OK, it's not really the new VO Crank, but I found some of these new-old-stock Universal Aduprat 3-pin cranksets.
I know that there is no good reason in the world to use cottered steel cranks today. As for not so good reasons, they are very slim and elegant, they are chrome plated, they definitely look retro, and they will not break.
Anyway, I couldn't resist and we bought a few. They are 170mm with 48/40 rings. The British thread BB is included and they take French thread pedals, though they can be tapped to British. If you want a set to restore an old bike or just to be different, they cost $55.
We also now stock Salsa "Halter Top" brake levers and And Tektro RT345AG brake levers. The Halter tops are a very well made and nicely polished inline brake for touring or cyclo-cross. The Tektro Rt354AG is a nice, but inexpensive brake for city and MTB bars.
22 April, 2008
The New VO Crank
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11 comments:
Cottered Cranks???
Chris next time you go thru the Stargate, I'd like a Campy Paris-Roubaix group. Is Mel Pintos the warehouse that Indiana Jones hid the Ark of Covenant in ? :-)
Scott G.
Oh, man, I thought I was so clever when I came up with my handle. Now what am I going to use these for?
Ah, there is that old JC Higgins rod brake roadster way back in the back of the storage room. It has a bent crank. Whew! That was close.
Will that work on a Chater Lea or a Swansea Dingler bb?
why?
why why why?
Maybe you could sell them as a lightweight anchor to your boaty friends.
cottered cranks are kinda wacky, but they do have otherwise impossible to achieve low q factors, which is something at least. best left for the UO-8 project or the like.
This is great! It's going to let me build up my artificially-aged new bike! I'm going to loctite in the fixed cup and cotter pin, and carefully hand-"brinell" the headset races -- like I always say, it's friction shifting and indexed steering for me!
Anybody willing to help out and weld the seatpost in place for me?
Good for you CK! What is the BCD on those rings? Might they fit on a TA Pro 3? Steel rings make lots of sense for single speed applications, I think.
I also like that you've got some more bits and pieces in the webstore.
The Salsa levers look nice, but the price is a bit ouchy. Why go budget in one style, but only offer the gucci in another? Just curious.
I'm holding onto to my shiny, "they don't make 'em anymore" NOS Park cotter press tool until I decide to sell it on eBay. They may be a niche group who covet cottered cranks on old bikes, but they're a fervent niche.
Seems like a perfectly good thing to sell considering the number of road bikes from the 1960s still around.
What we really need are longer cotterless spindles that would work with some of the more popular cottered bikes, UO8, Raleigh Sports, Raleigh 20, Supercourse etc. those cheap and readily available bikes that make a nice 2nd city bike project for bike geeks. I haven't had much luck finding appropriate used or NOS spindles lately.
Where are those cranks from? They do look better than the cottered double in the J&B catalog.
This may not have been my brightest component selection, but I do think enough folks have really old French bikes they want to keep looking original. They are the same bolt pattern as TA, and other, 3-pin cranks.
I got the Salsa levers because they are really really nice and well worth the price.
i sort of accidentally rode a pair of solida cottered steel cranks through the winter this year on my french-threaded Elvish fixed gear. I had finally tracked down a sealed french bb to put in the bike, but at the last minute decided to ride the old steel cup bb to its "natural" end. spring has finally come after the worst winter in about 50 years, and the cranks still spin as smooth as ever. typically, a montreal winter will trash any bb i put through it, and i've tried all sorts of campy and shimano sealed or regularly maintained loose ball bbs. (never used steel cups before, though). anyway, the momentum of a fast-spinning pair of steel cranks feels like nothing else, and i'd recommend it to anybody, given a choice over a pair of mediocre cotterless cranks. a nice aluminum 6-hole chainring (there's lots of stronglight ones kicking around) will counterbalance the weight factor, too.
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