Maxy 3-arm variants and markings - are there more?
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Maxy 3-arm variants and markings - are there more?
There are of course at least two types of this swaged crank - with and without a replaceable outer ring; but the replaceable kind also has (at least) three variants:
a) with inner-ring shoulders (pic 1, above; datecode F-4)
b) without inner-ring shoulders (pic 1, below; datecode F-8)
c) without shoulders, polished arms (pic 2; datecode M-14)
and they are variously marked 165 and 171 for lengths.
Are there any others?
![](https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikeforums.net-vbulletin/646x1016/20240518_105512ss_92ce0e0d29edd9bb088f2af40704e5267ac36f13.jpg)
a) with inner-ring shoulders (pic 1, above; datecode F-4)
b) without inner-ring shoulders (pic 1, below; datecode F-8)
c) without shoulders, polished arms (pic 2; datecode M-14)
and they are variously marked 165 and 171 for lengths.
Are there any others?
![](https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikeforums.net-vbulletin/646x1016/20240518_105512ss_92ce0e0d29edd9bb088f2af40704e5267ac36f13.jpg)
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#2
If I recall correctly, some of the early Maxi cranks had a different taper than later.
#3
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#4
of the 3-arm "Maxy" cranksets (and Sugino spelled those with a "y") almost all claim to have forged arms, whether or not the spiders are swaged onto arm or one-piece forgings with the DS arm.
Even the cottered version which is a "Magy" (with a "g" and "y") says "forged" on the crankarms.
Kind of mysterious why they used the more expensive manufacturing steps for these lowest-cost cranksets, or perhaps they lied about that and actually used melt-forging or casting?
And yes they had 171 length arms for the "normal size" except when the "Super Maxy" models came out these included 170 arms
SR (Sakae-Ringyo) made some similar-looking cranksets but didn't call theirs "Maxy" AFAIK
Even the cottered version which is a "Magy" (with a "g" and "y") says "forged" on the crankarms.
Kind of mysterious why they used the more expensive manufacturing steps for these lowest-cost cranksets, or perhaps they lied about that and actually used melt-forging or casting?
And yes they had 171 length arms for the "normal size" except when the "Super Maxy" models came out these included 170 arms
SR (Sakae-Ringyo) made some similar-looking cranksets but didn't call theirs "Maxy" AFAIK
#5
Senior Member
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in my experience the odd three degree taper employed only on the Sakae Ringyo Silstar chainsets of the late sixties to early seventies era
68mm shell spindles for use with these bear markings 3S, 3S3, 3K, 3H, 3F
70mm shell spindles for use with these bear markings 5F, 5H, 5K, 5M
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in my experience the odd three degree taper employed only on the Sakae Ringyo Silstar chainsets of the late sixties to early seventies era
68mm shell spindles for use with these bear markings 3S, 3S3, 3K, 3H, 3F
70mm shell spindles for use with these bear markings 5F, 5H, 5K, 5M
-----
#6
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I never considered the "Silver" cranks to be "Maxy" cranks myself, so I would say that all Maxy cranks are JIS taper.
The nutted spindles are invariably lower-cost JIS spindles.
I still have yet to encounter a 3-degree spindle, probably because low-cost bikes so often get discarded versus any parting out.
Sugino specified either Maxy (JIS) or Mighty taper (which I measure as identical to later Campagnolo cartridge ISO).
Analogously, Suntour specified either VX (JIS) taper or Superbe taper.
Pretty sure that all of the Maxy arms were in fact cold-forged. A simple arm forged without a spider must be much cheaper to make than arms having integral spiders.
The nutted spindles are invariably lower-cost JIS spindles.
I still have yet to encounter a 3-degree spindle, probably because low-cost bikes so often get discarded versus any parting out.
Sugino specified either Maxy (JIS) or Mighty taper (which I measure as identical to later Campagnolo cartridge ISO).
Analogously, Suntour specified either VX (JIS) taper or Superbe taper.
Pretty sure that all of the Maxy arms were in fact cold-forged. A simple arm forged without a spider must be much cheaper to make than arms having integral spiders.