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Crank spin question

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Old 07-19-11 | 10:07 PM
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Crank spin question

Last night I was doing some bike maintenance on my daughter's BMX bike and my Giant. With the chain on I noticed that the crank on the bmx would spin around several times with just one big backwards throw, while the crank on my bike would only spin about 1 1/2 times around. Is this normal?

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Old 07-19-11 | 10:26 PM
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Friction caused by the RD and its subsequent pulleys. BMX cranks only have the rear sprocket/cog to work with. I can't back that up, I just pulled that out of my ass
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Old 07-19-11 | 11:42 PM
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It's correct, though.
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Old 07-20-11 | 09:25 AM
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That makes sense. Thanks.
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Old 07-20-11 | 09:35 AM
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Originally Posted by pgjackson
one big backwards throw, ?
?

Originally Posted by tagaproject6
Friction caused by the RD and its subsequent pulleys. BMX cranks only have the rear sprocket/cog to work with. I can't back that up, I just pulled that out of my ass
Tis the BF way.
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Old 07-20-11 | 09:36 AM
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Originally Posted by pgjackson
one big backwards throw, ?
?

Originally Posted by tagaproject6
Friction caused by the RD and its subsequent pulleys. BMX cranks only have the rear sprocket/cog to work with. I can't back that up, I just pulled that out of my ass
Tis the BF way.
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Old 07-20-11 | 10:00 AM
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Originally Posted by rollin
?


Meaning, spin the crank backwards forcefully.
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Old 07-20-11 | 10:30 AM
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On my roadbike with Campy group I can give cranks a light spin and they'll spin several times - the bb feels like it has no friction at all. I think it should spin more freely than what you described.
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Old 07-20-11 | 10:35 AM
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Originally Posted by markwebb
On my roadbike with Campy group I can give cranks a light spin and they'll spin several times - the bb feels like it has no friction at all. I think it should spin more freely than what you described.
Is that with the chain on?
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Old 07-20-11 | 10:47 AM
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Yup. Spins smooth as can be. I have found that Shimano FSA etc don't spin as friction-free so it may depend on bb and maintenance level of bb.
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Old 07-20-11 | 11:11 AM
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I have found that the freewheel can have a huge effect on how the crankset spins. With one wheel mine only spins once or twice, with a different wheel it will spin several times. Pretty simple to decide if it is the freewheel limiting the spin or the bb. Just take the chain off.
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Old 07-20-11 | 11:58 AM
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Originally Posted by tagaproject6
I can't back that up, I just pulled that out of my ass
This goes without saying...you don't actually need to type it.
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