Spinning

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Big changes for this season. Big equipment changes for me, and Travis’s latest post about JHK’s new set up triggered me to write about my new triggers. JHK’s cranks Awesome! (check out the photos) Why is it taking so long for companies to bring back the 94mm bcd? OR what I’m using, and JHK apparently, the 110mm/ 74mm bcd. Well, they have brought back the 110mm bcd. (Bolt Circle Diameter) IT is now called”Road Compact” SO. Here is a photo of the crank set up…(it is on its 3rd year) and why…..

The small ring is a 28tooth which falls in between the “normal” baby and middle. Nice for those climbs around here, I can just get up them seated comfortably when they get really steep. The Big Ring is a 39t. Plenty of top-end for the sections of straight that we have around here in Western PA. The additional clearance gives a little more flow of the rocks, dogs, etc. The clutch thing is however, and you’ll also see in JHK’s set up, is that the small ring is in, and the big ring falls where the middle ring usually is. Making the entire chainline extremely straight, even when doing the combo of big-ring / two-down in the back (my cassette is an 11-34) Having the chain-line that straight helps with everything regarded as a “drive-train-issue” I use the old XTR’s for this reason… I am tall. I need 180mm cranks. Also, I can use an Ultregra V1 spline, super narrow 109mm bottome bracket and keep my Q-factor (how far the pedals are from one another) at 158mm.

Below are my old XTR cranks… Modified. I can’t get the tooth count I wanted for the chainrings for the below XTR cranks… So.. They were converted to singlespeed. Note though, the non-drive arm is a Dura Ace cranks arm. A little trick shown to me by my buddy Jeremiah B. fro VA. It cuts the Q Factor down to 157 mm . Also makes for one really light set up. These cranks are also 180mm long. And.. the cranks spinning on the commuter bike are also 180mm long. Everything is exactly the same.

SO. Hope this spawned a little thought in some readers minds.. it is interesting and effective. Provided you are strong enough to shove the bigger low-end gear. The smaller big-ring is also nice in rocky single-track where it may be flat, and you don’t want to shift into the small (or middle for some folks), but need to have it a little easier than the standard 44 tooth. You’ll have to shift down less from the big ring, potentially making it faster in some situations. It also raises the chain up away from the chainstays slightly, less slapping around. Some companies are coming out with 2×9 cranks.. We’ll see where it goes from here. I know my set up is great! Thanks for reading!

Ohh yeah! I did race this weekend. www.iplayoutside.com Big Bear Lake, WV. More on that to come…… Happy Happy..

See. Told you my commuter has a Kickstand!