TA Zephyr Light Cranks

[Moosedryvr]

Still trying to find a potential alternative to the Shimano compact (how do you like your's Sandy?) for my Hampsten/Moots. Was looking hard at the Stronglight Pulsions, but am trying to steer away from carbon fiber weave on this build (only CF on bike is the fork, but its an Ouzo Lite with matte black finish). Also lots of bad ISIS vibes out there. I know that Campy is making a alloy compact, but I'm not sure I'm willing to tempt the cycling gods by mixing Campy and Shimano.
In a previous post DBRK lamented the passing of the TA Zephyr, but Peter White still has some NOS Zephyr Lights (110 BCD) available. I was thinking that a pair of them and a Phil Wood BB might give my Moots a bit of that "old school/Tornado Tom" look, and I'm not against that. Any thoughts? PW lists them at $375. Is this reasonable compared to what they were going for before they were discontinued? Many thanks in advance

Vr,
SPG

[eddief]

I have ordered two of these from Withington Cycles in the UK. Each time I managed to get them with silver rings. This is a Sugino clone, but the Stronglight silver 48 looks way better than the 48 from Sugino. About $150.

Not quite TA, but a really fine looking crank in all silver.

Personally, I think you'd do best by trying the new one from Campy. I prefer the 48/34 combo, but many like 50/34. You can ususally get the Campy cranks from aebike if you choose the net.

http://www.withingtoncycles.co.uk/product.php?id=3371&node_id=540

Good luck.

[Ken Robb]

have we seen pix of this bike?

[Moosedryvr]

Not yet. Called Steve today and he said a couple more weeks. If you'd like I'd be happy to post a photo when I get her built up.

SPG

[Rover-Rich]

Moosedryvr which Hampsten are you having built? Steve told me that Moots was cutting tubes sometime last week for their next batch of bikes, mine hopefully was in that batch. I'd love to see what parts you end up choosing, as I'm looking around now too for the same. :beer:

[93legendti]

I have a set of Ritchey's Octalink Compact Cranks. Not sure what bike they are going on (maybe a Legend ST), but they seem pretty nice. Have you looked at the Ritchey Compact Cranks yet?

[Moosedryvr]

Moosedryvr which Hampsten are you having built? Steve told me that Moots was cutting tubes sometime last week for their next batch of bikes, mine hopefully was in that batch. I'd love to see what parts you end up choosing, as I'm looking around now too for the same. :beer:

Mine's a custom S&S coupled Titanio. Tubes were cut sometime before the holidays. I'll be running DA 10 with Ouzo Lite fork, Ritchey WCS stem and bars and a set of Chris Kings laced to Velocity Aeroheads from my previous bike. only piece left is a compact crank and I'm having a hard time getting excited about the new Shimano from an aesthetics standpoint (I know they'd work great, all the Shimano stuff does...)

SPG

[gdw]

I second the Ritchey Compact. Loctite might call you rude names if you buy them from this guy but the price is right.
http://cgi.ebay.com/RICHEY-WCS-ROAD-CRANK-NIB-AND-RITCHEY-LOGIC-PEDALS_W0QQitemZ7216686361QQcategoryZ56195QQrdZ1QQ cmdZViewItem
Not a bad deal for a $200.00 crankset.

If someone beats you to that auction try this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-06-RITCHEY-WCS-110-V-COMPACT-CRANKSET-OCTALINK_W0QQitemZ7217609261QQcategoryZ56195QQrdZ1 QQcmdZViewItem
It's more expensive than the first auction but still less than mailorder.

Disclaimer; I'm just a lowly bottom feeder taking food off of the tables of hardworking bike industry employees and have no ties to the sellers in the linked auctions. :banana:

[eddief]

$125 all day at aebike.com

http://aebike.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=30&SKU=CR3254

[eddief]

The Centaur compact comes in grey too. Here's the photo of the regular one, but aebike has the compact in grey too. Looks great in the photo!


http://aebike.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=30&SKU=CR9411

[gdw]

Hey Eddie,
Is AEBike legit? I tried to order from them in the past but the items were no longer available and could not be reordered for the listed price. Have you used them succesfully? This isn't meant to slam them because I'm tempted to try them again if their service has improved.

[eddief]

I have ordered so much stuff from them it hurts to talk about it. I have never had a problem ever. In many cases their prices can't be beat, but that comes with one caveat. They charge a restocking fee for returns. I just make damn sure about what I want and then push the button. Shipping usually takes a bit of time but always works well. Shipping charges are reasonable and no sales tax.

[dbrk]

As much as I still think the TA Zephyr is the pick of litter, likely the most beautiful and well-made 110bcd crank ever made, the new offerings from Campagnolo go some distance in repairing a lamentable situation. The Ritchey's are nice too but I prefer silver. The Suginos are a good value and look good but I'd pay for the TA. Peter White has a few left and I think they're worth every nickel when you look at comparatively the prices of bike parts these days.

dbrk

[Grant McLean]

As much as I still think the TA Zephyr is the pick of litter, likely the most beautiful and well-made 110bcd crank ever made, the new offerings from Campagnolo go some distance in repairing a lamentable situation. The Ritchey's are nice too but I prefer silver. The Suginos are a good value and look good but I'd pay for the TA. Peter White has a few left and I think they're worth every nickel when you look at comparatively the prices of bike parts these days.

dbrk

what dbrk said.

-g

[Ken Robb]

I have TA Zephyr triple on my Waterford (thanks Dave) and they are gorgeous.
I have Ritchey Compact on my Hampsten and they look good to me with the black/silver combination.

Hey dave did you "win" the Clll? Just our size.

[bfd]

Maybe one alternative not mentioned is the Sugino Alpina/Cospea. I know of only one source for this crank, Jitensha:

http://www.jitensha.com/eng/images/nw_suginocrnk.jpg

At $265/$295 if you want TA chainrings, its not cheap, but still less than the TA Zephyr.

Interestingly, I recently sold a used pair of TA Zephyr cranks. I like the shiny, shiny finish, but the back side of the spider was not polished at all. I know, big deal. Yet, take a look at Campy and Shimano, both take the time to polish the back of their spider. Even my low end Shimano RSX 110bcd double crank has a better finish. Weird.

Further, I would have kept the TA but its was actually too narrow for my liking.

[eddief]

I always wanted to use that phrase. Those Cospea arms looks exactly like regular Suginos with a slightly finer finish. It's those rings that cost both arms and a leg. Nice to have so many choices.

[Steve Hampsten]

My money is on the Cospea/Alpina (square taper). Euro-Asia has them at a nice price and they may be converted to a triple as needed.

The TA are nice but I'm not sold on their BB and I suspect the Q-factor is greater than some. Still, they're French - that's gotta count for something!

Nuttin' wrong with Campy Centaur compact, imho.

[dave thompson]

Hey dave did you "win" the Clll? Just our size.
Nope. I was hoping for a 'CSi' moment, but didn't happen. BTW, the CSi comes in Wednesday and hopefully by then I'll be able to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with it.

[slowgoing]

I have a TA Zephyr light and it is very nice.

I'd be a little hesitant to buy a TA crank again, though. I have a TA Zephyr triple that got stuck on the phil wood bb spindle and I stripped the threads trying to remove it. Sure, maybe I overtightened it, but not any tighter than other campy and shimano cranks, and they always came off without thread strippage. Leads me to believe that the TA alloy may be softer and more prone to stripping, but that's just a guess on my part.

[Too Tall]

Have you seen what DaVinci has to offer? Square taper, very narrow Q and the spider can be changed should you fall out of love with compact. Their website is awful. Two yrs. ago I had them make a set of 180 with 110 bcd and was knocked out with the quality and aesthetic is clean and GOSH it is American made, who'd a thunk that could happen?

If you think to hard about his system to attach the spider you'll lose faith. Trust me, it is precision and tight as a drum.

[PeterW]

As I was riding my TA Zephyr equipped Mariposa this morning in the rain (and before I read this post), I looked down and thought, "This crankset kinda s*cks." What I was looking at was the pronounced dome of the spider. The thing really sticks out from the plane of the rings. I don't like 3D cranks.

I'm used to flat profile of my Campy cranks. Although I don't have a set (yet), the Centaur compact has got to be the way to go.

I've read a bunch of time that the Zephyr is one of the nicest bits of bikedom. Granted, that was before compacts became more available, but I don't think it's that special. Now the TA Cyclotouriste (I forget its real name) is a knockout and always makes classic bikes look more classic.

Another advantage with the Centaur is that the compact, 135, and triple all use the same 111 BB. So swapping is a breeze.