standard 144 BCD, so Shimano rings will not fit. Howsomever, I recall there was a touring/triple version of this crank that had the spider arms tapped for a smaller inner ring...anybody know what BCD of those rings were?

Avocet was I think an offshoot of Palo Alto bikes, at least they were housed above the store years ago. I had one of their triples, it was a copy of the Campagnolo triple with the inner chainring mouting in the middle of the spider. As far as my experience, Avocet always fit Campagnolo spindles.

I have one of these, and it's tapped in two places, once for a standard 74mm BCD ring, and once for an Ofmega/Avocet specific 102mm BCD ring. I'm not sure if the crank came like this, or if it was a modification by the previous owner, but the ring that was installed when I got it was a 74mm.

Yep, now that you mention it, I remember they were factory-tapped like that in 2 places for 2 different BCDs...thanks for sharing the knowledge, Snordalisk. I guess you could have turned one from a Triple into a Quad if you were so inclined...