Steve -
I can't speak to whether "the metal is better" in TA or Campy crankarms - the differences in durability are far more likely to arise from differences in either the fabrication process or the design of the arms and rings themselves. I agree the Campy crank is "stiffer" under load but the great flexibility of the TA Cyclotourist cranks with their wide selection of ratios, easy availability of parts, and high polish finish makes them my personal favorite. I have never heard of a TA failing, ever - but then I've never broken a Campy arm either.
Where I live, low gears are very nearly a necessity and a TA double (50/38) works well, with an option of a triple (50/40/30 is a great wide range setup). Yes, I can grind up the hills on a Campy 42 or 41 with a 26T rear cog - a Masi or Pogliaghi would just not look right with a TA - but there's no way I'd get up Toe Jam hill with a gear like that!
===================================================== Mark Petry 206.618.9642 Beautiful Bainbridge Island, WA mpetry@bainbridgeisland.net
===================================================== "The whole aim of politics is to keep the populace alarmed and hence clamoring to be led to freedom and safety by menacing it with an endless array of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
H.L. Mencken, 1927 =====================================================
From: NortonMarg@aol.com To: mpetry@bainbridgeisland.net Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR]Put the lime in the coconut and drill the Campy crank...
In a message dated 11/15/03 7:48:15 AM Pacific Standard Time,
mpetry@bainbridgeisland.net writes:
> Jon hjertberg of wheelsmith had these jigs for a while - there may
have
> been other sets as well. I could think of a way to do it with a lathe
too. I
> know several people who have ridden cranks so modified. But it scares
me a
> little bit, given what we already know about the failure modes of
Campy
> crankarms. The factory campy NR "triple" arms had slightly thicker
arms in the
> spider where the intermediate bolts went thru, and those arms had a
threaded
> bushing to mount the inner ring. The modified arms simply use a bolt
that
> threads right into the aluminum.
>
> At least for ME, the 42t middle ring does not represent an ideal
triple
> setup. And I use Campy NR front derailleurs with all my TA cranks
with no
> scraping. What's the problem?
>
I've had a Campy NR 180 set drilled for triple that has seen admittedly
light
duty for almost 20 years and Ed has had no word of failures on any of
the
ones that he and the other party drilled. I can check to see if there
WERE any
that failed as a result of this, but I think the usual failures are in
different
spots. Also, the kinds of people who use triples, tend to use spinnier
gears.
>From prior CR threads and my own experience, Campagnolo failures are
more
common with riders who use big gears and sprint a lot.
I need to spend some time with a gear chart and find what I would use as
a
middle gear on a Campy triple set up.
T.A. cranks are lovely items, but in my youth, they scared me. I've
always
been a bit of a big gear user (less so now) and the T.A.s flexed a lot
in the
rings. In the early mountain bike days, I saw a lot of broken T.A. arms.
The
word on the alloy, was (and is) that it's on the soft side.
I know there have been a lot of great miles put on T.A. crank arms, but
I
made a decision that I personally would rather put up with a known set
of
problems around Campy crank arms in part because the metal is better.
For me, T.A. is
not an option.
Stevan Thomas
Alameda, CA