Dig these old cranks.
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: West Los Angeles
Posts: 87
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Dig these old cranks.
So I was home in Sacramento this past weekend, and I decided to pull out my dad's old road bike, to fix up so I'll have a bike for when I'm there. The bike is a C.Itoh, which is a pretty crappy brand, but check out the cranks it came with. Sugino Maxy's from the Early 70's. and 165mm, to boot, which I though was unheard of on road bikes. I can't decide if I want to throw them on a fixie or what, but you gotta appreciate the funky design.
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: st. pete/tampa, FL
Posts: 1,588
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Originally Posted by ba ba bikey
So I was home in Sacramento this past weekend, and I decided to pull out my dad's old road bike, to fix up so I'll have a bike for when I'm there. The bike is a C.Itoh, which is a pretty crappy brand, but check out the cranks it came with. Sugino Maxy's from the Early 70's. and 165mm, to boot, which I though was unheard of on road bikes. I can't decide if I want to throw them on a fixie or what, but you gotta appreciate the funky design.
#3
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: West Los Angeles
Posts: 87
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Really? I'm just going off Sheldon Brown's site, as well as some vintage bike forums. Either way, I am in the process of restoring the bike, which hasn't been touched in 25+ years.
#4
kill -9 1337
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 719
Bikes: old raleigh conversion
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
i think you should leave the crank set on it, and build a conversion! the color of the frame is tight.
#5
live free or die trying
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: where i lay my head is home.
Posts: 6,999
Bikes: bianchi pista workhorse, cannondale r1000, mountain bike fixed conversion
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
some old stuff might not be "top of the line", but if it's functional and cool, why not keep it?
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Salem, MA
Posts: 2,188
Bikes: Land Shark, Level Professional, Tsunami singlespeed, Giant Reign 1
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
is the outer ring built in to the crank? it looks that way.
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Clayton, NC
Posts: 286
Bikes: Bridgestone Mile 112 (fixie); Early 70's Bottechia; 74 Schwinn Continental; Mercier Draco AL; Corratec Freeride MTB; Custom GT Azkar SS
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Originally Posted by r-dub
Isn't C.Itoh pre-Bridgestone Bridgestone?
#11
Gone, but not forgotten
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Newtonville, Massachusetts
Posts: 2,301
Bikes: See: https://sheldonbrown.org/bicycles
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 24 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 6 Times
in
5 Posts
Originally Posted by ba ba bikey
So I was home in Sacramento this past weekend, and I decided to pull out my dad's old road bike, to fix up so I'll have a bike for when I'm there. The bike is a C.Itoh, which is a pretty crappy brand, but check out the cranks it came with. Sugino Maxy's from the Early 70's. and 165mm, to boot, which I though was unheard of on road bikes. I can't decide if I want to throw them on a fixie or what, but you gotta appreciate the funky design.
However, I would not recommend them for fixed gear use. The swaged connection betwixt the big chainring and the arm is not intended to work with a two-way load. I had one of these on my Raleigh International when I first set it up as a fixed gear, sometime in the mid '70s, and it didn't last long.
One day I started resisting a bit down a hill and found myself "freewheeling" as the crank rotated in the chainring. The rest of the ride home was challenging, sort of like driving a car with a blown clutch. I could keep the bike going on the level and downhill, but as soon as the road started to rise a bit, the crank would start to slip again.
Sheldon "BTDT" Brown
Code:
+---------------------------------------------------------+ | It is good to learn from your mistakes; | | It is better to learn from the mistakes of others. | +---------------------------------------------------------+
#13
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: brooklyn
Posts: 939
Bikes: raleigh gran prix converted to fixed
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
i had the same cranks on my crescent, they were original so i kept them for a while because they looked cool and i liked the 165ness of them, my problem was that i was using the inner ring, which had 3 little bolts holding it on, one time going up a fairly steep hill on my way to work one of the little bolts told me to **** off and the inner chain ring mangled itself and the outer chainring followed suit since it was still semi attached, hard walk home with my bike on my shoulders
#14
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: brooklyn
Posts: 939
Bikes: raleigh gran prix converted to fixed
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
also i always thought those little red dust caps were awesome, until one cracked up on me and i had to melt it out, i still use the one, because half of awesome is still awesome
#15
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: West Los Angeles
Posts: 87
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Sheldon and Soyboy, thanks for the tips. I'll probably just restore it as an 18 speed, I just love that design though. Ima do some more research into the C.Itoh thing.