[rdickens48]

Hello, I have a fuji outland pro that I am looking to replace the cranks on. I currently runs truvative 5d cranks, I am not to happy with them. I have been thinking about upgrading them to either the shimano lx or hone, but recently have been thinking about building a 1x9 setup. Now would I be better off going with a single speed crank, and what would be a good one that is still within the lx or hone budget. Or, could I somehow make the lx or hone cranks into single speed by replace the rings? Thanks in advance for any information.

 

[DrugMe]

The best crank set I've used is a FSA carbon with a octalink BB. At 250lb it is the stiffest setup I have ridden. I also run a FSA K-force on my road bike, with no problems.

 

[rdickens48]

Oh yeah, I posted this here because I am a big guy 6ft 250#.

 

[logbiter]

don't spend extra money on the hone, LX is the same thing (deore is even more budget, perhaps a bit heavier than lx & comes with a steel middle ring). they'll work fine for a single ring. when the lx ring wears out, replace it with something like a surly stainless steel ring. ideally you want a single ring w/o ramps & pins, like a surly, salsa, etc.

Hello, I have a fuji outland pro that I am looking to replace the cranks on. I currently runs truvative 5d cranks, I am not to happy with them. I have been thinking about upgrading them to either the shimano lx or hone, but recently have been thinking about building a 1x9 setup. Now would I be better off going with a single speed crank, and what would be a good one that is still within the lx or hone budget. Or, could I somehow make the lx or hone cranks into single speed by replace the rings? Thanks in advance for any information.

 

[rdickens48]

Well, I have been looking at the LX and I am not sure if it will fit my bike. My bike says it has a 113mm bottom bracket, and the LX shows 68 and 73mm. I don't know much about Cranks and Bottom brackets and all the numbers they throw out. Also, is the plain deore crankset any good, or should I just stick with the LX?

 

[tachyon]

We're going back to bottom bracket school!

There are two measurements for bottom brackets on most current bikes.

The first is the actual bottom bracket shell measurement. On mountain bikes, the most common is a 68mm English thread bottom bracket. That's the most likely bottom bracket that you presently have. There are two other bottom bracket shell you might come across on other bikes, namely a 70mm Italian thread or a 73mm English thread.

The second measurement is the length of the spindle. This varies greatly, and different cranksets require different lengths. This measurement also affects your chainline, so if you're looking for peak performance from your drivetrain, you might want to look for a bottom bracket that allows for adjustment of the chainline. This can either be a threaded adjustment or through the use of spacers.

The LX crankset will almost certainly fit your bike, as will all of the other cranksets that have been mentioned.

I'm also researching cranksets for my bike and at the moment I'm leaning toward a Race Face Atlas crankset. The Race Face crankset is more expensive than the LX or Hone, but it does have one advantage. You can order just the arms and install just a single speed chainring instead of having to throw out the extras on the other full cranksets; and that will to part of the way to getting you a better crankset for not much more money.

Tom

 

[Joules]

The first is the actual bottom bracket shell measurement. On mountain bikes, the most common is a 68mm English thread bottom bracket. That's the most likely bottom bracket that you presently have. There are two other bottom bracket shell you might come across on other bikes, namely a 70mm Italian thread or a 73mm English thread.

if 68 really is the majority of MTBs it's like 51% - there are a lot of 73mm shells out there (all 3 of my frames are 73), enough that you'd better check before ordering a BB. All external bearing BBs, at least those meant for MTBs are compatable with both. Whatever you end up going with, I'd got external/integraed BB. The only Itallian thread BBs I've ever seen on a MTB where when the english thread was f**ked up beyond repair and a shop bored out the shell and retapped (Itallian thread is slightly larger diameter) - in other words you don't have to worry about that. Downhill MTBs have a few other sizes, going up to 100mm shell.

113 refers to spindle length. While tachyon is sort of correct that it does affect chainline, with octalink and Isis there are standardized correct lengths - you don't really have to think about it. With square taper there where many different length spindles and you had to select one... It was a real mess and I'll be glad when the last ludites either die or give up and we don't have to worry about it anymore. Integrated crank/bbs come with the correct spindle permanantly attached to the crank arm so there's no chance of selecting the worng one.

If it where me, I'd go with an LX or FSA V-drive (I'm running the latter on my main bike). Both will fit your bike unless it is a downhill specific frame or you damaged the BB shell.

 

[rdickens48]

So If I went with the LX, could I remove the big ring and use a bash guard and remove the small ring altogether, and replace the middle ring with non sloped ring to acheive the 1x9 setup? I probably wouldn't do this right away, but as things wore out and I made my decision to go 1x9. Oh yeah, appreciate all the replies. Thanks.

 

[Joules]

Yes, you could easily do that. You don't necessarily need an unramped ring for a 1x9 setup, it's just prefered over standard, and generally cheaper. If you really wanted 1x9 right away you could just remove the granny and big rings and either get a bash ring in place of the big or get some shorter bolts.

 

[rdickens48]

Thanks Guys, I think the LX will be the crankset I am gonna go with.