triplebutted

Project is getting more complicated. Stupid steel "eclair" cranks has a slightly bent spider.
Anyway, what are my alternatives to decent aluminum 70's and 80's cranksets that aren't Stronglight expensive?
Gonna get ride of this cotter pin crank and bottom bracket. Ugh. Fun to work on, but I wanna ride the bike, not look at it

I'm open to a Japanese crank as long as it has that classic look to it.

mkeller234

Hmm... Nervar maybe? Some of the older sugino cranks have a Campy copy look to them...

3alarmer 

You might consider straightening your
"slightly bent" spider. With steel, such
things used to be done pretty regularly
with reasonably good results.

Mike Larmer

triplebutted

Gonna do that while I'm looking...
Already got some of it. I think the chainring is bent from the abuse of that spider as well. Well, something to do to pass the time while looking around.

bobbycorno

Depending on how you define "classic look", there's a lot of stuff available on the 'bay new, used and NOS that should do the job. And, once in a while, you can strike gold: I just picked up a TA Cyclotouriste crank for $75 on CL. It only had the outer ring, but the arms and ring were both the size I wanted. So unless you're in a big rush to finish the project, have patience, Grasshopper. And keep your eyes open.

SP
Bend, OR

triplebutted

I wanted to get it done fast but now, I have so many stuff to do to it, that I'm putting it on hold and waiting, watching, googling, CL'ing for the right stuff. Wanna see how much Mafac full gum levers are going for. I might just get basic Dia Compe levers. But a nice drivetrain is worth waiting for.

PDXaero

Stronglight TS cranks are cheap and french.
Regularly $40 or less with rings.

Noah Scape

That's a really good suggestion!

bobbycorno

Just make sure the rings are good, 'cause they're like hens' teeth.

SP
Bend, OR

Chris W.

I really like the look of Nervar crank arms (50.4 bcd) with T.A. rings. I also have been seeing Nervar "star" (122 bcd) chainsets on ebay lately, they look nice, but you are limited on your chainring sizes.

Cheers,
Chris

Chombi

Yup, Nervar sound like a cheaper alternative. They were usually installed on cheaper Gitane models in the 80's with swaged on spiders. It does not neccesarily mean they're crap as I think they held up well enough to "regular" use.

Chombi

Robofunc

Fwiw, I've got two sets of nervar cranks like them very much.

Chris W.

The "better" Nervar crank arms were all one piece (forged?) rather than swaged, I'd stick with a cottered chainset before going with a cheaper swaged chainset, but I'm kind of a snob that way....

Cheers,
Chris

gerv 

But the crank puller will cost you $50.

nlerner

You can often get Stronglight 99 cranksets at decent prices. The later models also used standard crank pullers.

Neal

triplebutted

Ahh, the wacky French

gerv 

Still, the US still uses English system measurements while they rest of the world has moved on... so it's hard to fault the French.... at least with a straight face.

vintagebicycle

When you look at French threading vs. some others, most French threads are simply common metric threads, nothing odd, just not what others used. French pedals are 14x1.25, the same thread diameter and pitch of most automotive spark plugs. It's the 9/16" threads on other Euro cranks that are out of place.
This doesn't mean that they couldn't have followed everyone else's standard sizing, but they could have got on board with it a bit earlier and made everyone's life a bit simpler. I always sort of thought that the French bikes were more consistent in their sizing, every thing was metric, while on an American or British bike, you could have a combination of thread styles. US threaded pedals, metric threads elsewhere, and then we have Whitworth, where does that fall into odd sizes?

As to the original post, if you looking to keep it all French, your choices are Stronglight, TA Specialties, Nervar, Solida, and Spidel. If you looking to keep it all looking original, then you should be able to find a good used set of cottered Nervar cranks online for pretty reasonable, they don't command big money yet.

triplebutted

Toche! Oh wait, that's French!

Captain Blight

I really like Nervar, a lot of it was very strong and light. I have two sets of Nervar "star" and one Cyclotouriste clone, like them all, they work well and take a ludicrous polish.

BTW Nervar BCD is 128.5, one can almost get 130mm rings to fit by themselves and with a *little* Dremel work, you *can* (and no one will ever know...).

JohnDThompson 

And there's Campagnolo, with their bizarre, mutant 36mm x 24tpi bottom brackets, and 10mm x 26tpi derailleur hangers and rear axles, and so on...