Ray
09-29-2006, 07:07 AM
Due to a all-too documented crank breakage, I recently bought and installed a Shimano compact crank on my main ride. Ugly, but seemingly built like a tank and I sort of wanted to check out one of the outboard bb cranksets and this one was as good and as cheap as any of 'em. So I put it on and rode around a bit and eventually decided I needed to tweak my saddle position (nothing to do with the cranks - I've just been having a bad second half of the season with back problems and I keep trying to find the sweet spot that seems to be eluding me).
In the past, I've had two methods of measuring where stuff was on the bike. The first was a fit stick, which works but is cumbersome and I don't trust its accuracy on a couple of measurements. The other is a squared off support post in my basement. In both cases, the key point of reference, from which everything else is measured and all else flows, is the 8mm bottom bracket bolt hole. On the left for the fit stick and on the right for the support post (I'd stick a hex wrench in there and jam it up against the post and it was easy to measure saddle setback, height from the bb center, and subsequently reach, etc).
But these cranks don't have any friggin useful bolt holes!
In a zillion years, it never would have ocurred to me to think about this before I bought the cranks, but now I'm flummoxed. Am I gonna have to go back to dropping plum lines and hope I can hold 'em steady enough to really determine where stuff is? Measure saddle height and tilt from the floor? All of these methods are less than satisfactory, but might have to do.
Or maybe I'll drill a hole in the right crank, where the bolt woulda been. Yeah, that'd be smart right after shearing off a crank arm...
This should be the biggest problem I have for a while. :beer:
-Ray
In the past, I've had two methods of measuring where stuff was on the bike. The first was a fit stick, which works but is cumbersome and I don't trust its accuracy on a couple of measurements. The other is a squared off support post in my basement. In both cases, the key point of reference, from which everything else is measured and all else flows, is the 8mm bottom bracket bolt hole. On the left for the fit stick and on the right for the support post (I'd stick a hex wrench in there and jam it up against the post and it was easy to measure saddle setback, height from the bb center, and subsequently reach, etc).
But these cranks don't have any friggin useful bolt holes!
In a zillion years, it never would have ocurred to me to think about this before I bought the cranks, but now I'm flummoxed. Am I gonna have to go back to dropping plum lines and hope I can hold 'em steady enough to really determine where stuff is? Measure saddle height and tilt from the floor? All of these methods are less than satisfactory, but might have to do.
Or maybe I'll drill a hole in the right crank, where the bolt woulda been. Yeah, that'd be smart right after shearing off a crank arm...
This should be the biggest problem I have for a while. :beer:
-Ray