I want to single-ize my favorite crankset, my TA cyclotourist for a commuter build. It's a triple now. Am I going to run into any problems with this, or is it as simple as just slapping a single chainring on there? It'll be a 1x8 with a chainguard to keep the chain from falling off, so I'm not too concerned about chainline. I seem to recall [MENTION=152773]noglider[/MENTION] did this with a TA with tiny crank arms, but I think that was an IGH setup.

Might as well fix the chainline while you have the crank off. Shouldn't be too hard to measure what you have and order a BB with the right length.

It's moving to a different frame anyway. Do I just shoot for the middle of the cassette?

Outer minus the others will do . BB length is what you pick for the chain line.

maybe just move the outer to the inside of the right crank arm. rather than fitting it thru the chainring.

Yup, it's that simple. The outer ring attaches to the arm. The inner one attaches to the outer one, so just don't put an inner one on.

I am doing the same thing, for a vintage look Klunker (1946 Schwinn DX), and the TA cranks look perfect and "period correct", but I don't want a front derailleur.

Additionally, after a bit of math, if I use the master ring on the front (53), I would need to use a completely silly rear freewheel that looks like a spoke guard. So, I am cutting off each of the six arms, radiusing the ends, and bolting the middle ring (44) only to what is remaining, like an external spider. I think this will look Klunkerish, without being obtrusive or silly, and have a good chainline

Alternatively, I think you or I could bolt a TA "copy", Ticinoi, on the the 5 bolt arm itself, available in a 42.

Although the Ticoni could arguably be a few mm outward on the chainline, but going from 44 to 42 might let you ride on 16 instead of 18 in the rear, curing itself.

That would probably work... if you're going with a standard single-speed rear hub, I'd shoot for 42mm between the centerline of the seat tube and the chainring.

Noglider's not the only one


Works a charm, and you can mount the ring on the inside or outside of the crank arm, helping out with chainline and chainguard clearance issues. Another trick you can do, if you're real close and don't want to pony up for a new, longer spindle, is add a spacer or two between the fixed cup and the bottom bracket. That's what I ended up doing. Good enough for now, until I get a new, longer spindle.

Yes, lots of people have singlicized TA cranks. Here's mine. I did not change the BB, and the chain line is not perfect with the SA IGH, but it's close enough. The Q factor is still ridiculously low anyway, like 135mm.



You can find yourself a large outer ring (at least several teeth larger than your desired single ring, which would be the inner ring) and mill down the teeth, turning it into a chain guard. I've seen this done to TA cranks and it works very nicely!

Mmm, mmm, I love black chain guards with TA cranks. Conjures images of those pre-war Citroens. That's a nice setup, I'd like to see the whole bike.

I'm actually going with an 8 speed cassette with a rear derailleur. Considering the middle chainring position works pretty well now with the entire range of the freewheel as a triple, I'll probably take the above advice and mount an outer ring to the inside.

Or guy with Nervar, the poor man's TA:

I'm pretty sure that @randyjawa has a how to on this on his website. Google "my ten speeds" if you haven't seen it already. TA chain rings and repros are pretty widely available if you don't want to cut it, though.

D'oh, I've had FG/SS on the brain lately. Yeah -- shoot for the middle of the cassette.

Here ya go: (Lambert).

Guy Nervar, Private Eye.

Hey, I own that bike now, don't i?

1 X 2 IGH with a bash ring.

anther single TA chainring user here. Sorry for the crappy pic, not to mention the lose chain

I didn't know you could bolt the chainring to the inside of the crankarm. That info may come in handy someday, thank you.

I don't know. Once they leave my fleet, they're dead to me.

Hey @noglider and @southpawboston, what spindle length are you running on yours? I'm moving from a french-threaded frame to and english-threaded, so I'll have to replace the BB.

Also paging [MENTION=73614]rhm[/MENTION], [MENTION=111179]-holiday76[/MENTION], and [MENTION=280039]Lascauxcaveman[/MENTION], plus anyone else I've missed.

Pretty sure I've got the standard TA 118mm spindle for TA doubles. I could go narrower now with the single, a 114 would do the trick, but with such a low Q factor one might start worrying about heel strike against the chain stays with a spindle length much less than 118mm.

I don't know. The Viscount is using the original Viscount BB, and I didn't measure it.