You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I've had abuse from my normal riding mates, so i may as well get it hear as well..
I've recently had some nice new bling Hope EVO cranks fited to my nice new Spitfire V3, however they feel weird. Admittedly there are a few things to take note -
1. I've gone from 175mm to 170mm
2. I've gone from 32t to 34t
3. previous cranks were either mega old slx's or some very recently borrowed XO1's
It's hard to describe the feeling, but i can only akin it to when you get on a crappy pedalo and it feels liek at the top of the stroke it gets stuck. Off the bike is spinning freely, it has a new Hope BB on as well.
Im fairly certain i had an old set of saints that were 170's maybe even smaller and i don't remeber noticing much, but now i am. surely im not that sensitive to 5mm.
Could the wider Qfactor be a contributor - or is it possible something is sticking (i cant feel it) - has anyone else noticed a difference between 5mm? is it becuase they are uber stiff??
yours confused from surrey.
They have put two of the same length in the box haven't they?
_fiat
Full Member
They have put two of the same length in the box haven’t they?
lol - i did check, both stamped and i measured..
if you pop the chain off, does the crank spinny spin round freely?
so you`vee gone down a size incrank length and up a chainring - its bound to feel harder to pedal - physics innit.
it could be the install isnt great. take em apart and see if the axle rubbing/binding anywhere. might be the BB needs facing or something.
oh - is it an oval ring and have you put it on clocked right?
Are you a spline out?
Assuming its a BSA BB then the tolerancing on the BB needs to be perfect. 30mm is really too big for a BSA BB and so the cups are made really thin, and therefore prone to twisting/mis-alignment so check (as you're tightening them) that the inner face of the BB cups are leaving an even gap all the way round, if its not perfectly even you're going to get stiff spots on rotation.
A shorter crank should actually make you feel like you can pedal a bit easier as your leg will not have to come up as far. I reckon the bearings are not in properly.
Would the extra 2 teeth cause a problem if you're using the same chain length?
I've had a similar feeling when going from a 32t to a 34t and it went away when I reprogrammed myself to use a gear or two lower than I thought. I always felt like I was spinning and going nowhere but my Strava times say otherwise. I've had similar on one bike when I went from a 175mm crank to a 165mm, just took a bit of relearning what gear to be in on regular hills.
Have you let a mate ride the bike and see if they can feel anything?
Would the extra 2 teeth cause a problem if you’re using the same chain length?
Especially on a full suss where the spacing may change as the bike moves up and down. Won't be noticeable on the bike stand
Checked the saddle height? Might need to drop the seat post a bit to offset the shorter crank?
Wouldn't the saddle need to go up?
Depending on how sensitive you are, it may change the kinematics of the bike very slightly.
Worth checking that everything is perpendicular and parallel. If the axle or pedal hole was drilled slightly off, that's going to feel weird
Erm..yes. Oops
Cheers all, it goes without saying that yes it could be a combination of all of the above, but to answer some specifics;
james-rennie
Full Member
if you pop the chain off, does the crank spinny spin round freely?
yep, all spin nice and freely
VanHalen
Full Member
oh – is it an oval ring and have you put it on clocked right?
roudn as a round thing
frogstomp
Full Member
Are you a spline out?
you actually made me go check - they are in correctly!
reluctantjumper
Full MemberHave you let a mate ride the bike and see if they can feel anything?
that's my next step to see if it's in my head.
Onzadog
Free Member
Worth checking that everything is perpendicular and parallel. If the axle or pedal hole was drilled slightly off, that’s going to feel weird
that's a good point - and as i now have ooodles of doubt in my head im also going to check ive put the pedals on the right way (saint spds)..
I've ridden tones of differrnt bikes with different crank lengths and this is the only one that feels weird now.
im also going to check ive put the pedals on the right way (saint spds)..
How do you put pedals on the wrong way? They've got right/left handed threads, you'd either have to mash them on and knacker the crank threads or put them on the inside of the crank arm.
Were your old cranks a little bent and you got used to it?
New crank will now feel odd.
All the cranks across my bikes feel slightly different despite being the same model and fitted with the same pedals.
Bent pedals or cranks feel really wierd, it does resemble the feeling you describe of getting stuck as at one position your foot has to flick over the top to carry on.
Not sure how you could measure it on a crank though without some sort of very accurate jig.
well...
im not saying i didn't check, but im not syaing i checked properly but;
frogstomp
Full Member
Are you a spline out?you actually made me go check – they are in correctly!
im trying to think of some how to avoid the outfall of abuse coming my way - so in light of this little nugget - im blaming the perosn who put the BB and Cranks on for me - in a shop (im not naming as they are actually very very good and it was a favour, but i shall abuse him the next time i see him)
i shall abuse him the next time i see him
He could probably get a job in the Navy fixing helicopters 😀
Wow,so they dont have one wider key spline like Shimano to stop that happening?
You can still put Shimano ones on incorrectly, apparently. So I hear anyway. I wouldn't know. Not me.
You can still put Shimano ones on incorrectly, apparently
Jings,bet it needs a special mallet* 😉
*not a Timmy
why doesn't the image thing work anymore??
anyway - yes i have put some shimano's on incorrectly before, but it was hard. I've not actually tried to fix it yet, will do later.. cant believe i missed that...
So the answer here is, yes you really shouldn't feel any difference!!
Ha, winner! I only thought of it because I fell foul of it as a workshop joke once..
Do the hopes use the fine splines like Shimano then? I only recently removed/refitted a ht2 crank for he first time, and the wide keyed spline worked fine to stop incorrect installation. The gxp cranks I've had for years don't have a wide aligning spline, but the spline count/spacing is such that you would easily notice if it was even one spline out.
Bizarre!!!! Great thread though
I did the one spline out thing recently on SRAM cranks after changing the BB and it felt vv strange. Full moron action, so do check 👍
So, the new hope cranks don't have any fail safe notches like others do, so very easy to miss-align.
D'Oh! Glad you got it sorted easily!
What a rollercoaster.
I dunno, it may soon become another new standard.
Offset cranks and an oval ring....feel the trails come alive. 😉 🙂
Offset cranks and an oval ring….feel the trails come alive. 😉 🙂
I can see the marketing now, the offset to allow you to raise or lower your centre of gravity at a spin of the cranks..