I think the "Etoile" may just be a tandem connecting ring adaptor. That's
what I used on my Taylor. There's good shot of it at
http://www.bikesmithdesign.com/
I wasn't looking for more clearance, though it's nice. I only had 52t outers. Since I spin short cranks, I wouldn't need 52t falling off a cliff, in a vacuum, with a tailwind.
In my case I ended up with a perfect chainline using a TA triple spindle. You would have to find something longer to run 3 rings.
At 3/11/2005 10:38 AM -0800, Fred Rafael Rednor wrote:
>Mes amis,
> I believe the "etoile" adapter works like this. (Tom, this
>might have been what you were saying but I can't be sure I
>understood):
> You install the adapter just as you would install a normal
>TA outisde position chainring - i.e. it's affixed to the small
>5-hole BCD positions, directly on the crank. You now mount
>what is normally a middle position ring (80mm BCD?) to the 6
>tips of the "etoile", on the _inside_ surface of the adapter.
>Of course, I could be wrong about the 80mm part of that. It
>might be that the outside BCD of the adapter is 116mm pattern
>used with the "randonneur" chainrings. Anyway...
> Since the inside ring(s) bolt to the outside ring - rather
>than to the crank - the position of all the rings is now
>shifted a few millimeters away from the crank. The fun part
>now is deciding which bolt pattern to use for the inside
>chainring(s). I think no matter which BCD is used by the
>adapter, you now may have the ability to mix 80mm and 116mm
>rings. I just don't have enough TA rings on hand to know how
>many variations are available...
> And people wonder why TA went to removable spiders on their
>newest cranksets.
> Best regards,
> Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia, USA
Mark Stonich;
Minneapolis Minnesota
http://mnhpva.org
http://bikesmithdesign.com