Sugino AS cranks - any info?
 

(There was a thread on this dated 2005 but it never really got answered and I'm not trying to resurrect a 10-year-old thread)

So I recently got a pair of these Sugino cranks I'd never heard of (they were thrown in with a wheelset). Initial Googling shows that there was indeed a Sugino AS road double crankset in the 80's, with 144mm BCD. Cool.

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...31CA3C2F8C.jpg

But when I installed the cranks, I noticed that the edges of the spider arms (where the chainring sits) don't have space for an inner chainring to fit.

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...E664902DB2.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...331187886f.jpg

Could there have possibly been a track version of the AS cranks? I mean, there are road versions of Aero Mighty and 75, so it's not that farfetched (except AS wasn't 75/Mighty level). Anyone here know anything about these? I'm keeping them no matter what, I was just curious because I've never seen these before.

Nice looking crank. Maybe Tejano Trackie will know something.

I should also mention that googling "Sugino AS" is a fruitless search.

Nope, IDK anything about these cranks. The old road cranks with a 144mm BCD that I have are the Sugino Mighty from the 1970's which were copies of the old Campy Nuovo Record and look like the IRD Defiant cranks. Sugino also made a Track version w/o an inner shoulder that mimicked the Campy Record Pista. The cranks in this thread are apparently much newer and are definitely track.

Did you try googling Sugino A5?

Haha that's the first thing I did because it does look like a 5, doesn't it. I got a bunch of early Sugino BMX stuff.
http://bmxmuseum.com/forsale/picture...py1_blowup.jpg

Yeah seems like here are more googles on A5 than there are AS...

It looks a lot like the Sugino AT, which is a triple crank.

And here I found a photo of the AS with two chainrings
http://web.fc2.com/jump/?url=http://...gino82_02l.jpg

More likely someone ground off the inner ledge to make a pretend track crank. More catalog info on the AS here: Sugino brochures early to mid 1980's

Nice cranks, BTW. I'm using a GLP on my fixed-gear.

I think you are correct. Looking more closely at the photos, you can just make out a small bit of the ledge that wasn't completely ground off. What threw me off was the recessed chainring nut, which you normally only see on a true track crankarm spider, so whoever ground off the ledge must also have counterbored the spider for the chainring nut.

Thanks guys for all your input!

Re: grinding off the inner ledge - was that common practice back then? Seems like a lot of work for something that no one would really notice. Oh well.

The plot thickens: I did come across an eBay listing for the same cranks listed as track cranks pulled off a Centurion track bike.
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...08.18%20PM.png

Of course, the Centurion Trac happens to be a pretty rare bird in itself and it's just as hard to find info on what that bike came built with. So i think i've spent as much time as I could getting to the bottom of this. Now to figure out what's for dinner. Thanks again y'all.

There was a guy in that old BF/SS/FG thread, which you hinted at, who stated his AS cranks had ledges for the 2nd ring. In retrospec(?) The best part was when this forums favorite guy...Scrodzilla posted a snarky vid in it :50:

But getting back to now - there is that obvious telltale small ridge...
So much work to have put into a crank that for the most part didn't seem to have had any historical impact?

Dood...do the cranks fit? Can you make them work for your purposes? What the hell else matters?

Good luck & hope you enjoy yours...

Bet it's the same crank.

Actually, grinding of the ledges may have been necessary to clear the chainstay with a shorter BB spindle to provide a good chainline with a single chainring on the outside of the crankarm spider. That's what I had to do with my Sugino Mighty when I mounted it on my Soma Rush.

^I like that theory.

A few years ago I considered doing the same to my 144bcd road crank because I wanted a shorter BB for fixed gear. Decided to keep the crank whole.

i've bought a couple 'claimed-to-be-track' cranks that were ground off. all 144bcd, one was Ofmega the other don't remember.
while it's not terribly common, guess it can be seen from time to times.

Sounds good. I'll take that! I knew there had to be an answer that was more function over form.


I like how that thread had already been zombied almost 8 years later. The cranks fit (165) and I will indeed make them work, so nothing else matters. I was just a little curious because I'd never heard of the AS line, or like you said, doing so much work for a part that didn't have the 'premium status' of SG75, SSP, C-Record, etc. But I definitely plan on using them :)


I kinda really want that to happen.

I've got them
 

I've got the same cranks dude! Those for track
Glad to see this thread :)

Cus i was wondering if i was the only one to have a set of those cranks, haha!

Im pretty sure they are track cranks. I just bought an old Panasonic 4000 Track that came with these same cranks. Doesn't look to be ground down either.