Robert,
Excellent treatise on Stronglight cranks.
Several things that I'd like to add.
The 50.4 BCD 5 bolt pattern was an industry standard for both alloy and steel cranks for many years. The size was made popular by T.A. Cyclotouriste and Stronglight 49 cranks. The final iteration was probably the 1981 Shimano Deore Touring cranks.
Stronglight made some 37T 122 BCD chainrings. I've only seen them listed in one catalog. I have 3 of them including a black anodized 105ter example.
The early model 99 cranks appeared sometime in the mid 1970's. They had the same elegant squared edges and high polish as the model 93 cranks. The flutes in the crank arms had an even nicer matte surface than the 93s. They had a top of the line appearance and came on a number of better quality French and British touring bikes. Later versions of the model 99 cranks had rounded edges and a satin anodized finish that resembled some of the Japanese made economy model cranks. They look like they were designed to compete against these less expensive products.
The model 105 crank arms appeared in 3-4 different styles including those marked Spiedel. Some lacked the Stronglight logo in the flutes and had the logo embossed in the arms the same as the model 93s. I have a set marked that way with clear plastic Spiedel stickers on top of the embossed Stronglight name plus several sets with Spiedel embossed in the same place instead of Stronglight.
The 122 BCD model 104 chainrings have a more rounded inner edge that resemble Campagnolo SR style chainrings.
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
-----Original Message----- From: R.S. Broderick Sent: Tue, Aug 4, 2009 6:04 pm Subject: Re: [CR] Stronglight Timeline Needed
Jerry provided a good accounting of Stronglight cranksets, most especially with regard to their various models 52, 53, 54, 55, and TS three arm editions with which I have little to no personal experience. And while I do have a pretty thorough selection of Stronglight catalogs residing in my filing cabinets, only the 1958 edition has been digitized and posted to Velo-Pages thus far:
http://www.velo-pages.com/
Nevertheless, I thought that I might take a crack at providing a little more information with respect primarily to their forged aluminum offerings, if not a true timeline per se.
The original Stronglight 49 debuted prior to W.W.II and it was eventually supplanted by the designated 49D (...same basic crank arms but with altered chain rings - and I do believe that this change-over came about sometime around 1949, if not just prior) that was quite common to find during the 1950's all the way through the early 1980's in subtly different forms while their models 57 and 63 (...which were introduced in...you guessed it...1957 and 1963 respectively) were the competition counterparts to the 49D. On the other hand, the Stronglight 93 was introduced in either late 1967 for model year 1968 or during 1968 proper and was produced through 1977. The Stronglight 105 became available in 1976 with the 105 bis and 105 ter versions (...bis having factory "drilled" chain rings and ter being factory "drilled" and also Black anodized) following in 1977 and all of these 105 variants remained in production into the early 1980's, at which point Stronglight had proliferated its line up like never before. To summarize in approximate chronological order of their appearance in the market:
Model 49 - 50.4 mm BCD (outer) / 122 mm BCD (inner) - a traditional five arm crankset from the pre war era where the spyder of the outside chain ring attaches to the drive side arm by virtue of five bolts. The crank arms themselves have slightly rounded edges with an interrupted center channel having an oval Stronglight logo at the center point of those arms. Intended as an all purpose component with an effective chain ring capacity of 38 to 56 teeth.
Model 49D - 50.4 mm BCD (outer) / 122 mm BCD (inner) - the first Stronglight crankset to incorporate the distinctive "star" shaped profile, albeit based upon on the drive side outer chain ring itself, which continued to be attached to the drive side arm using a series of five bolts. The crank arms themselves have slightly rounded edges with an interrupted center channel having an oval Stronglight logo at the center point of those arms. Intended primarily for touring use with an effective chain ring capacity of 38 to 56 teeth.
Model 57 SC (...or 57 Super Competition) - 122 mm BCD - incorporating a distinctive "star" shaped spyder, but said spyder was now cast as part of the drive side arm itself as a single unit. The crank arms have decidedly rounded edges with an interrupted center channel having an oval Stronglight logo at the center point of those arms. Intended for road / racing use with an effective chain ring capacity of 38 to 56 teeth.
Model 63 (...sometimes referred to as the 63 SC or Super Competition) - 122 mm BCD - an update to the Model 57 SC, it has a distinctive "star" shaped spyder, again cast as part of the drive side arm itself as a single unit. The crank arms have only slightly rounded edges with an interrupted center channel having an oval Stronglight logo at the center point of those arms. Intended primarily for road / racing use with an effective chain ring capacity of 38 to 56 teeth.
Model 93 (...sometimes referred to as the 93 SC or Super Competition) - 122 mm BCD - uses a distinctive "star" spyder similar to the 57 SC and 63 SC but having flat faced arms with angular edges, an unbroken center channel, and no logo "oval" in the middle of those arms. Being a replacement for the 63 SC, the 93 was intended primarily for road / racing use with an effective chain ring capacity of 38 to 56 teeth.
Model 99 - 85 mm BCD - the spiritual successor to the 49D and one which is quite often seen in a triple ring configuration. Its smaller BCD allows for consequently smaller inner chain rings, hence its popularity with the touring crowd. This was an economy model intended primarily for road / touring use with an effective chain ring capacity of 28 to 54 teeth.
Model 105 - 122 mm BCD - again, uses a distinctive "star" spyder as the 57 SC / 63 SC / 93 before it but returning to slightly rounded edges on its arms and a new Stronglight logo appearing inside the milled channel of said arms. The successor to the model 93, intended primarily for road / racing use with an effective chain ring capacity of 38 to 56 teeth.
Model 104 - 122 mm BCD - a totally new look for Stronglight and one which was intentionally similar in its appearance to the venerable Campy Record crankset yet still retaining the smaller and traditional 122 mm Stronglight BCD. Intended primarily for road / racing use with an effective chain ring capacity of 38 to 56 teeth.
Model 106 - 144 mm BCD - might well be considered a Campy Record / Super Record clone, this was Stronglight's top of the line "Pro" kit from the early 1980's. It featured fluting in the webbing and cutouts in its chain rings and for the first time used the same BCD as Campagnolo (...but at a fraction of the weight). Intended primarily for racing use with an effective chain ring capacity of 42 to 58 teeth.
Model 107 - 144 mm BCD - something of an "aero" successor to the model 106, again intended for high end racing bikes. The cutouts and fluting are now absent the spyder and crankarms and there is distinctive Stronglight logo running horizontal along the length of the arms. Intended primarily for racing use (...there was even a time trial specific version having a single solid plate chain ring) with an effective chain ring capacity of 42 to 58 teeth.
Robert "occasionally known to be somewhat cranky himself" Broderick ...the "Frozen Flatlands" of South Dakota Sioux Falls, USA