RubeRad

I've had problems with cranks on my Krampus. When I got it, I put my 20mm pedal extenders on, and eventually the left crank started working its way off the spindle. After it did it twice, I figured the crank was toast, and bought a $50 1x crank off fleabay. Before long, the left crank started working off the spindle. I took the left pedal extender off (my right foot is more twisted), cleaned the spindle and crank splines real good put the crank back on with blue loctite, and it was pretty good for a while, until about 2yr after I bought it, the right crank basically broke in half. Presumably it couldn't handle the extra leverage from the extender

SO I put the Mr Whirly back on, with NO pedal extenders, hoping for the best, but within a couple weeks I was out on a ride and the left crank came loose. I think if I redo the crank before every ride, and sit down and try to never stand (but that's the joy of the Krampus' rigid frame, standing up is like riding a giant BMX bike!), I can limp along for a while.

But I need a 1x crank solution that will solve my problem. Cranks apparently don't like it when 245lb are standing on them all the time, and extenders are a complete no-go.

Recommendations? Would a square-taper be more robust? Are there downhill-specific cranks that are made to address this issue? I'm a super cheapskate, but at this point, I realize I might have to invest an uncomfortable bit more.

RubeRad

$50 got me this crankset which I was able to enjoy for 2 years:

ClydeClydeson

I have had very good luck with Shimano 2-piece (Hollowtech II) cranks, but have not tried them with pedal extenders.

brawlo

Keep an eye on the various 2nd hand sites and pages on FB. Bad time to be looking for cheap stuff but if you find something grab it straight away. I’ve got zero experience with SRAM but lots with Shimano and anything from SLX level and up should be fine. I read of guys way heavier than you riding them, jumps, etc with no issue. Jump in early on anything as there is a whole subset of people out there now buying up bargain items and reselling at a higher price.

Darth Lefty 

Zee is the Shimano free ride crank with steel pedal inserts and BB axle. It's got near Boost chain line but it does not have NW teeth, intended for use with a bash guard.

If you think pinch bolts are the problem, SRAM and Race Face cranks do not use them.

Race Face cranks will allow you to tune the q factor a bit with different spindles as long as your chain line doesn't get too far from that bottom gear.

RubeRad

Thx for feedbacks
@brawlo I don't do FB (ask Darth Lefty, he actually helped my buy my Krampus used by connecting me to a dude that was selling in the FB Surly/Salsa forum!) but I just took a quick peek at CL, and didn't see anything obvious. This looks like about the same as what I just broke in half, and mentions 104BCD, but where's the spider?

Darth Lefty I'll take a look at Zee. Does 'free ride' mean like X Games jumps and tricks and stuff? I would prefer NW, maybe other chainrings could be substituted. I'd be fine with a bash guard, but are you saying a bashguard design precludes NW?

"If you think pinch bolts are the problem" hmm, never thought of that. I like sideways pinch bolts, they give me confidence that I've got it tightly grabbing the splines. but now that you raise the question, maybe strongarming the pinchbolts (which is not working) would not be as effective as a BB-parallel crankbolt continually holding the cranks back.

"tune the q factor" I guess an overall wider foot stance may help my heels not hit the chainstay, but there's still the crank for my heels to hit. Then again, maybe getting Q from diagonal cranks more than from longer spindle is what's getting me into this mess in the first place.

RubeRad

Hey check this out, it even has a 32T NW, while it looks like Zee normally only goes down to 34 (overpriced compared to new, but there is a 'make an offer' button)

brawlo

Looks like a poor/lazy cut & paste effort. Direct mounts don't have a BCD

RubeRad

good point, obviously the thing in that picture doesn't connect to chainrings via a spider

Darth Lefty 

That's about the price of that stuff brand new. Back ordered though.

Maybe you could do the "krampug" thing with a Wednesday frame

RubeRad

Well that other seller is offering new ones for $140 shipped, so I will use that as a basis to make a lower offer on the used one. If he doesn't bite, I'll get the new one and put my still-good 104BCD 32T NW chainring instead of the 36. I'm pretty pleased I don't have to get into $200 territory, and it sounds like this should put this problem to bed for good.

Darth Lefty 

Oh... freeride is a MTB downhill subcategory, doing tricks on more natural features, somewhere between outright downhill racing against the clock and slopestyle which uses very groomed courses. Similar to categories in skiing and snowboarding.

The Zee group is for all of these. It's like a heavy duty higher geared version of Deore or maybe SLX with Saint being the premium XT/XTR version. It's been around for a good while, 2012, without changes. The shifting is 10 speed, and I think the only recent changes have been black vs silver paint and new graphics. The crank + ring + bb has been on sale for $100 seemingly forever, I remember shopping it five years ago to do a 1x conversion on my wife's hybrid. Zee was also the popular budget 4-piston brake until very recently they became common in trail groupsets, and people like the RD for kid bike upgrades because it's pretty stout and doesn't hang out too far with smaller wheels.

RubeRad

I see it $100 at Jenson, but out of stock, out of stock other places as well. I made an offer on that used one on fleabay, which was instantly rejected, I guess they have a secret number that I didn't meet. I'll wait a day maybe to see if they send me a message, then buy the MSRP $134.99 new one that is in stock.

RubeRad

Darth Lefty do you see it in stock for $99 anywhere, before I order for full MSRP?

Darth Lefty 

No, but it's hardly the only thing of its kind in the world, just the first one that came to mind.

If you do get a Zee make sure it's the right bottom bracket version, the 68/73mm and not the 83 M645 which is for DH frames

RubeRad

good tip I didn't think about that

Darth Lefty 

RubeRad what did you decide to do? Was thinking of you. There's a well worn set of Whirly arms on FB today.

Or have you thought to try clipless just to get your heels under control? The MTB SPD (not "Click'r" commuter) pedals have a tighter angle option, and Crank Bros have zero-float cleats for their pedals.

RubeRad

I have definitely decided to buy a replacement crank, but am procrastinating. The Zees I was looking at on fleabay were DH long-spindle ones. I sent an inquiry into the contact form on my LBS' website, but they never got back to me. It was a Sat afternoon I think, they were probably pretty busy. I should try to hit them up again during a weekday.

As for feet, I believe I have 'cured' myself of duck feet and am riding with no extenders. I ditched clipless a long time ago and am never going back.

Meanwhile, thinking about how leverage works (even without extenders), I think if I never stand to climb, try to stay seated more in general, but limit my standing to coasting downhill with cranks horizontal, I might be able to get by while I procrastinate. I had gotten a few good hard rides in after reinstalling the Mr Whirly (with no extenders), but the crank worked loose on a ride where I consciously remember standing up to climb a bunch of times.

RubeRad

Went to the LBS and let them go to work for me. They ordered "TruVativ STYLO 6K aluminum eagle crankset - 17mm, 12--speed, 32t, Direct Mount, DUB spindle interface, black" as well as a DUB BB. I'm going to have to have them install it because I don't have a DUB wrench. Merry Christmas.

RubeRad

At the shop when the mech was looking up what was compatible/available, I showed him the pic of my broken cheap crank (in post #2). He said he recognized exactly what crank that was, and had seen that break before. "He was just like you a really big ... strong guy ..." Good save!

RubeRad

I"m assuming the 12-speed chainring won't matter for my 10-speed, except the 10-sp chain might be a little loose sideways on the teeth designed for 12-sp chains. At least it's narrow-wide, and the 1" link spacing never changes.

The X-SYNC tooth profile is the same as on the Surly 28T chainring I'm giving up (which they got SRAM to make for them).

Looks like DUB is just SRAM reinventing Octalink

RubeRad

It took longer than expected to arrive at the shop, was installed while I was away on a work trip, then two weeks of Life intervened, finally yesterday I got the first ride on the Sram/Eagle/Stylo, whatever you want to call it. Good news, it didn't fall off. Other than that, I don't know how to praise a crank as being better than any other.

tallbikeman

I use 1" pedal extenders on all my bikes. It keeps my size 14 feet from hitting the crank and rear chainstays. I also have the duck feet issue and the extenders allow my feet to have a very natural angle to them. I use platform pedals having stopped clipless pedal use many years ago. Another thing the extenders do is allow a size 14 shoe to actually have the pedal centered under them, not all on the inside edge of the shoe. I have a Nashbar 175mm ISIS two sprocket setup and have had no real issues with this crank for years. I have an old triple 180mm RaceFace MTB crank on a road bike and it is seriously strong. This crank is a square taper JIS setup. My final crank is a 180mm Profile hollow steel crank for BMX bikes and is setup as a 1x10. This crank may not be able to be broken without sending yourself to the hospital. The Profile is an interesting crank technology. You can set your chainline a couple of different ways. It has a 48 spline 19mm steel axle and is taken apart with a socket wrench and rubber hammer. I'm an old man with limited power. I road raced and MTB raced in my younger days and never broke a crank. In the 70's I knew a racer in my area who used to break the drive side Campagnolo Record crank arms. He was a beast. Good luck with your new cranks and axle. I don't see any reason why you also can't use your pedal extenders.

Darth Lefty 

Someone in the folding bikes forum challenged me about Zee being discontinued, and indeed they are in stock again!

First posted this in Toadmeister's thread, but he was looking for a road crank, it's more appropriate here

RubeRad

I'm a middle-aged man with limited power. But cranks and leverage and physics can't tell the difference between power applied at 3 and 9 o-clock, and the weight of a fat ass applied at 12 o clock