THE FUTURE OF SUPER COMPACT CRANKS

One thing becoming ever more popular is the super-compact crankset. Bikeradar.com recently sat down with many bike brands, including Full Speed Ahead, to talk about super-compact cranksets and where they are going. The following snippets are extracted from the original article, but you can read the full story on BikeRadar HERE:

“Compact double chainsets were initially popularised by French randonneur riders, but it’s only recently that modern component brands started offering them.

Full Speed Ahead (FSA) launched its range of adventure chainsets at last year’s Taipei Cycle Show, available in a wide range of chainring options from 48/32 to 46/36, and even a 46/30t.

We started to think about 48/32t because of gravel bicycles,” says FSA’s European general manager, Maurizio Bellin. “We recognized from our OEM [original equipment manufacturer] customers that a lot of them were speccing longer-cage mechs with 30t cassettes, and we saw the real benefit for users of super-compact gearing…”

He also mentions “that as long as you keep the same gap between the large and small chainrings as a 50/34t, a 48/32t for example, there’s no technical issue for the front derailleur. He adds however that FSA needed to completely redesign its high-end carbon cranks to accommodate the smaller Bolt Circle Diameter and fit a 32t chainring. FSA’s Gossamer and Omega versions use an Asymmetrical Bolt Circle design that didn’t require any changes to fit a 32t.”

Article courtesy of Jamie Beach of Bikeradar.com