[CR]TA Etoile chainring spacer

(Example: Framebuilders:Mario Confente)

Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 18:43:00 -0500
From: "HM & SS Sachs" <sachs@erols.com>
To: thomasthomasa@yahoo.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, mark@bikesmithdesign.com, fred_rednor@yahoo.com
Subject: [CR]TA Etoile chainring spacer

Why that's right elegant. I do remember, about 1970, when my buddy Robert Kasper bought a TA set for his Raleigh SuperCourse. Could not get the chain line right, and didn't have access to any other spindles. So, we moved the rings in 4.5 mm. Nah, we didn't have an "etoile". We just used the proper bolts, with nut-ends long enough to span into the crank, and put the rings on the other side of the crank. Last time I talked with him, a couple of years ago, I think he still had the bike -- and I doubt he would have changed it. This route does let you keep your 65 tooth outer, which I guess is nice for downhilling. :-)

So, for a "daily driver" or "station bike," if you're gonna use TAs and gotta have a silly few mm, that's the ugliest and easiest path I know...

Without shame or sophistication,

harvey sachs mcLean VA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:28:31 -0800 (PST) From: Thomas Adams >

Ah, now it makes sense. In effect, the "etoile" is a tandem piece, essentially a toothless outer ring, and you use two inners for your chainrings, thus gaining extra clearance to the arm. Ingenious! Of course this means you can't use the normal TA outer rings so the monster size rings (54 teeth plus) are out, but as the inner rings go up to 53 teeth, this should work for normal wheeled single bikes.

And you would need to find extra long chainring bolts to run a triple. These bolts were made at one time as these cranks could be set up as quads, or else you might be able to use the extra long fittings used used for making triples out of 110 bolt circle cranks (Sugino Mighty Tour) or (back to the original topic) Stronglight 99s. Of course those came is sets of five, and you'll need six for the TA rings. And I think the TA spacers aren't quite the same size, so beware of the chainrings not lining up exactly right. And I don't know what BB spindle would be long enough to run a triple set up this way, 127mm? Could be a lot of work to use a TA crank with a modern derailleur, but who says anything about this hobby is sensible?

Tom Adams, Shrewsbury NJ 2/4

Mark Stonich wrote: 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/MyBikes/Taylor/pages/03.html

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