[ohio]

Chromoly seems to me a better choice for cranks than aluminum, in that you're dealing with really high stresses, especially at the BB interface, in a pretty tight clearance area. DH and BMX bikes (except for pure race bikes) have mostly gone to chromo cranks for strength reasons.

I'm wondering why noone has come out with lighter weight chromoly cranks. It's been done before: Sweetwings were the lightest cranks ever made (or close to) and bullseye's were legendary, at a pretty reasonable weight. Syncros and McMahon both tried it but were limited by the stupid aluminum tapers that elimated one of the benefots of using chromoly...

So why isn't anyone making a "midweight" chromo crank right now... somewhere around or maybe less weight than the RF Northshores or Hussefelts?

 

[bomberz1qr20]

Originally posted by ohio


So why isn't anyone making a "midweight" chromo crank right now... somewhere around or maybe less weight than the RF Northshores or Hussefelts?

The new Kona Bulge is ISIS compatible. Probably a tad lighter than most of the BMX style offerings out there.

 

[BMXman]

Originally posted by ohio
Chromoly seems to me a better choice for cranks than aluminum, in that you're dealing with really high stresses, especially at the BB interface, in a pretty tight clearance area. DH and BMX bikes (except for pure race bikes) have mostly gone to chromo cranks for strength reasons.

I'm wondering why noone has come out with lighter weight chromoly cranks. It's been done before: Sweetwings were the lightest cranks ever made (or close to) and bullseye's were legendary, at a pretty reasonable weight. Syncros and McMahon both tried it but were limited by the stupid aluminum tapers that elimated one of the benefots of using chromoly...

So why isn't anyone making a "midweight" chromo crank right now... somewhere around or maybe less weight than the RF Northshores or Hussefelts?

Profiles are probably as light as your going to get without giving up strength benefits...check out a bmx mail order website....chromoly cranks can be and are a lot heavier than Profiles....D

 

[syadasti]

McMahon Steely Danz, Sweet wings, Syncros, and Interloc all made mid and/or lightweight tubular cromo cranks. I had the Sweetwings (worked good for me - others had bearing problems) and Interloc (highly rated). If wanted some, I'd say search for the Interloc ones - they were pretty good.

 

[LoboDelFuego]

The main reason people want chromo cranks is that they'll be indestructible, guys with 40 pound DH bikes don't really care if they can shave off few grams if it's going to cost twice as much and probably break alot easier

 

[ohio]

Originally posted by syadasti
McMahon Steely Danz, Sweet wings, Syncros, and Interloc all made mid and/or lightweight tubular cromo cranks. I had the Sweetwings (worked good for me - others had bearing problems) and Interloc (highly rated). If wanted some, I'd say search for the Interloc ones - they were pretty good.

Yeah, I mentioned all of those except the Interlocs. None of the above are made anymore for a variety of reasons. Are the Interloc's still made? Square taper? Do they use an aluminum insert like the others to deal with the square taper?

 

[ohio]

Originally posted by LoboDelFuego
The main reason people want chromo cranks is that they'll be indestructible, guys with 40 pound DH bikes don't really care if they can shave off few grams if it's going to cost twice as much and probably break alot easier

No, the main reason people buy CURRENT chromo cranks is because indestructable. Lots more people would buy chromo cranks if they weighed the same as say, Hussefelts, and were a little stronger, which they could easily be. Tubular chromo has WAY better strength:weight than solid Aluminum.
Do you think there's only one way to build chromo cranks?

 

[Ian F]

The Syncros cranks had breakage problems - my LBS has a pile of them. The MRC cranks suffered similar problems...

I think some of the problem may be to get a steel crank as light as an aluminum one, the tubing has to be rather thin, thus making it more prone to flex and stress issues, not to mention needing a very good welder to put them together properly.

 

[syadasti]

The Interloc tubular cromo crank had a steel square taper interface and a steel spider. It was designed by Joe Breeze. I bought some in 1999. I guess they've been discontinued. Give Interloc a call (they mention it on their history - maybe they have a few spares lying around?)

Josh