right and if you treat it right that is any reasonable crankset you buy. If you don't treat it right then any crankset will crap out on you. given there are some things that seem easier to **** up, octalink for instance and others that may be much harder, megatorque, hollowtech II but really the longevity comes down to you knowing how much torque to apply to a bolt and not having freak accidents.


You asked if the cost was worth it. I answered, possibly since the extra $100+ plus dollars of pure bling is worth getting s75s over a (gasp) normal road crank then the further $100 plus of bling for the grand mighties might be too. Practically however, there is no real difference between any of the three for a normal person on a day to day bike especially if they are riding with soft soled shoes(which you may or may not be).

Forging is a process where a hot peice of extruded or cast metal is repeatadly smashed with huge force into shape. If you have ever seen one of those sweet old WW2 or industrial america videos of a factory where something red hot is being smashed by some huge machine, that's forging.

Forging gets the metal on the outside of the item stiffer and stronger than the metal deeper inside. This is especially useful for items under bending and torsional stresses which are highest at the outer most parts of the cross section. By forging something you are effectively making the material at the outside more resistant to the higher stresses it will see.

With that in mind, I would expect the Grand Mighty's to be much stiffer and stronger than the 75s. Not really an issue for street but if you're sprinting on the 'drome, go for the GM's.

That makes sense to me.

Spend the extra money.

Get the crank the big boys use because they know it will give them the performance they want.

Truly round and strong.

I suspect a Dura Ace crank weighs considerably less.

I've read conflicting reports on Dura Ace cranks: one side saying they work best for large riders who want a light crank; and the other side describing them as light but NOT suited to large riders. :)

I never hear any questions about either the Sugino 75 or the Grand Mighty.

If you have the money and like the champagne finish, by all means get the Grand Mighty and don't let anyone spoil it for you by disparaging them as "bling."

Sour grapes.

I ride for a variety of reasons and I love fixed gear with a passion.

I have experimented constantly with parts, dimensions, proportions and ratios; always looking for the extra increment of performance.

A little here, a little there.

It costs money.

If you have money, spend it.

You can't spend money or ride a beautiful bike after you die.

Do it while you live.

And, really, what a cost-effective hobby.

Rideable art.

It costs very little for excellence compared to skiing, paragliding, etc.

For those who don't have money but have their youth...good for you.

Don't waste it.

You'll probably make more money when you get older, but you can't buy your youth and health.

Just ride whatever bike you have and enjoy it.

For me, I take enormous pleasure not only from riding, but from analyzing it, analyzing the bike, the parts, the fit, the gear ratios...and then talking about it...and riding the thing.

What a hoot.

What else can you do at 60?

I guess I could get a Corvette and chase younger women.

How embarassing. :)

quite frankly ken cox after reading your ideal component list I think you are the last person any one should listen to as far as equipment choices go.

Slapping on the hippest components is about as far from an artistic achievement as anything I can think of.

Bling shouldn't be a spoiler unless you are unwilling to be honest with yourself or care whether or not I respect you. If knowing you have a "track" crankset or having people see your track crankset makes you happy fine. Don't try and dress it up as though you have seriously looked into the weight, stiffness and durability of all the cranksets available and discovered that for your uses the two sugino track options just happened to be the best.

Wanting a "real track" anything except a frame(maybe) is pretty much just a bling issue. these parts are not going to perform better then road stuff for most riders. In fact given the sorry state of track component technology and the specific use they are designed for they will often perform worse.

What about rear hubs, lockrings, and cogs?

Why does dutret feel the need to make personal comments about me all the time?

I don't get it.

Talk about the subject and leave me out of it.

Other people can figure me out for themselves.

They can figure out dutret for themselves without any help from me.

I come here to talk about fixed gear bikes and not about other people.

Not personal purely based on your often stated opinions on bikes and bike health. These just happen to be two things you harp on. One of which you are horribly wrong about the other your views are just bizarre on.

It depends does real track mean dura-ace, record, superbe etc or just anything capable of being a functional fixed gear hub, lockring and cog in this sense?

75s are stiffer... http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=184189

Like most bike parts, there is a definite point of diminishing returns as you go up the price scale. If you want to spend the extra money do so, but don't expect a huge difference in performance for the money.

here is a thread that might be helpful:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=202280

i read this whole thread and like every other thread lately, this has turned into another dutret centered thread advocating the use of the cheapest most base parts available just because dutret thinks its the right thing to do. its almost impossible look at threads in the forum and not correctly predict which ones you(dutret) will repeatedly bash on bikeforum users for their decisions and what those decisions are based upon.

i really hope you're not this droll and humorless in real life.

would anyone take RD's off a pista to put on a new frame or sell the pista with the RD and BB and get 75's .. this is what i have to decide soon.. any thoughts?

Stop talking about me.

Talk about bikes.

Tomity said that Grand Mighty's are actually flexier than 75's, and that the majority of Keirin riders use 75s instead of Mighty's. Tomity won't steer you wrong. MIghty's aren't worth the expense. Somebody find that post if you can. I think there was a thread just like this that it was in.

blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! ride your bikes!!!!!!!!!!!

this is why i hate you.

i say go with 75s. the grand mightys are 75s held to an insanely high technical standard and you probably won't notice the difference. its like buying a mac pro with 16 gigs of ram to check your email on.

rds are flex city, too.

Yeah, I tried to have him scheduled for a lobotomy but not knowing his real name or location made it difficult.

edit: do you hate him b/c he asks someone why they said something and why they think it's true?

Over and over again, again and again:

If you have the money, and you have the desire, buy what you want.

This isn't directed at the OP, because he asked for opinions, and he got them. Varied, diverse opinions. People shouldn't get bent out of shape over Dutret. Yeah, he's an advocate of utility, almost zealously so. But, at the end of the day, these are your bikes. That you enjoy. That you built. That you worked for. Let him have his sprung saddle and budget-componentry. Enjoy the ride.

Sometimes when I see some of these $4,000+ machines I get a little angry. Angry that I can't afford them for myself that is.

it's not like he doesn't have a point.

here's some dutret quotes:
"-The vast majority of cranks will die from user error not their own weakness. Longevity is therefore pretty much a non-issue
-Stiffness is also a non-issue on most bikes since the frame flex will dwarf crank flex.
-Last I checked chainring bolts are cheap and easily replaceable.
-Weight? what is the difference between 75's and RDs? "

here's some more a few hours later:
"Don't try and dress it up as though you have seriously looked into the weight, stiffness and durability of all the cranksets available and discovered that for your uses the two sugino track options just happened to be the best."

come on, man! are these non-issues or not??? you just pulled a 180 on the only argument you've made pertaining to the original post. i thought what ken cox had to say was very appropriate, and you've got out of your way to attack him personally multiple times in just this thread. we get it. you're here to start ****. i'm convinced you could really care less about what you say here, you just get a kick out of raining on everyone's parade. the internet is a joke, haha, we get it.
i'm 23. do i really need to be the one here to tell you to grow up?

ken, you've contributed some really great info here, and for every petty **** talker there's a hundred people that will read this later and follow up on it with the necessary research. thanks for helping out.

give me a couple of minutes.....i am gonna google a bunch of ****, then cut and paste it back here to sound like i know what the hell i am talking about....stop typing and ride your bike!!!!!!!!!!! I think that all of you guys should plan a meeting and talk **** to eachother just like you do on here....I am not just talking about this thread. I have been reading the fixie threads for days and laughing.... you know what?.......I don't know much **** about bike/parts/specs/mechanics/and whatnot/goolgleingpartsandandspecsandthenactinglikeiamanexpert. Y'all should suck a dong and just ride more! Respond how you wish and make fun of me, because I am never posting on this stupid thing again.....do you know why?.....Because I will probably be riding my bike instead. ( Disclaimer....I am not saying that everyone on here is a ******.....just probablly 50% of the people or so. Also, as you can tell from my posting name........my name is Daniel Keith Nugent........My Address is 1517 State St. ....New Haven, Ct.....06511.....my phone number is 203-809-1382......so if you wanna chat / make out / get your face punched in, you know how to get in touch with me.

Cheers and hop on your saddle!

Dan

Hey dannugent, come here to Bend, Oregon, and I'll take you to Parilla's and buy you a Bombay Coconut Curry Shrimp wrap.
You'll love it and we'll have a good time.

I already rode today, twice.

I had to work in between rides and now I need to go to bed.

My wife went to bed an hour ago, but I like fixed gear bikes so much that I'll stay up and write about 'em when I can't ride them.

My physical therapist rides a fixie conversion that he put together on an extremely tight budget.

Other physical therapists pay money to hear my therapist talk about physical therapist stuff, but he wants to open a nice clinic and so he saves every single penny he can.

Sometimes he keeps his bike leaned up against the wall inside his therapy room and I just look at it while we do whatever we do.

His bike has a purple lugged steel road frame with ragged layers of paint under the top purple coat.

It has homemade bullhorns and an upside down brake lever with the cable going up in the air before arcing down to the front brake (or does it go up in the air? why would it do that?).

He rides a 48 X 17 gear combo on 700 X 23 tires for 74.2 gear inches.

I ride a 53 X 19 gear combo on 700 X 23 tires for 73.3 gear inches.

We talk about it.

He sends me email pictures of bikes he likes.

We both ride, but not together.

I like to ride alone and explore.

reading this made me :)

thank you ken cox!

I think that things like you thinking that a low end steel frame with titanium bolts is ideal is relevant in regards to your ability to give good equipment advice. It's just so incredibly eccentric that it shows the complete and total lack of any desire or ability to measure parts by any sort of practicality or performance metric. This is not a personal attack unless your ti bolts are somehow an essential part of your nature. What you want on a bike and what I want on a bike are different. Fine.

Good job cutting off the next sentence from the first qoute. You know the one where I pointed out that if you really wanted the best performing crankset available you wouldn't buy a s75 or grand mighty.

Also what was your point with highlighting weight?

What about the thread where I said something was too ****ty to be worth dumping money into?
If you want really nice parts you can always buy them no matter what the reason. If you want to build a bike that will perform as well or better then anything else do it. Slapping a mish mash of the hipest parts is not going to lead to such a bike the only reason to do it is for bling factor.