Which crank to go for?

[halfmoonman]

Hi,

I own a Specialized Tricross that I'm planning to upgrade as it has mostly road components.
Going to be used for touring.

Have an xtr rear and front mech lined up i found for cheap

Not sure on shifters yet.

But I don't have a clue on what crank!

Any help appreciated I'm very confused!!

These are what I had in mind the xt seems like a good price, but is it much better than the deore never even heard of raceface are the any good?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=40496 - deore

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=23102 - XT

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=54843 - raceface

I'm not very knowledgeable on bike gear, I just like to cycle!

I'd rather just get something decent on there so i wont have to worry about it when touing.

 

[vernon]

I found Deore to be perfectly fine when I owned a Dawes Galaxy.

I dispensed with derailleur gears when I bought my new tourer.

 

[doog]

Ive got a Tricross. I kept the triple road set up but just dropped the smaller ring down to a 26T. Apparently it can go to a 24T with a dog tooth (which it has).

If you want to change the whole lot worth looking at Spa, they do tough touring specific components at a good price

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s109p0

 

[Jerry Atrik]

Ive just changed my Tricross from a Tiagra triple to a Deore and gone down to a 22 at the front and a 34 rear cassette for my trip to the pyrenees and it works fine .

 

[vernon]

I found Deore to be perfectly fine when I owned a Dawes Galaxy.

My I dispensed with derailleur gears when I bought my new tourer.

 

[P.H]

I'd go for simple and reliable even at the expense of some minor performance advantage that isn't going to be noticed on a touring bike. For me this means square taper bottom bracket, simple to fit, long lasting and available everywhere. I'd couple this with the most common chainset found on tourers, the Sugino XD2, this is available rebadged under various names, the most common the Stronglight Impact. I have these cranks on three bikes with different ring combinations, I can't fault them. It's also cheap, though don't let that put you off.
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s109p3

While looking for a link, I notice there's a new version of the Stronglight Impact which uses a different crank;
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s109p2801

 

[lulubel]

That XT chainset is a fantastically good price, and if I had the money at the moment, I would just buy it to keep for when I start touring. I have some XT components on my mountain bike, and they're much smoother and sweeter than the Sora (which I believe is the Deore equivalent) I have on my road bike.

If you're planning to use a MTB front mech with drop bars, I think you might have some shifter issues if you want to use indexed shifters because the cable pull is different. It might be worth posting in the tech section to get some advice before you go ahead and spend money. Alternatively, I understand you can use road shifters and a road front mech (Sora, Tiagra, 105, etc) with the 26/36/48 MTB chainsets, but you might encounter problems if you're using a chainset with smaller rings because of the difference in curvature of the front mech and chain rings.

 

[Bodhbh]

Okay just regurgitating advise I was given myself on these forums, but I thought Deore was a better bet for a tourer as they have a steel middle and inner rings which will last much longer than the aluminum rings on an XT chainset.

 

[Yellow7]

If you want to stand out from the crowd go for Tune 'Fast foot', expensive as hell but cool as a cucumber, I have black ones to compliment other components I'd selected when I built the bike; http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/components/cranks/product/review-tune-fastfoot-crank-10585

 

[byegad]

Deore is fine, I've got many thousands of miles behind me on Deore. I did try a 'better' cassette, which didn't last as long and bent a tooth under a bad change. So I went back to Deore.

 

[halfmoonman]

Cheers for all the info people, I'll try find out about the stronglight Impact. Liking what I hear about the Deore.

Now I've to decide to go 10 speed or 9 speed!?
I'm changing everything bar the brakes is it worth having the extra gears? the components seem cheaper too.

 

[willem]

For a tourer reliability is important, and for me that rules out all newfangled cranks with external bottom brackets. I would go for a Sugino XD. SKF, Phil Wood or TA bottom bracket, or a Shimano UN 55 for very good quality for much less.
Willem

 

[Yellow7]

For a tourer reliability is important, and for me that rules out all newfangled cranks with external bottom brackets. I would go for a Sugino XD. SKF, Phil Wood or TA bottom bracket, or a Shimano UN 55 for very good quality for much less.
Willem

Not forgetting Campagnolo...