The Best Crankset NO ONE Knows About! 

I just ride vintage cranks, i use what i get, i have no complaints, i stopped buying new cranks and other components as it's just not worth it anymore when you can find loads of bikes at your recycling facility or any other place where people dispose of their scrap, in just a few years i built up a huge collection of really good parts, people really don't know what they have.

00:10 I think we need a “get weird on your bike” sticker 😂

Like many, I was taken in by the simplicity of 1x and spent about 6 months touring on a 1x system. Once the honeymoon was over, I realized that a nice wide-range double would be far better for my needs, but really struggled to find decent options to build the drivetrain I wanted. It's great to see so many fantastic options emerging!

42x26 is a great combo for loaded touring and/or severe “hillage”. I wouldn’t worry about spinning out, just thankful to have that issue. 👍

Nice to see some love for the Square Taper Cartridge. It’s reliable, easy (and cheap!) to replace, and will serve for about 95% of even serious cyclists.

Totally agree with your observation - shiny silver on a bike looks cool, and the crankset is one of the defining parts on a bike. Also agree on square taper and 110/74 5 arm BCD. Beside the new ones you promote, there are beautiful older parts, like the Shimano FC-M730 or Sachs Quartz. Give them a polish and new chain rings and they are better than new.

Very informative, Russ. I always appreciate your videos. One of the only places a person can trust to get this type of information. Thanks again.

I wanted a sub-compact 2X crankset for my road bike. Unfortunately Sugino OX 601/801/901 and IRD Lobo cranksets are too expensive. So I bought a used triple Ultegra 6604 crankset, removed the big chainring and voilà! It has cost less than 100$ CAD. Now I ride a 24 / 39 crankset with a 16x36 10 speed cassette. As a bonus, the weight is less than the Sugino OX and IRD Lobo cranksets for less than 1/4 the cost. By the way all my other bikes are 3x10 and my granny gear is 20x36. Also my bikepacking bike has a 20x42 granny gear. I'm an happy camper with happy knees and back.

Not forgetting the tripleizer chainrings. I use Shimano 600 or 7402 cranks with 42/26 and 38/26. This allows me to use a short rear derailleur with an 11-28 cassette. Pure Microdrive. Long live the square!

I love shorter cranks, I have only tried 165 so I would love to see if the 160s are better!!!! Thanks for always making run to your channel!!! Congrats on making it official too! ❤❤

My budget plan for sub-sub-compact crankset for gravel/touring build for my friend: basic Prowheel zephyr cranks + 28t/44t mtb chainrings with 64/104 bcd, bb length 103mm instead of 113mm for getting"road" chainline 44mm and q-factor 165mm instead of 175mm. It is much more affordable by price and opportunity to buy.

I totally agree about black cranks. I Just finished my Fitzcyclez Un gravel bike by removing black headset and cranks. I’m okay with 30/46 and installed some IRD Vortex cranks in silver of course. Great value considering rings and BB included. Decent Q factor as well. IRD’s headset is also a nice piece.

Thank you for continuing to showcase all of these options! After years off the bike due to lumbar disc injury and SI issues every single time I'd try again, I finally invested in a bike fit. I told him I thought I needed shorter cranks due to hip impingement, and instead of going from 170 to 165 ( my former track bike length) he brought it all the way down to 155 mm, and I've finally been able to ride again in the last few years. However it's HUGE investment to outfit my bikes with proper cranks. I have Rotor x 2, Jcob, Canfield in 155s and a set of Suntour Zerons on a hardtail in 160s. Current dilemma is trying to get a 50/34 11/34 gravel bike to give me some easier gears to compensate for shorter crank length while still trying to keep a power meter on board (for my motivation and interest, not racing) The Appleman cranks look beautiful but I won't lose my Speedplays for power pedals or any other reason :)

My wife's 145 length La Dixna will be put on soon and I’m stoked to see what difference it makes. Trying to dial everything in as much as possible before touring this winter. Thanks for the content!

I love this kind of video! My set up.... GRX 30x46. For the casette I bought an 11 speed XT 11-40 AND a Ultegra 14-28. So now my casette is a 11 speed 14-40. Sometimes you can't move the front D hanger down. So I had to make the rear sprockets larger.

I'm with you on sensible gearing. I just rebuilt an old Trek with an Ultegra triple and 175 cranks. I dropped it to a double using the 2 inner rings 42/30 and I just love it. With a 11-32 cassette. I can use most gears with t 8:37 42 and the inner chainring for the tough stuff. The Claris front mech works fine set higher than recommend so it barely misses hitting the rear shift cable. I could not locate any of the really short arm front mechs you have recommended. And I agree that silver cranks are best looking and so are polished hubs. I'm quite old school . Thanks for helping me think through (hack) the options to make it all work. (Update), the 175mm cranks are way to long for me as my right knee is ailing. I guess that's why i put them away years ago. I'd been riding 165 mm Sugino cranks. I may order the Rivendell cranks as they dont hide a chainring bolt behind a crankarm as Sugino does. Crank length really does matter.

Canfield was my introduction to short cranks. I put 160mm on my all mountain bike. They’re MTB and downhill standard only though, so good if you’ve got a 73mm BB shell. If you want 2x you’re going to need a Northshore Billet SRAM spider for it.

Thanks dude! Stumbled over this and got to the DIXNA LA crank. THIS seems just perfect, like in a dream. It has a small q-factor, fits EVERYTHINK from 24-48 and builds I found proofe it works with GRX 810 derailleurs! Oh and its not square-taper, what I want to avoid. Light weight too. AMAZING! Exactly what I planned! Sadly quite expensive to get over here in germany.

Interesting and informative as always!

1 up to Spécialitiés T.A. Carmina. The spider is bolted to the right crank arm, and I use 110/74 too - love it. Got 24/34/42 to 12-32 9-speed Cassette on my tourer running to Ultegra shifters. XT front Derailer, XTR rear. T.A. Do shorter cranks 155mm shortest IIRC

I just ordered the clipper cranks today . Going to convert my 1x11 to 2x11. Cant wait. 42/26 x11-42 will finally give me all my needs

I had an octalink 2 tiagra triple on my steel Peugeot before getting knocked off. I built my new steed with the same cranks converted to a 44/30 double. I love it.

Thanks to your channel, I got the Dixna La Crank this spring from Alex Cycle. Great thing. No regrets. I should get a thousand and sell them on locally. 😅

My modern carbon road bike that I am using more and more for weekend bike packing trips I have just fitted with a Ultegra 6700 triple, was really lucky to find one more or less NOS as they are like hens teeth where I am, I run the front mech off a bar end friction shifter for lawless no hassle shifting and still maintain the ergonomics of the 6800 shifters and standard indexed rear shifting, works perfect. On my gravel bike I have just gone back to a square taper as I can find a sq BB anywhere and as they are undesired they are cheap viable option. I am currently running this 1x but will likely go to a 110/74 BCD double as on long trips I want to maintain a steady 90-100 cadence while climbing fully loaded off road. Thankfully these options are available.

Great video with some great points! I want to make the case for 'old' Shimano Hollowtech II 104mm/64mm BCD mountain cranks (CRUCIALLY with square-pattern, rotationally-symmetrical bolt holes; not the modern nonsense). Massive range of chainring sizes from 22 up to 48 and the chainline can unofficially be played with by 2.5mm side-to-side on both 68 and 73 shells by moving a spacer. Yeah, I'm one of those who prefer Hollowtech II over square taper; I bought my first one (LX) in around 2005 and was genuinely amazed at the noticeable difference it made to 'flexy' steel mountain bike frames when cranking out of the saddle. And the days of rounding square tapers was over! Whatever you go for, resist the new breed of asymmetric, incompatible standards that has utterly pointlessly cropped up...

You can’t overstate how cool/important it is to have authority on the chain line -> how cool is that aspect of the square taper. The last time I spoke about it I lamented the fact that they tended to die on me, but since then I had one that refuses to die even after a thousand km in the winter with rain and snow in abundance, and an external BB that sounds like it’s giving up the ghost after less than 300 km. So I may give it another go if I decide to go 2x11/12/13 instead of 3x9.

Thank you for saying the gear inch extremes, it the best way to know if the chainrings are suitable.

Still running a teledyne titanium square spindle with campy super cups. Butter smooth after 40 years!

I went from a Shimano compact double to a Velo Orange Grand Cru triple which is really beautiful. Also switched from 172 cranks to 165 and really can’t tell much difference. I have a 10 speed cassette and use Rivendell Silver Shifters which are rated for 9 speed max but I don’t know why, they work great with my 10 speeds. I bought a 9 speed derailleur to use if the Silver Shifter didn’t work well but never installed it. I really like this setup.

I recently got an Origin8 crank 110BCD 160mm, I think 155 is available too. Decent cheap square taper crank. Wish I switched to the shorter crank length earlier.

I have a shimano deore crankset with 28/38 with an 11-40 in the rear. I love the gearing but hate the top end ranges which really max out at 38t for mtb double (with some 40t options). Keep cranking out the content russ!

Thanks for info. I am using super expensive sugino impel bcd94/58, home made chainrings 38-19. I am follower of peter verdone, so rear 3cogs 15-21-28 it is!

It's fairly easy to find affordable used square taper 110/74 cranks as they were standard issue on lots of older MTBs. I got a Ritchey Logic 110/74 square taper crank on ebay with 46/36/24 rings. I replaced the 46 and 36 with an IRD lobo 42t (has the countersink on the inside, so ideal for running in the middle ring position). The 42/24 combo shifts well, and gives me great range with an 11-32 cassette. Sugino makes an epic 110/74 crank for 24mm external bbs: the OX2-901D. It comes in silver and black, lengths from 160-175, and a variety of chainring combos.

I don't like those cranks that hide a spider leg behind the crank. I think it looks cooler, but makes it hard to get the nut and slotted tool in there. If you like to experiment with different chainrings, it might be easier to use a crank with all 5 holes out in the breeze!

Square taper is my default choice on any build partly for crank/chainring size options but mostly because I've yet to kill a genuine Shimano square taper (NB I carry the bike through deep water).

Also STA out of Germany sells chain rings that fit on a GRX perfectly. I swapped out the standard GRX rings for a 46/28 set up combined with a 11-46 11 speed (nothing but a Wolflink) and I have 16-115 gear inches. Its like having two 1x set ups and shifts great.

Thanks Russ!

I'm actually looking to build a bike up with a first generation Shimano Dura Ace 8 speed STI group, except for the cranks/BB which are already in use on my Midnight Special build. Due to the smaller max cassette that the old Dura Ace rear derailleur cranks have VERY much been a serious topic of research for me. This video is very timely as a result. So...thanks!! :)

i changed my single speed from 170 to 175 and it seems easier on my knees, it could have been that I used a smaller chainring as well. I did have to grind down the drive side a tiny bit so it didn't rub the frame. Long live the square taper!

White Industries cranks totally rule but I never wanted to shell out nearly $500 for crank arms and chainrings. Finally did it for my Appaloosa and they are super nice. Plus you can get pretty much any chainring combo you can think of. Very spendy but if you have a special build I think they are worth it.

Hey Russ. Love your channel! I am more left field as a recumbent rider. As such, I need and appreciate shorter cranks, and wider gearing options. I recently obtained a Goldix 'child' crankset, that has short options, external bearing, and GXP chainring fitment. My personal crank length choice is 140mm. I immediately recognised that GXP gives me a choice of gearing options depending on how I want to set it up. I currently have 46/30 on my bike, but I could go 50/34, or a 48/32. I did also buy a 110 spider, so I could use my elliptical rings. I notice that there are also MTB GXP rings that give some lower gearing options. These things are fairly low priced, so could suit someone on a tight budget, or just wanted to experiment with different crank lengths. I don't think I have seen you reference GXP direct mount chainrings before? Yeah, not as customisable as a 110/74 setup. I would like to see a GXP direct mount 110/74 spider! That would be awesome! Oh, the Goldix cranks are available on AliExpress

Love the video (as always), keep the hits coming! I wonder if you have any projects for the cave of bad ideas for this winter? When I watched your chat with Grant Peterson from Rivendell, I think I heard him mention that he rides a triple up front with a single in the rear! Would love to see how that gets set up!

agree square taper crank systems arn't necessarily heavier but they are flexy. I used to get chain rub on the front mech when I got out the saddle, I am 85kg though.

The stronglight impact triple is (at least in Europe) a good alternative for around €90. It comes in different setups, the smallest being 46/34/24 and can easily be converted to double by replacing the largest chainring with a chainguard and removing the middle ring. Or Spa-cycles in the uk sells a very similar model, with supercompact chainrings (smallest one is 40/24).

Dixna's La Crank is quite well-known among roadies in Japan. No one talks about it outside of Japan because Dixna is one of those typical modern Japanese brands that short-sightedly markets their products to only domestic customers, commonly with an unnecessarily nationalistic tagline like "specifically designed FOR Japanese people." Those taglines creep me out because they describe it as if Japanese people have a particular physical trait (but not Korean, Chinese, or folks from any other part of the globe). Yes, it makes sense to sell shorter cranks in the East Asian market as we have a larger demographic that fits in the shorter end of the human race's height/leg length spectrum. But they shouldn't be limiting the target audience just to Japan or East Asia. Short cranks are for everyone! Side note: I've been running Sugino Mighty Mignon 150mm crankset on a 1x (38t, 110 PCD) drivetrain. Currently planning to go 2x (26t-40t, 74-110 PCD) by drilling a new set of holes to an old Deore LX crankset to shorten it from 175mm to 155mm.

I can really recommend Specialites TA Carmina Compact crank. Very stylish and well made. And square taper 110 BCD..........

Sorry if the English is wrong because it is an automatic translation. A little more expensive, but if you can afford a matching spider and chainring, there is a two-piece crank called the OnebyESU J-Crank. This is an aluminum spindle with a diameter of 24mm.

I love that you're also advocating for the merits of "old tech". People definitely *are* irrationally biased against old tech, but when considering 1) the application 2) performance history 3) availability of parts 4) total cost, I found that "old tech" is quite often the best overall solution for many cyclists. The cycling industry is heavily driven by innovation, which most often means incremental improvements in a specific area, but at a significant cost (to recuperate from R&D). If money is no object and/or you just want the latest thing, then no harm in upgrading bike systems to new tech. But I find *most* cyclists, in their intended application, rarely need nor benefit from the incremental improvements that new tech offers. There is most definitely a time and place for older, often more reliable, tech.

In the UK a similar crank to the Soma one is available from Spa cycles.

I've been happy with the Sugino OX601d, picked it up used on ebay, seems hard to find these days.

Im running a very budget ixf cranks 38/22 paired with a 11-36 cassette works well

YOU are reading my mind! I have been trying to find new cranks with the 38/24 chain ring combination. I so wish the Dixna cranks worked on my Fargo. I cannot seem to find anything in the 165mm crank arm length (other than White Industries). Thanks for the video. The struggle is real. Short cranks arms... Low gearing. Unicorns? Please use your PLP clout at Dixna...get them to make a set of cranks for those of us with 73mm BB!

Square spindles get stuck sometimes, but my Shimano external bottom bracket goes through a lot of bearings. The high end HollowTech cranks brake a lot.

"New is..." I love it!!!

Russell alwaysss on hisss grizzzzinddddd

Not a square taper fan, otherwise I’d love a silver 2x crankset. That last crankset 😍

Square taper with an SKF BAS-600 bottom bracket is the bomb

The most amazing road cranksets are all square tapered-The polished Mavic,the Edco competition and the 7410 Shimano Dura Ace-all with 130 BCD 🤙

Subscribed just because you correctly pronounce SRAM.

My dream is eewing crank 😍

I’m building a touring / gravel bike and I’d like to go square taper. The challenge, which I could probably figure out in a few hours is how to get a 50mm chainline to match my derailleur specs.

Well....I know we don't like road bikes here, but my carbon road bike with SRAM Red has an S952 carbon crank (BB386, so 30mm BB with external BSA cups) with a one piece 30-48 chainring combo, 3 bolt GXP mount, cos we have horrendous hills here and I couldn't go bigger than 11-28 on the back without changing derailleur. There are options. My steel alt-bar chunky tyre tourer has a regular 24mm cheap MTB crank with 30-42 and an 11-42 on the back, the 42t "outer" ring (104mm BCD) is where the middle one would be but spaced inboard with aluminium spacers and the inner ring is in the granny position (64mm BCD) but spaced commensurately inboard, so the chainline is just *mwah*. Apocalypse Bob, my townbike-converted fixie (dropouts spaced to about 126mm to fit a 6 speed 14-34 freewheel) has the same crank but 26-42 (and custom wheels I built so I could use a nice rear hub and a dynohub ;-) ). There are many options if you don't mind finagling. I weigh the best part of 90kg so the bigger BB axle is a godsend.

Rotor Spain offers cranks down to 150mm for Aldhu and Aldhu carbon. Way cheaper than Appleman and Ignite for a light-weight and modern crankset.

I departed the video at 0:15, thanks for the warning 😊

Biopace for the win!

No mention of the nerd crank database?!? Anyway, SPA Cycles deserves special mention here for their house-brand versions of the Sugino XD-2 crank available down to 160 mm, and the TD-2 available down to 165 mm. I have also found (and bought) XD-2 cranks as short as 155 mm - there's a seller on that auction website that will ship them from Germany. The New Albion and Rivendell cranksets are frustrating due to lack of short crank lengths, and I really want a bash guard, so the Dixna La crank unfortunately wasn't what I was looking for. SPA Cycles also deserves special mention for super affordable and wide ranging chainrings in 7075 or lesser materials. I ordered rings and chainring bolts from them, those 155 mm XD-2 cranks, and a BBG bash guard for my Soma Wolverine build in progress.

Yay smaller gears! (1) it is possible to shim out external BB cranks, but not a ton (2) Note that the New Albion cranks actually infringe Sugino's trademark... Oops. They need to change their tooling to remove the crown-S Sugino logo.

Big believer in the short crank. Currently at 150-155. I think it helps on commuter bikes for the easier reach, and being less sensitive to cadence (stoplight sprints). They're 1000% better when you're trying to ride in wet jeans. I do struggle with the square taper though. I like being able to adjust the chainline, but they're not confidence inspiring when you're fat. I've not seen the Dixna brand before, and I do a lot of looking. Thank you.

I’m experimenting with 150 mm cranks and find a 20 or 22 tooth small ring useful. Luckily TA Zephyrs have 56 bcd so will take a 20.

The Albion is good but I did have to rotate the crank to clear wobble - the machining was not perfect on every face of the square taper socket.

been riding Sug[no for years and before that Stronglight

q factor on my new albion clipper crankset was way too wide for me, otherwise they're a steal for what you get. super nice finish and chain rings

Also check out Spa cycle’s cracks in the uk. Absolute bargain based on Sugino 110/74 BCD cranks

My biggest issue with running a 110 / 74 ring set is the availability of 11sp rings. If you want a 42-26, for example, in 11sp, you're searching for a really niche product. This can be an issue if you need a replacement in a hurry. If you start off by saying, this is really for the folks using 2x10 or less, I think it makes sense.

By chance I watched today your video about the extreme two speed cranksets from 1 year ago which has the title: My Favorite Crankset That No One Knows About I thought it will be something similar, but it looks like there are such two speed cranksets, and it is not needed to mod a 3x.

I tried the Clipper Crank on my first build but found that it had too much flex for my liking so have switched to the VO Grand Cru

Hi Russ, thanks a lot for this great video (and the previous video on the same subject). I read all the comments and you might have answered it indirectly before so I apologize if this is a repetition. I was wondering if you used the Dixna La Crank with a Sram 11s cassette. I wrote to Alex Cycles on this topic and to see if AXS would be supported but they didn't comment more than what is already written (max 10s for Sram). Thanks again!

I would love to try out a 165mm arm length. Square taper cranks here seems to be lower quality stuff. So I didn't look at other places in Europe after replacement. Also trying to cut down on buying stuff for my bike 😜

Russ, you’re definitely not alone! ⚙️ Curious what derailleurs & shifters you’re using with these?

Interesting products. Is it possible to use them on a 1X bike? I mean, convert my 1X (44T) to a 2X by adding one of these cranks + a front derailleur? Would I have to change my rear derailleur (less tension because of the the smaller chainring)?

I like the idea of a 2x setup but in my use case (city riding) i have no need for anything other than a 42t up front with my current cassette being 11-34t 9 speed in the back. not a whole lot of range i know but honestly i rarely drop down below 3rd. i have thought about getting a larger rear cassette but my derailer is maxed out unless i get one of those goat links or race links. doesn't seem worth it unless i plan to go touring. this setup is on my jamis aurora stee touring bike by the way.

I really like the look of those Albion and Dixna cranks, looks great. Why is nobody talking about those cranks ?? I think price has something to do with it too. On my last trip, I had a Shimano FC-M4100 crank on my bike with 36/24 tooth chainring, These cost €50.-- That chainring combination was perfect for me, the shifting was super smooth. What I really like, is that with the compatible Shimano front derailleur and shifter, I am 100% sure it will shift smoothly. And the new Shimano Cues cranksets (for example the FC-U6000 with 36/22 chainrings), will be even cheaper I guess. But I must admit, the cranks in this video look much cooler. And if you like experimenting, go for it !

Hi Russ. Is there any advantage for the 110/74 BCD cranksets vs the more common 110/64 BCD ones?

I like big cranks! I am a grinder not a spinner! Currently I have a Tiagra front crank, 52/36, I 'd love to go higher (60?) Is that possible with one of these cranks, you are only stating that they can go smaller, also will one of these cranks swap into a 10 speed tiagra groupset, rear deraillieur, chain, shifter? I am annoyed with the Tiagra/Shimano, the big shain ring it welded/fused onto the crank, when the chain ring is knackered the whole crank has to be replaced (the small chain ring is replaceable.)

You could run 104BCD 4bolt SQ cranks or 94BCD - though finding 'middle' chainrings in larger tooth sizes can be an issue. I'm looking to run a 42/29 on a pair of 94BCD cranks though a little concerned about chain clearance on the inner (seems some cranks have a slight taper for clearance). On a SQ taper BB you drop from say a 113 to a 119 for chainline? I do have some 24T and a 36T (middle) for a 94bcd crank I'm planning on trying out - but slightly concerned gearing may be a little low.

Thoughts on Shimano trekking groupsets?

It's look like Japanese Pass Hunting crankset. Its come with uncommon chainring combination.

I'm sold on your alternate cranks options. But I'm really lost on how it would work with a pressfit BB or a BSA 68mm BB. Could you make a video to make sense of it all? Kinda like "You got this kind of BB? these companies got you covered:".. etc...

Hey Russ have you had any experience setting up a boost frame as a 2x? I'm curious but not sure if I will struggle as running 27.5x2.6 tires makes it a little tight down there.

Can the last option be combined with Gates? I'm really struggling to find affordable short cranks to combine with Gates and a Shimano hub. Any tip is appreciated.

How can you put a square taper crankset in a BB86 press-fit bottom bracket? Do you have to change the BB as well? Is the shell even compatible with square taper cranks? I always find it difficult to navigate through BB/crankset standards and compatibility.

Is there a way to know if a groupset can be used with a 46/30 crankset?

Do you think I can use the first crank (Soma New Albion) in replacement for 8-speed shimano claris compact crankset? I mean will a 10 speed crank match my 8 speed gear? If not, can you please give me some advices on how to get low gears with shimano claris drivetrain (a lot of low-budget gravels come with it and I can't find any option with a chainring smaller than 30T)

I have a Prowheel Ounce crankset on my “gravel” bike. It has those 5 bolts too. I tried to find a smaller chainring for the smaller one but it is hard for me. Bigger one is 42 and I want to get a smallest one I can get, since the bike is only 2x7 geared. Do you guys know what I can buy?

Is the Q Factor in the Dixna as low as advertised? That seems too low. could it be too close to chainatays on some gravel bikes?

If the Albion's came in 2x10 sp I buy in a heartbeat.

Can this cranks be use on a mountain bike frame?

Question, are you using a short front mech with the 38/24 like the IRD or Skeleton Key? I'm deciding this week on either the Silver 38/24 or giant pie plate 42/26 with 170mm crank length. Thanks for highlighting what I've been trying to do since the 70s.

I think they owe me some royalties for that crankset 😊

The weight weenies never cease to amaze me. Reliability and function get you there