New Silver or Grand Cru Crankset?

[Michael Hechmer]

I have been holding off on my desire for a new crankset ever since the rumor of a new Silver crank from RBW, but am getting tired of waiting.  Has anyone heard if these are immanent?

The alternative might be the nice looking Grand Cru.  If so, the Velo website suggests a 124 BB, which seems pretty big to me.  I have a PW 119 in my parts box and wonder if that wouldn't work on a bike with 130 dropouts and not overly large stays?

Michael

[Jon Doyle]

The Grand Cru crank arms do need a long spindle due to the low-profile design. A shorter spindle may clear the chainstays, but it also may cause the crankarm to strike the chain in high gears.

Jon

[Wayne Naha]

I believe that the new Silver cranks are due in March, or thereabouts.  So, not real soon. 

[George Schick]

Probably makes a difference whether it's a double or triple.  I bought one of the Grand Cru doubles this past year and I love it.  It went on to a Rambouillet with 130mm spacing (well…132.5mm I guess they call it) along with a 119mm PW BB and everything fits together just fine.  In fact, VO recommends a 118mm for this crankset, but recommends a 124mm for the triple, so if that's what you've got I'd be inclined to trust their advice.  With the BB pretty much centered in the BB shell both crank arms measure just about the exact same distance from their respective chain stays.  And I just checked - VO still has their blue light special for the double marked down to $140 from the usual $190 (unfortunately, I bought mine before the price went into effect).

[Aaron Young]

If I remember correctly I saw the Silver cranks on the Clem's at Rivelo in Portland. I didn't take pics though so can't share.  

-Aaron Young

The Dalles, OR

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[N. Llama]

The Grand Cru triple is just the double with a 110/74 tripilizer on it, which is why the wider BB is needed compared to a Sugino Triple

Nathan Spratt

Victoria, BC

[sameness]

If the Silver crankset you're waiting on is the same as the one spec'd on the Clems, it looks to me like the older version of the FSA Vero (or whomever made it for them) with an Andel chainring guard.

Not trying to bust a sale from RBW, just trying to be helpful if you can't wait.

Jeff Hagedorn
Los Angeles, CA USA

[George Schick]

BB spindle length mystery for the Grand Cru solved!!

Thanks Nathan

[islaysteve]

In addition to the sale price on the Grand Cru, VO has everything on 20% discount until the 15th I believe. Another lister here alerted me to that tidbit.

[Bill Lindsay]

and in addition to having no idea when Silver Cranks will be for sale, we have no idea what they will cost.  

[Steve Palincsar]

Or, you could resolve the ambiguity & skip the wait, and go first class with these:



They're even nicer looking in real life.  https://www.compasscycle.com/shop/components/cranks/rene-herse-double-crank/

[Bill Lindsay]

Steve is right.  That's the nicest $500 triple crankset out there.  

[Steve Palincsar]

On 12/09/2015 06:29 PM, Bill Lindsay wrote:
> Steve is right. That's the nicest $500 triple crankset out there.
>

Makes a really nice compact double, too. 28/44 seems quite popular, and
you can make some really nice gearing patterns with it.

[George Schick]

Gents - I don't want to hijack Michael's thread in which he was just inquiring about BB widths, but I strolled down this very same path a while back.  I was originally set up (read that "talked into") a 12-23 9-speed cassette coupled with a 36/48 TA Zephyr Light double along with a TA Axix BB.  This set up gave me a high gear of 106" (assume 171mm cranks), a low gear of 42", and a "middle" (i.e., large chainring/middle cog of the 9-speed cassette) of 80".  This was over the top for most of the riding I do around a mostly flat area with the occasional steeper climbs up from river banks.

I like to have that "middle gear" to be as close as possible to 70", my normal riding gear.  So I changed the cassette to a 14-25, which gave me a high of 91", a low of 38", and a middle gear of 71".  Then, a couple of years ago I began having all kinds of problems with the seals on that Axix BB and really didn't like the lowest gear available with that Zephyr 36/48.  So I began shopping around.  I saw that R.Hearse 28/44 - it looked fantastic.  And it would have given me a low of 32", a high of 97", and a middle gear of 73", very close to my desired sweet spot, if I had switched back to the 12-23 cassette.  Cool enough, but at almost 3 times the cost of the VO Grand Cru 34/48??!!  Man, I just couldn't get my arms around that.  So I bought the VO and now I'm happy as a clam with a low of 36", a high of 91", and a middle gear of 71".  I guess it's all a matter of personal taste and willingness to spend the extra bucks.

[Mark in Beacon]

The aesthetic of the Silver cranks that come with the Clems is very different from the VO Grand Gru. It is more mountain/commuter/never-mind-vintage-style. The arms are not svelte-looking. But for Rivendells with OS tubing and designed around upright bars, I think they look just dandy.

On Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 2:00:29 PM UTC-5, A. L Young wrote:

If I remember correctly I saw the Silver cranks on the Clem's at Rivelo in Portland. I didn't take pics though so can't share.  

-Aaron Young

The Dalles, OR

On Wednesday, December 9, 2015, George Schick <Bhi...@gmail.com> wrote:

Probably makes a difference whether it's a double or triple.  I bought one of the Grand Cru doubles this past year and I love it.  It went on to a Rambouillet with 130mm spacing (well…132.5mm I guess they call it) along with a 119mm PW BB and everything fits together just fine.  In fact, VO recommends a 118mm for this crankset, but recommends a 124mm for the triple, so if that's what you've got I'd be inclined to trust their advice.  With the BB pretty much centered in the BB shell both crank arms measure just about the exact same distance from their respective chain stays.  And I just checked - VO still has their blue light special for the double marked down to $140 from the usual $190 (unfortunately, I bought mine before the price went into effect).

On Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 9:50:17 AM UTC-6, Michael Hechmer wrote:

I have been holding off on my desire for a new crankset ever since the rumor of a new Silver crank from RBW, but am getting tired of waiting.  Has anyone heard if these are immanent?

The alternative might be the nice looking Grand Cru.  If so, the Velo website suggests a 124 BB, which seems pretty big to me.  I have a PW 119 in my parts box and wonder if that wouldn't work on a bike with 130 dropouts and not overly large stays?

Michael

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[Steve Palincsar]

On 12/09/2015 09:13 PM, George Schick wrote:
> I saw that R.Hearse 28/44 - it looked fantastic. And it would have
> given me a low of 32", a high of 97", and a middle gear of 73", very
> close to my desired sweet spot, if I had switched back to the 12-23
> cassette. Cool enough, but at almost 3 times the cost of the VO Grand
> Cru 34/48??!! Man, I just couldn't get my arms around that. So I
> bought the VO and now I'm happy as a clam with a low of 36", a high of
> 91", and a middle gear of 71". I guess it's all a matter of personal
> taste and willingness to spend the extra bucks.

Well, that's certainly true. The RH crank isn't inexpensive. On the
other hand, in recent years many cranks have become far more costly than
that: over $500 for a Campagnolo Record, for example.

[Michael Hechmer]

Yes the Compass cranks are beautiful, and compared to a new Carmina, a bargain.   They also require proprietary rings, a definite drawback. 

Thanks also for the posts of the "silver" cranks from RBW.  They are definitely not going on my bike.

I run a 44/30 White Industries crank on my Ram and love it, but have never liked ring setups with 16 tooth jumps, like a 44/28.  It's to much work finding the next gear after a shift.  I'm looking to replace the RD2 on my Trek with a 48/34/26 because I live in Vermont, am over 70, but still like to (occasionally) take on a mountain climb and many of ours have 14% and up grades.  I can only sustain my cadence on the Ram (30/28) up to about 10%.   

I asked about the BB to know if I need to add a new one into this  budget.

Michael

[Garth]

  Michael , FWIW have you seen Sugino's Alpina 2 and Mighty Tour cranks ?  Both of these are normal five bolt pattern(no silly hidden bolt).  If you are not everse to ordering overseas the "top of the line square taper" Mighty Tour is in your price range .  You can get just the arms or a complete with your choice of premium rings. These are made with a stronger aluminum than the Alpina 2 or XD. Alex's is well known and cetainly reliable store in Japan.


http://www.suginoltd.co.jp/us/products/touring/mighty.html
http://www.alexscycle.com/cranks/fixed-non-njs-1-2-3-4-5-6/sugino-mighty-tour-pcd110-crank.html?currency=USD
http://www.alexscycle.com/cranks/road-1-2-3-4-5-6/sugino-mighty-tour-crank-set.html

[Edwin W]

Looking at those compass cranks makes me think:
They are beautiful.
They are well made and well engineered.
They are crazy expensive for someone like me, but the upside is they make even a $250 crank look cheap and reasonable.

Cheap and reasonable, mostly used and low fi,

Edwin

[Justin August]

I would also consider the IRD cranks. Similar to the VO, they also have a 94bcd version (Mjolnir).

-J

[Kieran J]

Hi Michael,

Not sure which frame you are hoping to use the crankset on, but I believe you have a Rambouillet. 

On mine, I have one of the Grand Cru mkII 50.4 doubles - 172.5mm arms with 44/30 rings on a 115mm BB. The chainstay-arm and chainstay-ring teeth clearance is perfect, but the bolts for the inner ring *just* clear the BB shell lug with a few mm to spare. A 118mm might be perfect if you are powerful enough a rider to flex the bike's BB area significantly (I'm not).

KJ

On Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 10:50:17 AM UTC-5, Michael Hechmer wrote:

[Jim Bronson]

I run 44/28 and I only use the 28 if it's really steep, and usually by the time I'm done with it I'm out of breath, so having to find the right gear in the back after upshifting again is a welcome respite for me.

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[Benedikt]

I have Gran Cru on my Hillborne. It's a double. I had to use a 122mm spindle and even then added a 2-3mm spacer to the drive side. It JUST barely clears the derailleur. I think I rode it a while with a 118mm spindle and the spacer. Made it work but the 122 is really better.

The new build I'm doing (not a Riv) with the DaVinci cranks I'm using requires a 103mm spindle which was quite shocking and disbelievable to me.

[Michael Hechmer]

If memory serves me right, I installed the DaVinci Triple on my Saluki with a 109, but it may have been 107.  I think the tandem ended up t 111.

Michael