CraigB

Is anyone besides me bothered by the general appearance of the current crop of hollow cranksets and chainrings? To me they look cheap - like they're made out of plastic, like they came from the same mold that Chang Star Toys Ltd used to make models of the starship Enterprise.

Maybe it's just me, but I can't seem to get used to it, unlike the appearance of "compact" frame geometry, which I've come to think of as the new normal.

I thought if there were a kindred spirit or two around, it would be here in the 50+ section.

bradtx

Craig, It takes a little getting used to.

Brad

xizangstan

I kinda like the Shimano XTR hollow cranksets. In fact, I've been lusting after a new one to update the old XTR crankset on my bike. It's on my list anyway...

AzTallRider

I think this is an okay look.

xizangstan

I know they're doing that to reduce weight. And I'm sure the hollow ones are nearly as strong as the solid ones. But HOW MUCH WEAKER than the solid ones?

AzTallRider

That of course depends on the material/design/layup of each of them. I suspect a CF hollow crank can be made as stiff as the designing engineer wants it to be.

Barrettscv 

Stress is carried along the exterior of a structure under load.

Typically, under loads, the original length of the beam is slightly reduced to enclose a smaller radius arc at the bottom of the cantilever beam, resulting in compression, while the same original beam length at the top of the beam is slightly stretched to enclose a larger radius arc, and so is under tension. The same original length of the middle of the beam, generally halfway between the top and bottom, is the same as the radial arc of bending, and so it is under neither compression nor tension, and defines the neutral axis.

Not all modern cranks are ugly, this is a 110 bcd with 50 & 34t chainrings;

BluesDawg

I like 'em. I like the old ones, too.

Pat

But remember we can accept any level of ugliness if it gives us a weight loss of greater than .0001 grams at the cost of the Gross National Product.

Marauder9

I bought one off Ebay a week ago.
Said it had never been used as it was ordered in error by the seller.

I think it was counterfeit as when it arrived some of the teeth were of a different height and some had the ends shaved off a little. It just looked so cheep.

I have returned it today and have been promised a full refund.

What have Ebay said to my "counterfeit" claim? Absolutly nothing at all.

CACycling

If it was Shimano, that's the way they are made. The teeth "abnormalities" are to assist with shifting.

Barrettscv 

A few more from the files, the classic old-school Campy Crankset: 144 bcd, 52 & 49 half-step gearing with a 13-24 five speed cassette;



Many might not like this one, but it's a joy when used with an 11-23 ten speed cassette: featuring 50 & 39t 130 bcd chainrings



Another great performer no matter what the route;



I always like Cyclocross cranks, 46 & 36 110bcd;



Another good CX crank, 46 & 38t, 130 bcd;

JohnDThompson 

The original hollow-arm crank set:

CraigB

I guess it's the chainrings that bother me more than the crank arms.

Maybe I'll get used to it, probably around the time I buy a bike with one on it. Once money changes hands, can perceptions be far behind? After all, beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the buyer.

Hermes

No, I like new technology and the modern look and feel. But there is always the tried and true which looks nice as well. This chainring is approved for Keirin (ケイリン) by a Japanese master. The Sugino 75 crankset maybe as well considering what I paid for it.

Shimagnolo

The problem is the current practice of giving them a coat of silver paint instead of polishing them.
Current aluminum wheels on cars suffer the same cheap practice.
My mtn bike has a polished 1997 XT crankset; It is beautiful.
In contrast, I have two bikes with relatively new painted XT cranks that look really cheap by comparison.

Hermes

And then there is the Quarq Power Meter mounted in a SRAM 900 crankset with SRAM red chainrings. I think this looks pretty nice and in fact like a piece of fine jewelry.

DiabloScott

Photos of broken cranks - some of them are hollow.
https://pardo.net/bike/pic/fail-001/000.html

The hollow section really isn't that big - it's not like the skin is taking all the load, it's just a little missing material


Usually cranks break at the pedal eye though.
I broke this solid one over the winter -




And replaced it with this hollow one - I like it.

billydonn

I like the looks of pretty much all the cranks shown, and especially the 6600 Ultegra SL. It's this new look that I really don't care for at this point.....

xizangstan

A side note: I'm not seeing any disc brakes on the rears of any of the bike photos in this thread. Anyone else notice that?

BluesDawg

Oh, I don't know. It works in the right context.

stapfam

Cranks are not something I worry about. Not heavy- have the right gearing and strong are all I want. It could look as ugly as it likes and providing it works I don't care.

t4mv

OK, Craig, I'll bite and opine that the French are to blame for hitting cranksets with the ugly stick.

kr32

Pretty much this.

CraigB

At least that one has traditional looking rings. In fact, the combination of traditional rings and crazy modern crank arms gives it a nice "steam punk" look.