rafa172

hi, I'm building a single-speed bike but I don't know which cranks sets are good for single speed. I would appreciate a list of cranksets that are light and tough. my budget for a crankset and bottom bracket is about 200 dollars thanks for any help.

Jonneh

There are lots of good choices out there (don't forget stiffness as an important factor too, especially if you're going to be riding with significant power). Keep in mind their compatibility with your bottom bracket too (if you don't have one yet, make sure you match it to your frame!). I have some SRAM Red22 cranks which I picked up for very cheap (50 euros) second hand. They're silly light (carbon fibre), strong and very stiff. They also fit my frame (a road bike conversion).

If you've already got chainrings that you want to keep, keep in mind their BCD, which you'll need to match to the cranks. If you don't, then choosing which BCD you'll go for is also a decision. I've got 130 BCD cranks, and it wasn't hard to find good singlespeed chainrings (1/8 inch), but there are more high-quality chainring options for 144 BCD cranks built for the track. Appreciable stiffness difference between the different diameters isn't really a thing any more.

Overall, SRAM Omniums, and various Sugino and Rotor models are some of the (track) cranks you see most often (at least where I am), but that doesn't mean there are tons of other light, stiff, strong and cheap models out there (the engineering adage 'strong, light, and cheap; pick two' doesn't quite apply here, at least if you buy second hand. You can have all three, and stiffness too!).