BluesDawg

a) yes. The Sugino OX601 crank's chainrings are 9-10 speed compatible. I'm running 11 speed on mine with no problems.
b) no. A Shimano Hollowtech II BB will work, but not Octalink.

TimothyH

@BluesDawg is right. Octalink will not work. It is completely different.


-Tim-

babybabe

Thanks, gents! I'll pop in a hollowtech if/when I take the plunge.

TimothyH

Some clarification...

Hollowtech is the marketing name for hollow crank arms as shown in the photo below. This has nothing to do with bottom brackets or how the cranks attach to the bike. All Shimano 105, Ultegra and Dura Ace crank arms produced now are Hollowtech. I don't know about others.




Hollowtech II includes hollow crank arms but also refers to the way the cranks attach to the bike. Two piece cranks with the spindle integrated into the drive side crank spider use a bottom bracket with outboard bearings as shown in the photo below.





Octalink refers to the way cranks attach to the bike. It is a marketing name for two piece cranks with no spindle. The spindle is integrated into the bottom bracket and has eight splines which mate with the crank spider and no-drive side crank arm.




Cranks can be Hollowtech and use either the Octalink or Hollowtech II mounting system.

I have a track bike with Dura Ace Hollowtech cranks and Octalink bottom bracket.


-Tim-

babybabe

Thanks for clarifying, Tim. This bike was built in 2003 with a 105 Hollowtech crank (53/39) and the octalink bb. I understand now that I need a bb with outboard bearings and no spindle. After more reading I see that the Sugino includes a bottom bracket. That should make things easy.

On another note, the Sugino, White Industries, and FSA cranksets all seem expensive, but if I can extend my road rides and more easily get to places that I suffer to get to now, it's well worth the initial cost.

Thanks again for the info!

TimothyH

Yep, they make it easy.

My fixed gear bike has Dura Ace track cranks with DA Octalink bottom bracket. Super stiff.

Wheever

Hey all you fellow old spinners! I saw this article and thought of this thread. I really like the idea of keeping my Ultegra crank and swapping in these smaller chainrings!

absoluteBLACK sub-compact and premium oval chainrings | Road Bike News, Reviews, and Photos

Planemaker

Thanks for sharing the link. The champagne would go great with my Ti bike.

An all in price looks somewhere around $210.

I wonder how the weight of the rings compares to the Shimano rings.

Planemaker

I'm looking at the 46/30 for my gravel bike. Doing some research and asking a few questions. It seems as though with oval chainrings if one blows up a RD with oval rings, the drive train can't be converted to single speed.

Wheever

I don't think these are oval rings. The piece talks about two different new products: the sub-compacts and oval rings.

Marcus_Ti

Negative...Check out the photo of the 30T ring, note the asymmetry of the bolt drilling WRT the teeth and BCD. Those are ovular. All Absolute Black sells as far as chainrings are oval rings.

Product page is up:

https://absoluteblack.cc/oval-road-c...-for-110-4bcd/

Tool bad. Would be nice to run a normal Hollowtech2 BB and crank with 46/30. Not this time.

Wheever

Aw crap. You are correct. Them's oval. That's such a drag.

jppe

Who has ridden oval rings? What did you think?

Planemaker

I've not ridden them but, know a guy on the Panaracer Gravel Team who loves them. He had to quit using them because of not being able to convert to single speed if a RD blows up and they are not compatible with eTAP.


Where I ride if I were to blow up an RD,I'd be in for a long hike out which is a show stopper for me. For the person who doesn't have this worry, they might be the ticket.

FWIW - I think the cost of the FSA SL-K Adventure crank less the resale value of the Ultegra Crank would be about the same price as these rings.

BluesDawg

Not that the chance of destroying a rear derailleur is non existent nor that an oval chainring would make converting to an emergency singlespeed more difficult, but I think the likelihood of this occurrence is relatively small. In the situation that this did happen, I can see how there could be performance limitations to running singlespeed with oval chainrings, but I sure think I could manage to ride myself back to civilization. I would think that the limitations of not having sliding rear dropouts or an eccentric bottom bracket would be a bigger factor than oval chainrings.

Planemaker

Picking up my upgraded Litespeed gravel bike today. I finally decided on the FSA SL-K 46/30 Adventure Crank.


I should be able to ride this weekend and report back.

Marcus_Ti

Nice. What group set did you settle on? I forgot

Planemaker

I've got an Ultegra

DougG

on that -- it's what I have on my Felt VR5.

Planemaker

I got my first ride in today and there will be an adjustment period. I need to figure out when it's best to be in the 30 ring on the front (I wasn't downshifting enough). Also, I learned two things

1. because the FD was lowered instead of being able to get a 45 maximum tire on, it will now be a 42 or 43 (not a huge deal).
2. When in maximum cross chain position (little/little), the angle of the chain is such that the chain will hit the rivets on the 46 ring. LBS said that they could put in a spacer and change the chain line but, that might make the big/big combo noisy. My initial reaction is no big deal because if I'm cross chained that badly, I should have shifted to the big ring sooner (I'd be looking at a double shift with little/littler). The issue could also be that the LBS didn't use EVO 386 spacers so, if we were to put in the those spacers the chain line would improve.

I actually liked the carbon cranks and when I get used to shifting, I'm going to be good to go. Finally, I was stressing over the fact that the crank length is 175 vs. 172.5 on the old cranks and I can honestly say that I could not tell the difference.

rm -rf

My bike with a 30/39/52 and a 12/29 cassette can get up to maybe 17 mph on the 30 chainring.

My Ultegra 50/34 does the same thing, a ticking noise when in the small-small cross chain. IThe chain is hitting the pickup pins on the big chainring. Not a problem, just a reminder to get out of that cross chain soon.

The 175 cranks are only 2.5 mm longer. And you get 1.4% easier gears! Heh, you might want to lower your saddle 2mm?

Planemaker

Thanks for the information.

This is why I like this place.

DougG

1. You lost me here. Are you saying that the FD position is related to the max tire width? Please explain.

2. I've had chain rub in a number of max-cross-chaining combos. On my bike with the 46/30 it happens like yours in the small-small combo and there's a little derailleur rub in the large-large as well. I avoid both combos on general principles :-). I also found that my new gearing lets me ride 95% or more of the time just on the bigger ring. There aren't many hills on the paved roads around here that I can't handle on the larger ring, but sometimes find myself in the big-big combo that I'd like to avoid!

On the crank length, I got mine with the same 172.5 arms as was on my OEM crank, although I've often rolled my eyes at how non-professional riders could ever really feel the difference between such minor measurement differences as a couple of millimeters of crank arm length, seat height, stem length, etc.

TimothyH

Have the Absolute Black 46/30 chainrings for Shimano cranks been mentioned yet?
-Tim-

Planemaker

They were discussed a week or so ago. I briefly considered them but, it's my understanding that oval rings don't convert to single speed in the case an RD fails on the road. I've seen too many blown RD's in gravel rides to take the chance of a long walk.

My information regarding a conversion to a single speed is from somebody on my team. Others may have a different view.