Road Fan

I finally got the pair of lower-end Witcomb frame/forks back from my local shop. These are not the high-end beautiful and lightweight handmade frames made in an artisan's shop in England, they were made in a manufactory in Ireland, and the materials were said to be straight-gauge 531, similar to perhaps a Raleigh Super Course or a Dawes Galaxy. After getting them back from the out of town frame shop, I found the BB threadings and faces were not aligned, the head tube threads were not cleaned and chamfered, the crown race seats were not cut, and the front-rear dropouts were not aligned parallel. One of our local shops has about 12 years by now experience making desirable bikes out of good old frames, and they were up to the task on these frames. They refined the bad prepping, misalignment, BB lack of facing/chasing, and headset interfaces, sourcing and installing decent headsets. Now the frame sets are ready to build up to be bicycles!

The bikes came to me with steel cranks with cotter-pin bottom brackets. The main problem with them is that the spindle bearing tracks are badly pitted. The owners of the bikes bought them in 1974 or so and rode the heck out of them until last Fall when I started to refurbish them. Some parts have no sign of maintenance. Square taper chain sets will not be according to original spec, but these bikes are going to be ridden by their original owners.

Two major points remain: 1) finding a pair of chainsets 165 mm, aluminum, silver finish, 52/39 chainrings or similar (46/30 would probably be ok), JIS square taper. A smooth 5-arm appearance would be nice. I'd like to keep the price for these parts below $120 each, if possible well below it. And 2) the freewheels need replacement, and may be French-threaded. I still need to clean them and get them off. At least I had the foresight not to remove the rims!

The bikes in question are originally from 1974 and are being refurbished into casual touring road bikes, classic 2 x 5 friction-shifting 10-speeds. They pretty much were casual road touring bikes as original! There are other issues, including derailleurs, freewheels, and shifters, but at the moment the chainsets and freewheels are the most critical. Being old road bikes, chainsets designed for off-road (of whatever flavor) or BMX are not going to look right. I have a small pile of old clunker F/R derailleurs, and I should be able to wash up a few of them and find some workable pairs.

So at the moment my question is,

Can anyone recommend a pair of new or good used chainsets (with chainrings, bolts and matching left-right arms) that I can buy and that are in sound condition with OK cosmetics? If they are new, please send a link/phone number. Or feel free to try to sell me your old ones, or hook me up with a non-member who has the goods. I've watched the "for sale" here from time to time, but there have to be more parts languishing than what I actually see offered!

jdawginsc 

With or without chain guards? Would 52 40 work?

tricky 

I am sure this crew could scrounge up some used options but if that doesn't work out, here are a couple new options from British parts sites that I've noted down from this board over time. I haven't personally ordered from them but they've been vouched for here.

SJS Cycles has some really reasonable classic looking low cost cranksets. Page 2 and 3 here:
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/chainset...geoc=US&page=2
They also have some cheap 110 BCD crankarms without the rings (and they stock plenty of rings you could use to build the full crankset) but looks like 165 is out of stock (bottom of the page)
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cranks-cranksets/?geoc=US

Spa Cycles has lots of options within your budget:
https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m8b0s109...rain/Chainsets

repechage

52/39, 165mm.

53/39 170 is much more likely.

nlerner

As far as new, Stronglight Impact is available as a compact double for usually pretty small money. Might not look the part, however. The Holdsworth labeled sets are also compact double and have more of a vintage look.

Road Fan

No chainguards, and yes, a 52 40 would work!

Road Fan

sigh —- yes, I know. The preference of my friends is to have it ride the way it was, as close as possible. It’s a grey line.

Road Fan

Who sells the Holdsworth?

nlerner

I believe I got it from Planet X in the UK though they don’t currently show it in inventory. Try following the links to other UK sellers provided above.

ShannonM

I'm pretty sure the Holdsworth, IRD Defiant, Velo Orange, and maybe a few I've missed are all the same SunXCD casting, so you'll have more options than you might think. If you can deal with 170s, you get a lot more choices.

Fortunately, used 110 BCD compact doubles are plentiful and cheap... although 165s will require a bit more patience.

Oh, and budget for new bottom brackets, because the old spindle is never, ever the right length for the new crankset, because Murphy runs the Universe.

--Shannon

jdawginsc 

I’ll check what I have...I think the 165s are Sugino/SR types from the mid 80s and the more 70s stuff is 170.

Road Fan

for me, 170 is the right length, but my friends who own the bikes have used 165 for the last 50+ years.

I want to get the chain lines pretty good, I’ll buy new bbs if I need them. Spa has some metal ones for about $20 each. And they tell you what length you need for their chain sets.

nlerner

Another option is to use any 110 bcd crank arms with BikinGreen 46/30 rings. These Suginos are 165mm:

repechage

My view- IF the owners of the bikes used them A LOT, a case for 165 cranks could be made.
I doubt it, the bikes read on too great a state of disrepair.

170’s, reasonable gearing- straighten out this freewheel, hub situation first.

buy matching cranks with a good “Q” factor.
cottered cranks often had that going for them.