Replacing My Crankset

wescoas1 said:

Hey All,

I have a 10 year old Cannondale SR400 roadbike with a little wear and tear that I have been trying to smooth out. Being a 230 pound rider I have also been trying to make it more durable and really could care less about weight. Anyways, here is the current issue...

My Shimano SG front sprockets and RX100 'star' that mounts them to the crank were recently bent beyond repair by yours truly. I am currently scowering eBay for parts but the RX100 stuff is a decade old and hard to find. Plus, I'm hoping to upgrade to something that is even more durable, like a Dura Ace kit for example.

Now the question is, if I upgrade to another crankset up front does that mean I will have to replace the deraileurs, hub, and rear set as well? I'm looking for something that will require few changes and hence fewer dollars since it is an older bike after all. What are my options? Thanks in advance for any information you can give me. Summer is almost finally here and I want to ride. 😄

Adam

Generally, the way a bike's crankset AND its chainrings interact with other components really isn't adversely affected when the other components are from different drivetrains.

SOME shifting is enhanced by ensuring absolute MANUFACTURER'S RECOMMENDED compatibility, of course ... and similarly, some might suggest mixing components can result in degraded performance. It would not be wise to use a crank with 10-speed chainrings on a bike whose other components were 7-speed, for example; but, you could do it if you wanted.

BTW. Going to Dura Ace components may be a bit of an extreme upgrade ... and, you may not be getting the best-bang-for-your-buck.

Shimano's 105 & Ultegra components are both great values ...

FSA makes very nice cranksets which are excellent values -- FWIW. the "spiders" on the FSA Gossamer crannksets are "braced" in the same manner that Shimano uses on their DA cranks.

I agree with alfeng and would want to emphasize that Dura Ace is not made to be the most durable, but more lightweight and finely-finished as Ultegra. FSA makes very good cranksets as well. I suggest you inspect your rear cogs as well for wear. A bike that old would do better to have a new chain, freewheel and crankset. It starts getting expensive as you can see. I suggest you look at the economics of it, get to a local bike shop for opinions and then think about what you want to do. Things have changed in componentry in the past ten years. If you value the frame then it may be worth upgrading.

A local bike shop may have a crankset to replace yours on hand.

These are just things to think about.

Hey W1,

If you're interested in replacing your crankset, I've got an excellent condition FSA Carbon Pro Team Issue 172.5mm 53/39T crankset I'm not using. It came off my Cannondale when I upgraded to a Dura-Ace 7800 10sp crankset. The FSA crankset has maybe 250km on it so it's in great shape. It also comes with an English thread FSA Platinum Pro bottom bracket and FSA crank bolts. I have photos if you're interested.

Cheers,
T72

wescoas1 said:

Hey All,

I have a 10 year old Cannondale SR400 roadbike with a little wear and tear that I have been trying to smooth out. Being a 230 pound rider I have also been trying to make it more durable and really could care less about weight. Anyways, here is the current issue...

My Shimano SG front sprockets and RX100 'star' that mounts them to the crank were recently bent beyond repair by yours truly. I am currently scowering eBay for parts but the RX100 stuff is a decade old and hard to find. Plus, I'm hoping to upgrade to something that is even more durable, like a Dura Ace kit for example.

Now the question is, if I upgrade to another crankset up front does that mean I will have to replace the deraileurs, hub, and rear set as well? I'm looking for something that will require few changes and hence fewer dollars since it is an older bike after all. What are my options? Thanks in advance for any information you can give me. Summer is almost finally here and I want to ride. 😄

Adam

Lots of 7/8s Shimano 105/Ultegra or even DA or Campagnolo cranksets on eBay for not too much money. Pretty much anything should work OK for the rest of your drivetrain. In my experience 7/8s shifting is much more forgiving of brand mixing than the 9s/10s stuff