Capecodder

Anyone know anything about this crankset? I picked it up yesterday, and it came complete with 52t-40t rings and bolts. It was new old stock, and looks pretty good. How old and where in the Sugino lineup did this fall? I got it complete for $10.00

robatsu

They made tons of variants on the Sugino maxy for years and years. A lot were made for fuji and branded that way. Some people will deprecate them a little because they have a press-fit spider. In some cases, you will see the spider is the entire big ring.

Some of these go for a lot of dough for the BMX guys especially if 165mm and anodized a bright color.

I've had them on a few bikes, they are fine. The typical bottom bracket spindle that came with these is not hollow and has a threaded extension for mounting - you just put on an end nut when mounting the crank rather than a bolt into a threaded hole in the spindle.

They did make some nicer hollow spindles for these, I think I still have one around.

The width of the bearing races on the spindles on these is different than the other typical sugino mighty-esque bottom brackets, so you can't interchange pieces between these bottom brackets.

Yours looks like a rather early version from the "Maxy" casting mark and the arm profile.

Capecodder

Thanks..... The arms are 171mm and it does have the (none hollow spindle). Is the spider pressed on or part of the arm, it's hard to tell but if it's pressed it's perfect. Not bad for ten bucks.

robatsu

Spider is typically pressed on on all the ones I've ever seen.

JohnDThompson 

The "Maxy" moniker covered a wide range of models, but all of them had the spider swaged onto the arm rather than being forged as a single unit as on more high-end cranks.

ColonelJLloyd 

I'm not certain every crank they branded "Maxy" was swaged, but certainly the majority of them were. Capecodder's looks to be a late 70s version.

I recently put this one on a build for a friend. I'm pretty sure it was stamped "Maxy" on the back of the crank arms.

unworthy1

I think Capecodder's is a later Maxy, but not the last of the line. As JohnD says there were many varients but nearly all had swaged arms. Here's a pic of what I consider the early (most common) Maxy: as well this Super Maxy that's a copy of the TA Cyclotouriste which may be one that doesn't have a swaged connection (but maybe does).
(pics courtesy of Velobase)
I recall there was an early version made by SR that was similar in construction to the early 3-arm but had big circular cutouts in the swaged-on big ring. Can find a pic of it, so I may remember it wrong.

Capecodder

so, does swaged = junk? Do they ever come free allowing the crankarm to rotate but not the chainring?

ColonelJLloyd 

Not in my book. Even the 600 Arabesque cranks are swaged. I've never heard of one failing. I'm sure there have been instances, but I don't think it's something to be concerned about.

Capecodder

I never knew the 600 Arabesque cranks were swaged, and I love those. Learn something new every day.

Sixty Fiver

This crank is a time bomb... better send it to me for disposal.

cobrabyte

Cololen; your cranks look like they are the "Super Mighty" not the "Maxy"...I could be wrong though...
Here is a version of the "mighty", notice the spider doesn't have cutouts like yours, I think that's why yours gets the "super" and mine are just "mighty" lol

1981 Trek 613 by (cobrabyte), on Flickr

here is a version of the "maxy" crank, this one is on my Gitane:

1977 Gitane Olympic Record II by (cobrabyte), on Flickr

Sixty Fiver

The OP's cranks are Maxy... they are actually very nice cranks as are the Mighty.

JohnDThompson 

This looks more like a "Mighty Tour"



The "Maxy" version of this crank, as seem in the first post, has a steel spider swaged onto the aluminum arm. This crank appears to be a single forged aluminum unit.

enso88

You sure about that? I just looked at two 600 arebesque crankset of mine and they both have cast spyders

mparker326

It isn't swaged. I've got one and it takes TA rings as well as the stock Sugino ones.

Not the ones that I have.

Chris_in_Miami

I frequently see these described as "Moxy" cranks in craigslist and ebay ads This crank set came on my '77 Trek:

ColonelJLloyd 

Yes. The one I had was indeed swaged.

mparker326

That one looks older than mine.

Piff 

Rise...Rise!

I know it's an old thread, but does anyone know the proper bottom bracket spindle length for these cranks? I bought some Suntour Road Vx cranks, and, according to an old advert, they're interchangeable with the Maxy. Which is good, because I can find hardly any info on Vx cranks.

So, anyone know a good spindle length? I'm assuming it'll be somewhere around 120mm.

Edit: I found this spindle on looses crews, 124mm Sugino Maxy spindle. Seems like the right size. I'll confirm or deny once the cranks arrive.

https://www.loosescrews.com/product/sugino-3s-maxy-bb-spindle-bolt-type/
​​​​​​

dddd

I think you are right about the spindle length, but many cup/cone spindles feature an additional driveside offset of a millimeter or three.

If you bought a 118 or 120mm symmetric bottom bracket you could still add a cup spacer if the clearance was tight between chainring and chainstay.
I try pretty hard to reduce the chainline dimension using the shortest-possible bottom bracket (and by reducing the rear axle driveside spacing to it's permissible minimum), this allows fuller use of ratios while staying in the big ring.
On the bike pictured below, I remember using a much shorter bb spindle (118mm symmetric?) than the factory had installed (121mm plus offset?), and it works perfectly.


Reading through this thread, I will note that there were both swaged and one-piece versions of the 600 Arabesque cranksets, likely to meet different OEM-order price requirements. My SR Semi-Pro has the two-piece swaged variety but my Bianchi Super has the one-piece version. I believe the ones sold aftermarket in boxes were all one-piece for the US market at least.

Flying G

2 weeks ago, I broke the drive side crank off a Maxy swagged 3 bolt ring. Granted, it was not a high end crankset but it did last 30 years until that particular gravel ride. Was trying to climb a sort incline over shifting stones and the rear wheel started slipping so I went into stand-up and grunt mode and that was the end of the crank!

Now I’m trying to decide whether to replace it with a Stronglight 93, 96 or a rare TA triple crankset. Next to a good stash of TP, a good collection of bike parts is a prepper’s dream.

Quarantine time is perfect for upgrading your N collection of bikes!

niliraga 

I've seen Arabesques both ways - although I very rarely find the swaged ones. Not sure if it was an evolution over time or from some "second tier" version of the line.

Piff 

Thanks for the input, fellas. I've never used a swaged crank before, but I doubt my calves have the wattage to make it an issue.

Here's the cranks that are coming in the mail, I think they'll look right at home on my Raleigh super course mk.ii. They're surely just rebranded sugino maxy cranks.

clubman 

I like those, not too common.