Old coot searching for a decent crank set

crux said:

Sure, I maybe picky or old fashioned call it what you will but there seems to be a complete void in the crank arm arena recently. Ever since the Race face Turbine LP disappeared and even consider the next version a bit of a stretch cranks have evolved into a just another homogonous component. Sure some people complained about the old square tapered cranks not being stiff enough, but was ISIS really an improvement? I'd say bring back the old school Turbines, or at least manufacturer an machined component with out all the integrated features and proprietary chain rings.

Consider this if Race Face were to reintroduce the 7075 Turbines they would put significant pressure on the industry and pretty much own the single speed market place.

Just one old coots opinion

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i pretty much agree. as bad as ISIS seems to have been, what about this whole 4-arm craze?
square taper- still working fine for me!
lookin for a decent SS crank? check out white industries.
or a decent 5arm multi gear? sugino XD is readily available & decent cranks.

crux said:

Sure, I maybe picky or old fashioned call it what you will but there seems to be a complete void in the crank arm arena recently. Ever since the Race face Turbine LP disappeared and even consider the next version a bit of a stretch cranks have evolved into a just another homogonous component. Sure some people complained about the old square tapered cranks not being stiff enough, but was ISIS really an improvement? I'd say bring back the old school Turbines, or at least manufacturer an machined component with out all the integrated features and proprietary chain rings.

Consider this if Race Face were to reintroduce the 7075 Turbines they would put significant pressure on the industry and pretty much own the single speed market place.

Just one old coots opinion

Click to expand...

Have you looked at the Middleburn cranks? They are a bit pricey, but are real nice units. I like the old spindle type cranks because they definitely roll better than the integrated bearing models of today. I can't tell a difference in the stiffness, but I'm not jumping over houses or trucks either.

Shimano LX hollowtech2. Tons of bang for the bucks. Comes with the BB these days. Far stiffer than other manufacuterers that can't make the hollow design (so far stiffer than the old style stuff like sugino, middleburn, and so on, and even stiffer than the I-beam stuff like race face and so on). Not the super-lightest ever, but rock solid and strong.

Race face cranks are ok, but their new "X" type bottom bracket setup doesn't have as good an interface as the shimanos, and the plastic preload spacer tends to pack down and cause play in the cranks.

For the reasons above, I don't think that the turbines would make much of a difference if they were "re-issued". The new shimano system works far better, and most crank manufacturers have adopted it due to the bigger bearings that it uses and far greater stiffness. Stiffness wasn't the only problem with the old square taper system.

The Sugino XD is indeed a gorgeous crankset, especially with the hidden 5th arm. Unfortunately, I don't think it comes in a Hyperdrive-C bolt pattern.

The TA Specialites Carmina crankset is also a handsome crankset (though not as good looking as the Zephyr, sadly discontinued), but seems a little spendy.