The Bike That Phill Built: Crankset

This was a big decision because the front crankset combines both pedal arm length and cogs for gears. Luckily my choice of fame the Surly Crosscheck allows any chainrings I want (chain ring clearance). Much thanks must go to Claire from Mal Adjusted as it was her recommendation. Ideally what I was looking for was a crank arm length that fit my body size - which is 170mm, chainring sizes to best cover the range of terrain and slopes I may be facing, and it had to be compatible with my cassette.

A crank set, I'm still unsure what the items in the bag a for, but they are covered with a weird green funk

This led to a decision of having three chain rings and not two, as well as looking for the maximum amount of teeth on the larger ring, as this would make it easier to attack steep slopes at the cost of slightly (easy gear) as opposed to increasing my velocity on flats our downhill slopes (hard gear).

A man and his cog

It was also imperative that there were three cogs and not two. After much searching I chose the Shimano SLX Triple M660 as this offered everything I needed with the 48/36/26 (# of teeth on cogs) chain ring sizes - which is larger than usual. However I ran into a pitfall when I found that Shimano no longer imported these to Australia. In a second effort I searched a UK website, Chain Reactions Cycles, to see if they had what I wanted. Once again I was met with disappointment and I was forced to purchase the crankset with the usual 44/32/22 chainrings.

This is me employing my 'demon eyes' in an attempt to change it to the 44/36/26 version. I was unsuccessful

Model Number	FC-M660
Series	SLX
Crank Construction	HOLLOWTECH II
Cassette Compatibility	9-speed
Chain Compatibility	Super Narrow HG for 9-speed
4-Arm Chainrings	yes
Cahainring Sizes	44-32-22T
Bolt Circle Diameter	104/64mm
Crank Arm Length	170
Crank Arms	forged aluminum / hollow type
Outer Chainring	aluminum
Middle Chainring	steel + composite (32T), aluminum (36T)
Inner Chainring	steel
Chainring Bolts & Nuts	aluminum (bolt), steel (nut)
Chain Guard	option
Chaincase Compatible	no

However, despite being a wee bit chagrined in the product options available (I had also searched another large online website as well as Ebay), I did get a good deal. First of all Chain reactions sells items quite cheaply and I saved $89.04 (21% off RRP) by purchasing the item from them, and they offer free shipping (item arrived in under a week) for purchases over $520 AUD. Sounds like a lot, but when Phill and Phil combine forces its nothing at all - together we bought 9 items and spent just over $700.

Pateince is a virtue

Shimano SLX Triple M660 Cranket = $198.02 (287.06 RRP)

Total
Frame Set $1099+
Wheel Set $ 495
Handlebars $135
Headset $ 77.50
Cassette $ 89.90
Crankset $198.02

$2094.42