I have a strange bicycle that I am struggling to find cranks for

[bicycletricycle]

TLDR-

I got a sycip monstercross/touring/travel bike built almost 20 years ago. It has some interesting specs. 145mm spaced sub 11 track dropouts with derailleur hanger welded on, S&S couplers, 29 x 2.2 tire clearance, 68mm BB shell. I am about to send it back to Jeremy for some updates (disc brakes, thru axles). I have run it with some old race face turbine square taper cranks for a lot of its life but I am looking for a replacement. I end up pulling the cranks off when packing so I want to change over to a shimano pinch bolt 24mm style external bearing crank.

The point-

Looking for a crank with these attributes
-50mm ish chainline double
-Non proprietary Chainrings
-Narrow-ish mountain Q factor (165mm)
-Easy to remove cranks arms with small allen wrenches (24mm pinchbolt style preferred)

So far the 10 and 11 speed mountain double cranks from shimano seem to fit the bill except for some of the strange chainrings and slightly wider Q.

anything else?

[p nut]

Shimano is probably your best bet. SRAM needs 8mm Allen to remove (not sure if you’d consider that a “small” hex key). Of course, the BCD could be considered proprietary.

9100-2 double has a 49mm chain line and 162mm Q factor.
9000-2 has even a narrower Q factor of 158.

[bicycletricycle]

I don't see any aftermarket support for that assym 4 bolt BCD on the XTR. I would also want a bigger big ring.

Thanks for the suggestions though, those 9000 cranks are nice.

What a pain.

Originally Posted by p nut

Shimano is probably your best bet. SRAM needs 8mm Allen to remove (not sure if you’d consider that a “small” hex key). Of course, the BCD could be considered proprietary.

9100-2 double has a 49mm chain line and 162mm Q factor.
9000-2 has even a narrower Q factor of 158.

[p nut]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

I don't see any aftermarket support for that assym 4 bolt BCD on the XTR. I would also want a bigger big ring.

Thanks for the suggestions though, those 9000 cranks are nice.

What a pain.

Yeah, sorry. I thought you were good with the Shimano bcd but I misread your original post.

I can’t think of any crank that fits all criteria.

I really think a unique bike like that would look best with something like a WI VBC cranks! But I can see ST BB not being the best for a travel bike if you’re taking off cranks every time.

What about a Sram GX1000? Not sure on q factor. 49mm chainline and 104/64 Standard rings.

https://www.sram.com/en/sram/models/fc-gx-1012-a1

Good luck.

[bicycletricycle]

The WI cranks are nice. I have not used them and I don't know how well that spindle would hold up to repeated disassembly. I guess WI will support that VBC chainring set up for a while. They are also a little wide @ 176 but they have the gravel available @ 171

I was looking at the 9100 xtr cranks, maybe I could make a spider for it so that it can take normal rings.

Originally Posted by p nut

Yeah, sorry. I thought you were good with the Shimano bcd but I misread your original post.

I can’t think of any crank that fits all criteria.

I really think a unique bike like that would look best with something like a WI VBC cranks! But I can see ST BB not being the best for a travel bike if you’re taking off cranks every time.

What about a Sram GX1000? Not sure on q factor. 49mm chainline and 104/64 Standard rings.

https://www.sram.com/en/sram/models/fc-gx-1012-a1

Good luck.

[Bentley]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

The WI cranks are nice. I have not used them and I don't know how well that spindle would hold up to repeated disassembly. I guess WI will support that VBC chainring set up for a while. They are also a little wide @ 176 but they have the gravel available @ 171

I was looking at the 9100 xtr cranks, maybe I could make a spider for it so that it can take normal rings.

If you make a new spider my guess is you could sell a bunch to adapt to either a 110 or 130 BCD Shimano compatible chainring ������

[ColonelJLloyd]

I would suggest older SRAM/Truvativ XO arms (166mm Q) which use the removable spider, but I recall you have a beef with GXP.

You don't mention what rings you'd be after, but 42/28 and 39/26 are available with the native XO 120/80 spider.

[JAGI410]

You mention "repeated disassembly".

Why? Are you burning through chainrings weekly?

[p nut]

Originally Posted by JAGI410

You mention "repeated disassembly".

Why? Are you burning through chainrings weekly?

He’s using it as a travel bike.

[truth]

Could you run an XTR M970 with just the two outer rings? TA makes replacements rings for these: TA Chinook

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by p nut

He’s using it as a travel bike.

I'm still curious why the cranks get removed.

[p nut]

Originally Posted by charliedid

I'm still curious why the cranks get removed.

https://youtu.be/Ml5ZsuEdqOY

[AngryScientist]

i guess BT's bike is a lot bigger than mine, and the 142 rear certainly complicates things, but i've traveled with my S&S bike extensively and never even considered pulling the crank to pack the bike.

Are you sure you will need to remove it all the time?

[buddybikes]

In case you are interested (and believe live "down the road" from you in RI) I have XTR 960 (think) triple in 177.5 that will gladly get out of the shed cheaply so I don't have to box them up. Live just south of Providence

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by p nut

https://youtu.be/Ml5ZsuEdqOY

Ah yes thanks.

Looks like a huge PITA