Best crank for the money
 

Looking to build up a commuter and have narrowed it down to a couple steel frames (something from Soma, maybe a Gunnar). Anyway, I'm keeping an eye out for good prices on a crank for said build and not sure what to consider. I have a Rival group (force crank) one my caad and love it, and was thinking a Rival crank would be a good option but they are a bit pricey still. Have heard mixed reviews on some FSA cranks and the Sram Apex. Anyone have experience with these? What else might should I be considering? Something around $100 (new or lightly used) would be great but for something really worthwhile I'd bump that up to the $150 range. Rival cranks are closer to $200 and not sure that's worthwhile. Thanks.

Oh, looking for 175-180 length and compact 50/34.

Tiagra or 105. I'm not sure if you can get them in 180, but mine are 175.

See my shill-a-riffic post here: :p
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post13222029

Rival on ebay

I have two FSA Gossamer cranksets, one compact and one triple. I like the cranks, but the bottom brackets wear out way too quickly (both gave me trouble at ~2500 miles). Fortunately, they are compatible with Shimano and Dura-Ace was cheaper than the FSA replacement.

Wow. 2500 miles. If you had it to do over again, would you just use the Gossamer, throw away the existing BB, and put in a Dura-Ace to begin with?

Yeah, that's what I've been checking. 175-180 compact cranks are few and far between and most seem to be asking upwards of $200. I can buy a new one from Manitou bikes for $175 and maybe elsewhere. I don't think I'd buy used on ebay unless I could get it for under $100.

Yours too, eh? The FSA BB on my JTS started seizing up at 3000 km. Thought maybe I was unlucky, but now I wonder if it's a common problem. I have no other complaints about the crank set, but I don't know enough to recommend one over another.

I have about 7,000 miles on my FSA BB with no problems. I would like to try and Dura-Ace crank and BB to see if it improved shifting on my Cervelo RS.

Nah. The BB was fine while it lasted. In fact, the opposite cup went bad on my second crankset, and now I'm using a mix-and-match set of the two good cups.

I should also mention that both failed bottom brackets were subjected to some muddy CX racing. That's always a severe test of bearing seals.