Square taper cranks - are they dead in the water?

Jamey
Jamey Posts: 2,152
edited July 2009 in Workshop
Last week my right crank arm sheared through as I was pulling away from a junction. It was less than a year old and I have returned it to the shop I bought it from for them to send it back to the manufacturer and hopefully provide a warranty replacement for me.

Fortunately I had a complete spare chainset (exact same make/model - FSA Vero Triple) that I picked up cheaply in ChainReaction's flood sale a few months back so in the meantime I have fitted this to the bike so I can continue using it.

But being the exact same make and model has made me slightly wary that the same thing might happen again so I've been having a quick look around to see what else is available and frankly I can't find anything when it comes to square taper cranksets or chainsets. Even my one is no longer available.

Does this mean that if I continue having problems I'll probably have to move to outboard bearings?

Can anyone find any square taper cranksets or chainsets that can match these requirements:
  • Triple - to sit on 113mm axle
  • 130mm/74mm BCD measurements - so I can use existing spare chainrings I've already bought.
  • Not 100% sure of current length but it's probably fairly generic as they came with the bike. Does that mean 172.5mm? Is that the typical length?
  • I've got a Shimano-type crank puller so would rather not have to buy another tool.
If I was to move to outboard bearings, do I need to do anything to match the 113mm axle length thing, or would all modern triple chainsets just sit in the right place on my frame without me needing to know or do anything special?
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Comments

  • stoobydale
    stoobydale Posts: 535
    All my bikes have Campagnolo Square taper BB's for the reason you mention, interchangeability. Stuff still seems readily available. I have stuck with centaur 111mm double which has been more than good enough. Sometimes use a cheaper mirage set up on the winter bike. Check out GB cycles for some cheap older models of the Campag stuff.
  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    Are Campy cranks going to be compatible with an otherwise Shimano drivetrain, though?
    My photography // My helmet cam videos // My bike
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    I never had any real problems with square taper. Don't know that the newer outboard
    bearing ones are any "better". Lighter? Yes, due to hollow and carbon crank arms.
    Easier to work on outboards. Simpler to adjust and replace bearings. So I vote for
    outboards as the way to go if you need a replacement crank set.
  • Smokin Joe
    Smokin Joe Posts: 2,706
    Jamey wrote:
    Are Campy cranks going to be compatible with an otherwise Shimano drivetrain, though?
    Any chainset will work with any drivetrain, otherwise Stronglight, TA and FSA would be out of business.
  • balthazar
    balthazar Posts: 1,565
    It's worth reading Sheldon on the two subtly different square taper specs:

    http://www.sheldonbrown.com/bbtaper.html

    I don't have the experience with "wrong" tapers to vouchsafe for Sheldon, but he's never usually wrong. Apart from this, I think you'll be fine with Campag chainrings, if they're otherwise suitable; front mech operation is pretty agricultural.

    At the risk of stoking one of the oldest bike nerd disputes, I'll suggest you read this on how to fit them:

    http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/inst ... ranks.html
  • nmcgann
    nmcgann Posts: 1,780
    Jamey wrote:
    Are Campy cranks going to be compatible with an otherwise Shimano drivetrain, though?

    Yup. My TT bike has a campag chainset/BB with Shimano everything else. I have also just transplanted a set of 9-speed Shimano 105 onto my winter bike that has a campag triple chainset/BB. It all works fine.

    ......and all my campag chainsets are square taper :wink:

    Neil
    --
    "Because the cycling is pain. The cycling is soul crushing pain."
  • fast as fupp
    fast as fupp Posts: 2,277
    balthazar wrote:
    It's worth reading Sheldon on the two subtly different square taper specs:

    http://www.sheldonbrown.com/bbtaper.html

    I don't have the experience with "wrong" tapers to vouchsafe for Sheldon, but he's never usually wrong. Apart from this, I think you'll be fine with Campag chainrings, if they're otherwise suitable; front mech operation is pretty agricultural.

    At the risk of stoking one of the oldest bike nerd disputes, I'll suggest you read this on how to fit them:

    http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/inst ... ranks.html

    ive fitted campag square taper veloce cranks to shimano 110.5 bb with no problems :D
    'dont forget lads, one evertonian is worth twenty kopites'

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