# Tandem Cranksets?



## Yeti66 (Feb 20, 2008)

Why so few choices when shopping for MTB tandem cranksets these days? What happened to RaceFace, FSA, and Truvative MTB sets? All I seem to find are nice road sets and of course the gears are too large for mtbing.


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

Purely a numbers thing. There aren't enough off-road tandem cranksets sold each year to justify a Race Face Turbine-level crankset from any of the larger manufacturers. 
Remember that the Turbines were 110/74 BCD, which can also be used for road rings. So the crankset could be sold for both road and off-road tandems, which give the necessary numbers needed to justify the product.
FSA has made an off-road ISIS tandem crankset with 104/64 BCD before, but sales did not support continuing the product.
Truvative makes a 5D Trekking crankset with 104/64 BCD spiders,28/38/48 drive rings and 38T timing rings that we use for entry-level builds (we put smaller rings on it). It's Square Taper. Good, serviceable, strong, but heavy.
Truvative also supposedly makes an EBB version of the Firex Tandem cranksets they made a few years ago, but my suppliers haven't been able to find specfic info on where they might be found. These also had 104/64 BCD pattern with 28/38/48 rings and 38T drive rings. 
With most road stuff now at 130/74, there's no more crossover to mtb use (pun intended).
So until the market grows, or somone like MTB Tandems feels like sinking mega-bucks (relatively speaking) into a product minimum with a 2 - 3 year sell-through, I doubt you'll see much out there. 
Rest assured, I am always looking for options though. If anyone knows of a producer that might be urged to come forward with the right numbers, send 'em my way!


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## Yeti66 (Feb 20, 2008)

Does RaceFace make a tandem set these days or are they discontinued as well? We're running the older sqaure taper Turbines and it would be nice to upgrade to isis with ti BB's. Even better if the EBB were an option. I'll keep checking your site for news regarding mtb cranksets....it looks like we will most likely upgrade to the Middleburn cranks with Ti isis BB's.

Ventana seems to be cranking out the tandem frames these days so I can imagine the crankset questions come up a lot.

Thanks you


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

Race Face doesn't make any tandem cranksets now (that I know of). The later Turbine Tandems were ISIS, but RF never did make an EBB version. As for ISIS durability, we carry SKF ISIS and ST bottom brackets now, which I suspect will outlast most off-road drivetrains.
One day I'll go to Taiwan and spec our own tandem crankset, as soon as the lottery comes through...
Ventana makes 10X as many off-road tandem frames as anyone else (unless you count Cannondale). They're good at it!


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## rockman (Jun 18, 2004)

I've been shopping around for a tandem crankset too, or at least educate myself somewhat. It doens't seem like there's many options out besides Middleburn or road cranksets. 

My tandem was spec'd with 54-44-28 and it seems we spend most of the time in the granny off-road. Are folks that are hitting more trail than dirt road running 46-34-24 or so?


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

We were running 26/36/48 as that's what came on the bike when we got it.

Just the past couple of weeks saw me change the rear cassette, adding 2t and dropping 2t on the granny. I do have a 34t coming, and plan to go to a 46t big ring.

The cassette made the greatest difference, as before we had to do our local trails in the granny, Now we seldom granny and use the middle almost always. The 34t should help this further.

FWIW, the trails we ride cause the most damage to the stoker handgrips, and spinning the capt seatpost/stoker bars. I just hope the gearing change remains justified when we get to somewhere like Santos or San-Felasco where this thing can run and then kill the rim brakes.

To clarify, we now have 24/36//48 but by weekend hope to have 24/34/46 on the front, along with and 11/32 rear. 

PK


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

rockman said:


> I've been shopping around for a tandem crankset too, or at least educate myself somewhat. It doens't seem like there's many options out besides Middleburn or road cranksets.
> 
> My tandem was spec'd with 54-44-28 and it seems we spend most of the time in the granny off-road. Are folks that are hitting more trail than dirt road running 46-34-24 or so?


24/34/46 is very doable off-road for tandems. In fact, that was the lowest gearing available in tandem cranksets for a long time. If you've got the 110/74 BCD cranks you can get down to 24/34/44 even. With a 34T cassette, that's a very usable range off-road.


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

BigNut said:


> 24/34/46 is very doable off-road for tandems. In fact, that was the lowest gearing available in tandem cranksets for a long time. If you've got the 110/74 BCD cranks you can get down to 24/34/44 even. With a 34T cassette, that's a very usable range off-road.


Agreed.
Almost crazy how slow you can keep pedaling that tandem when climbing in the bottom gears, and still have decent chassis control.
PK


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## l84biking (Jul 1, 2005)

BigNut,

You still carrying Middleburn cranksets? I was looking at those. Then I scored a set of Octolink Deore's (4 bolt pattern) off a Cannondale tandem off fleabay. Thought I'd use them for a while until bb's become scarce. 

L8


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## DaleTR (Apr 6, 2007)

*Low Gears*

[/QUOTE]
My tandem was spec'd with 54-44-28 and it seems we spend most of the time in the granny off-road. Are folks that are hitting more trail than dirt road running 46-34-24 or so?[/QUOTE]

We are running Middleburn Cranks now with 22-32-42 rings and a 12-34 cassette. We ride almost all singletrack, and a lot of it at altitude (Colorado...). not much road/dirt road, so we just forgo the top end.

Had been on a Race Face crankset with the 110/74 bolt circle, that limited us to a 24T granny. even the 24-34 combo was not really low enough for a long, steep climb here. the 2 other teams we ride with had 22-34 low gear combo's and were spanking us on the longer climbs. That was one more reason to upgrade to the Middleburns for us, get the 104/64 Bolt circle and the lower granny.

Getting that 'one' lower gear has made ALL the difference for us. You'll go slow, and it keeps the captain on his game, but for us it's what we need to RIDE up a long climb at 11,000 Feet Plus. :cryin:


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

l84biking said:


> BigNut,
> 
> You still carrying Middleburn cranksets? I was looking at those. Then I scored a set of Octolink Deore's (4 bolt pattern) off a Cannondale tandem off fleabay. Thought I'd use them for a while until bb's become scarce.
> 
> L8


Got plenty of them here! Lemme know when you want some.
Thanks


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## Lefty'sLefty (Mar 17, 2006)

*Get what ever cranks you want*

All you need is the proper number of "left" and "right" arms (1 left and 3 rights). Mine are XT's that were helicoiled. I ve had zero problems and you can't see that they've been modified. I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure it was Santana that did the machine work. It's kinda spendy buying cranks this way but it can be done and really doesn't cost any more than tandem specific cranks, plus you can get any look or gearing that you want.


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## de lars cuevas (Jun 19, 2006)

Yeti66 said:


> Why so few choices when shopping for MTB tandem cranksets these days? What happened to RaceFace, FSA, and Truvative MTB sets? All I seem to find are nice road sets and of course the gears are too large for mtbing.


You might want to look at www.customcranks.de

Kind of heavy but really strong. Custom lengths up to ~210mm. And reasonable prices (if you live in Europe, that is).


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

I didn't see any price info on there. Did I miss it?


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## de lars cuevas (Jun 19, 2006)

BigNut said:


> I didn't see any price info on there. Did I miss it?


No you didn't because it's not on their site. 

But for reference: A pair of customcranks for a solo bike (cranks+bolts only) would set you back ~160€.


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## Hurricane Jeff (Jan 1, 2006)

*Fsa*

I have FSA Carbon Team cranks on my Ventana. I used 3 driveside, 1 non- drive and used reversed pedal spindles where needed. This system, using Shimano Octalink BB's has worked out great for over 3 years. It can be costly to due this, but with little to no options, you have to bite the bullit. I would suggest checking out your local bikeshops and try to piece something together.


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

de lars cuevas said:


> No you didn't because it's not on their site.
> 
> But for reference: A pair of customcranks for a solo bike (cranks+bolts only) would set you back ~160€.


That's a little steep. For the same or lower price I'd do Middleburn from 165mm to 180mm and get spider interchangeability with the package. 
Of course, for someone needing 200mm cranks, it's nice to know there's a source out there. Thanks for the info.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

I`ve been looking for shorter cranks lately and keep running into links for Da Vinci and Thorn (through SJS). The Da Vincis apparently have interchangeable spiders. I find it very unlikely that you folks just didn`t know about those- is there some reason they won`t cut it? If not for mtb, do you know of any reason I might run into trouble with either of those options for a road tandem?


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

Nothing whatsoever wrong with the daVincis, and we sell a fair bit of them. We haven't had any customer issues with them over 7 years. I should have mentioned them before.
They are Square Taper bb style only, which may be an issue with some.
OTOH, they're light, strong, have interchangeable spiders, and are relatively expensive. I believe spider choices are limited to 110/74 and 104/64. Drive rings are only in 34T, I believe.
Beautiful cranks, though. You wouldn't regret getting them, unless the mud & muck in your part of the world eventually scratching the highly polished finish would bother you.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

Expensive? The Thorns are the cheapest I`ve seen available under 170mm, da Vincis are second and probably easier to get ahold of. Is there some extra hidden cost that puts them over the price of Middleburns?


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## aka1972 (Sep 22, 2005)

We have these Stronglight Oxale on our tandem ... they are ISIS, which I generally dislike, however the token bearing is still the first one *knock on wood* .
Changed the lowest chain ring to a 22T for easier uphill.

http://www.stronglight.com/stronglight/page.php?nom=produits&keySousFamille=pedtandemvtt


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## Sam Jones (Feb 25, 2005)

As the captain of a 130 year old team with a stoker who is short and has bad knees I have LOTS of experience with LOW gearing and short cranks on tandems

On our 18 speed ECDM we are running a 5 arm 165MM XT rear tandem set with a 20T Avid adapter low and and a 34T high (and 11-34 9 speed LX rear). We use 28T timing CWs mounted on the inside of the cranks. This works very well for us off road.

On our Soverign we are running a DaVinci 130/150/170 rear tandem set in the 150MM position with 20/32/44 CW using an Action Tec Ti 20T and standard Shimano 4 arm ATB ramped/pinned 32/44. Rear is the 11-34 XT 9 speed. This shifts very nicely and the 32/34 middle/low is very handy for us old folks.

On our old Ariva, which we keep and Gail's mom's house in CA, we have a 160MM DaVinci with 20/34/46 CW. This uses a 20T granny on a 74/110 5 arm spider with an extra set of holes drilled and tapped in the spider to allow the 5 hole 20T sprocket to be mounted. The rear is a 12/34 7 speed freewheel with Shimano twist tooth cogs. This also shifts nicely.

These low gears and short cranks have kept us going with no recurrence of Gail's knee problems. At our age if we run out of gears on the top we just COAST

Regards,
Sam Jones Frederick Maryland


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## atbhaack (May 30, 2005)

alittle on the heavy side but profiles work well for tandem use. They are also very strong and come in lots of sizes.


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

We'll have the Oxales avalailable in the US by year's end, if anyone's interested.
Thanks


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## viktor2 (Jan 21, 2007)

I need 180mm cranks and my stoker 175mm. Nothing was available. I made the following trial which turned out to work perfect and we kept it. I bought 2 sets of Race Face ISIS compact MTB cranks 175mm and one set of 180mm. I took two (175mm) drive side cranks arms for the rear. I swapped the right and left crank arm of the 180mm set to use for the front. I then got three sets of Shimano XT SPD pedals that I rebuilt (took off the cage and swapped pedal axis) so that I got the correct direction of the SPD mechanism with the correct pedal thread. So I did not drill and helicoil the pedal threads. The pedal threads are going in the wrong direction on three of the crank arms ! I applied some blue locktite when I mounted the pedals and made sure to tighten well. They show no sign at all of coming off after several years of riding ! Maybe I am just lucky, but it works. We use 20/32/44 chainrings and a 11-34 cassette. We climb amazingly! The 20 and 32 chainrings are titanium.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

Well, since the thread has been resurected- I found a budget solution for short cranks. We bought a set of Thorn 155 stoker cranks from SJS in England. They offer captain and stoker sets from 145 to 175 lengths in 5mm increments with 110/74 drilling for incredible prices. Ours ran about US$175 (no rings) including shipping when we got them a few months ago. They`re heavy, but hopefully nothing else wrong with them- we`ll have to see how the years treat them before making claims to their durability. If you click the Dollar sign at the bottom of any page on their website, the listed price automatically changes to US money. Ordering was a piece of cake and they arrived within about three weeks of the order date. So far I`m delighted.
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/currency...iple-Crankset-for-X-Over-Drive--Rear-1671.htm


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## cormpus (Jul 4, 2007)

*Octalink Stoker crank arm Left side Anybody Know how I can get one?*

Am trying to outfit my Extracycle bike with a stokemonkey, and I have a really nice 175mm XTR crank with Octalink spindle interface. Anybody have a left side stoker or know where I can find one? Thanks. chris. craigcm at hotmail dot com.


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## Torsten2806 (Aug 15, 2009)

rockman said:


> I've been shopping around for a tandem crankset too, or at least educate myself somewhat. It doens't seem like there's many options out besides Middleburn or road cranksets.
> 
> My tandem was spec'd with 54-44-28 and it seems we spend most of the time in the granny off-road. Are folks that are hitting more trail than dirt road running 46-34-24 or so?


A Spanish company, named MSC Bike makes tandem cranksets. They also have sets with 2 freewheels! One for eac rider to relax! Check it.

Torsten


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## gm1230126 (Nov 4, 2005)

Huge thanks to those of you that needed cranks and were sleeping 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220491335165&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

gm1230126 said:


> Huge thanks to those of you that needed cranks and were sleeping
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220491335165&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT


FWIW, I think you can get those cranks new still from MTB tandems or your local shop.

Your team must be quite strong and powerful to turn 170mm cranks front and rear with those chainrings. 28/44/54 is taller than most folks run on their road tandems. The 54 is good for around 40 mph on the flats.

PK

My bad, I saw where it said they were Sugino cranks, but didn't realize these were old school pre low profile style. Yes a good deal on some vintage cranks. Good job on that.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

Yeah, crazy gearing. Our Burley came with 28-something-54. Congrats on the Ritchey set- what a bargain for the whole shebang.


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## manual63 (Nov 5, 2006)

We will be racing tandem in the Cheq. Fat Tire Festival this fall. The tandem we have has some very flexy Turvativ cranks on it.

So I was shopping for cranks and then an idea came to mind. Why not get Profile Racing MTB cranks combined with a BMX LSD crankset with the wider spindle on front and one LSD crank arm for the other side on the back?

Profile Racing Products - MTB

These cranks are U.S. made and well, you don't have to worry about flex or breakage and they are pretty light too. Especially if you go with the titanium spindle. Anyway, I guess it's time to give them a call and see what I can do because I honestly think this is the ticket!


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

I may not fully understand your exact plan, but by the sound of it, you'll need to build custom pedals or see if they will build custom cranks with the correct pedal threadings.

PK


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## manual63 (Nov 5, 2006)

manual63 said:


> We will be racing tandem in the Cheq. Fat Tire Festival this fall. The tandem we have has some very flexy Turvativ cranks on it.
> 
> So I was shopping for cranks and then an idea came to mind. Why not get Profile Racing MTB cranks combined with a BMX LSD crankset with the wider spindle on front and one LSD crank arm for the other side on the back?
> 
> ...





PMK said:


> I may not fully understand your exact plan, but by the sound of it, you'll need to build custom pedals or see if they will build custom cranks with the correct pedal threadings.
> 
> PK


LSD stands for Left Side Drive. So the pedal threads would be normal for this setup. I am actually going to call Profile Racing today and see if they can do a package like this because it would be perfect for tandems and if people want truly strong and flex free cranks, this is the ticket!


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

Middleburn makes some very strong and flex-free cranks for tandems. Profiles are heavier in comparison.
I've approached them in the past about doing this, but they haven't seemed particularly interested. I think most of the items would be off-the-shelf for them.


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## manual63 (Nov 5, 2006)

TandemNut said:


> Middleburn makes some very strong and flex-free cranks for tandems. Profiles are heavier in comparison.
> I've approached them in the past about doing this, but they haven't seemed particularly interested. I think most of the items would be off-the-shelf for them.


Are those Middleburn cranks really flex-free? I am sure they are lighter than Profiles to an extent, but I doubt they are as strong or stiff. Besides, for the money I can get the Profiles (U.S. manufactured even) for less.....

Profiles for 2 175mm arms and the spindle (Chromoly) are only 880g. A pair of Middleburn RS8 175mm arms (no BB or spindle) are 406g. Throw in a decent and strong ISIS BB and we are talking almost another 400g. All in all, I don't think weight will be an issue.


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

LSD must be a BMX thing when talking drivetrain.

For us it means long slow distance.

I suppose for others it still means times of Woodstock, Hendrix, Morrison and Joplin.

From looking at the website, the bikes and theme appear very dirt jump / bmx style so the Profiles would fit right in. The bikes in the photos are all single speed short course type frames.

Let us know how they work out for you.

PK


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## manual63 (Nov 5, 2006)

Yes, Profile Racing is a BMX based company. They have been making tubular chromoly cranks since the late 70's. For awhile they made many cranks for other companies, such as GT bicycles in the 90's. That is until most companies found it cheaper to have Taiwan manufacture "Profile Like" cranks for them. Kinda sad really......but you know....the bicycle industry and their outsourcing to maximize profits for the few at the top.......just like the rest of corporate america.

Anyway, they started making multi-geared spiders and wider spindles back in the mid 90's so their BMX cranks could fit on a mountain bike. Since then, they have come out with a whole line of U.S. made MTB stuff. So I thought about the whole LSD (left-side-drive) thing and realized that I could customize a setup for our tandem. They might be 100 or 200 grams heavier overall than a typical higher end MTB crankset, but they will last forever and are much....much stronger and stiffer. Less crank arm flex means more direct power to the rear wheel, likely wiping out the added weight costs......

I don't think many riders realize that flex, especially in the drivetrain, robs a lot of power and is wasted energy. People become so weight conscious that they don't think about the other losses of going with something that flexes more due to weight savings.

I will let you know how they work when I get it all set up. I will take pics too.


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

manual63 said:


> Yes, Profile Racing is a BMX based company. They have been making tubular chromoly cranks since the late 70's. For awhile they made many cranks for other companies, such as GT bicycles in the 90's. That is until most companies found it cheaper to have Taiwan manufacture "Profile Like" cranks for them. Kinda sad really......but you know....the bicycle industry and their outsourcing to maximize profits for the few at the top.......just like the rest of corporate america.
> 
> Anyway, they started making multi-geared spiders and wider spindles back in the mid 90's so their BMX cranks could fit on a mountain bike. Since then, they have come out with a whole line of U.S. made MTB stuff. So I thought about the whole LSD (left-side-drive) thing and realized that I could customize a setup for our tandem. They might be 100 or 200 grams heavier overall than a typical higher end MTB crankset, but they will last forever and are much....much stronger and stiffer. Less crank arm flex means more direct power to the rear wheel, likely wiping out the added weight costs......
> 
> ...


Your mentioning of flex is understood. With no details about the tandem they plan to build for you, I am assuming it will be straight gauge aluminum. I'm sure a steel frame could be built with acceptable amounts of flex, however it would likely be over 50 pounds built up.

I suppose you will see the Salsa bike there also.

http://forums.mtbr.com/tandem-mountain-bikes/worlds-first-2x10-mountain-tandem-661070.html

PK


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## Okayfine (Sep 7, 2010)

LSD to me means limited-slip differential. LSD wasn't common in BMX parlance until the last decade. We were still running standard cranks in the '80's and '90's. It wasn't really until the new gen switch to park bikes that LSD came out.

Our steel Ventana probably pushes up against 50lb, but I've never noticed any difference in flex compared to our old aluminum frame. And we have five couplers!


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## Blaster1200 (Feb 20, 2004)

Middleburn flex free? Hardly...They are quite flexy in comparison to most cranks, and especially Profiles. We use the RS7 Middleburns on our tandem, but I would never, ever refer to them as stiff cranks. 

manual63, the profile setup will work fine, albit heavy as you know. Also as you may know, you can by individual Profile arms, so you can buy 2 LSD arms for the left side, and an LSD (no spider boss) arm for the right front, and a normal RSD arm for the rear right. I was also curious about the spline drive setup, but I'm not so confident with that setup on normal BMX bikes (even though I've never heard any complaints). The Profile setup can be quite reasonably priced...except for their BB bearings, in which you can fortunately chose from many other companies that use 19 mm spindles. 

Your next issues will be determining bearing type (old style vs. outboard) and spindle length.


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

Blaster1200 said:


> Middleburn flex free? Hardly...They are quite flexy in comparison to most cranks, and especially Profiles. We use the RS7 Middleburns on our tandem, but I would never, ever refer to them as stiff cranks.
> 
> .


Really? You have Middleburns on your tandem and they're flexy? That's the first time I've ever heard someone complain about them being flexy. And "quite flexy in comparison to most cranks..."? There are lots of folks on this list riding Middlburn cranks. Interested to hear whether they agree with your assessment.


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## PMK (Oct 12, 2004)

TandemNut said:


> Really? You have Middleburns on your tandem and they're flexy? That's the first time I've ever heard someone complain about them being flexy. And "quite flexy in comparison to most cranks..."? There are lots of folks on this list riding Middlburn cranks. Interested to hear whether they agree with your assessment.


Alex, for the few times I've straddled a BMX bike, (couple of weeks ago was considering buying a neighbors Felt 24"), I would agree that BMX based cranks are stiffer than many of the MTB based cranks we ride. I noticed it right away, just playing around.

Old school Tioga cranks are similar and those were always known for being very stiff.

The thing is, for off-road mtb riding, how stiff do they need to be??? If you jump a lot or ride like a "one minute wonder", stiffer with added weight is probably good. For a fast xc rider on 30 plus mile rides at a steady pace, the better heel clearance of a short BB and less weight is the way to get there.

Those Profiles have a long spindle to cranks arm interface spline.

PK


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## Blaster1200 (Feb 20, 2004)

TandemNut said:


> Really? You have Middleburns on your tandem and they're flexy? That's the first time I've ever heard someone complain about them being flexy. And "quite flexy in comparison to most cranks..."? There are lots of folks on this list riding Middlburn cranks. Interested to hear whether they agree with your assessment.


"Flexy" is relative. For people who mostly ride tandems or typical XC bikes with these cranks may not ever notice. However, if you're an aggressive rider, or one who rides a singlespeed a lot, or even races BMX (I primarily do all of the above), you tend to notice flexy cranks more since the other bikes you ride have stiffer cranks, whether they're basic XT/XTR cranks or Saints/DXRs/Profiles.

While the Middleburns are mostly fine for us on our tandem (even though my wife is a singlespeeder who likes to stand and crank up hills), they do just fine. But that they do fine on the tandem doesn't mean that they're stiff.


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## TandemNut (Mar 12, 2004)

Blaster1200 said:


> "Flexy" is relative. For people who mostly ride tandems or typical XC bikes with these cranks may not ever notice. However, if you're an aggressive rider, or one who rides a singlespeed a lot, or even races BMX (I primarily do all of the above), you tend to notice flexy cranks more since the other bikes you ride have stiffer cranks, whether they're basic XT/XTR cranks or Saints/DXRs/Profiles.
> 
> While the Middleburns are mostly fine for us on our tandem (even though my wife is a singlespeeder who likes to stand and crank up hills), they do just fine. But that they do fine on the tandem doesn't mean that they're stiff.


Many if not most of the Middleburn cranks that we sell are to single-speeders, Trials riders and some DH'ers looking for a stiffer alternative to conventional crank setups. So it would seem that your experiences vary from what we are told by folks buying the cranks. Many of those same folks buy additional cranksets for other bikes after the initial purchase.
The only complaint I've had about a Middleburn setup being flexy is the 3 bolt DUO with a 42 or 44T outer ring. In that case, it isn't the cranks, but the innger ring/spider that's flexing. In that particular setup, I agree there is more flex. 
Have you ridden Middleburns on a single bike, or is your opinion based soleloy on your experience with using the cranks on your tandem?


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## Blaster1200 (Feb 20, 2004)

I've ridden them on many single bikes, including my own 1x9 bike a while back. That's where I first noticed the flex.

Middleburns are popular for singlespeeders not because they are stiff, but because they're inexpensive, they're fairly light, they look great, and they don't look like they're normal "geared" cranks converted for singlespeed use, not to mention that they're not from a "geared" company such as either of the big "S" companies. There are lots of good things about them, just stiffness is not one of them. Really, I don't dislike them - I have another set that I'm going to use for a lightweight build in the near future. 

Although I haven't personally ridden them on a DH bike, a friend who used to use them also complained that they flexed too much when pedaling for his liking. He did really like the light weight of them. Based on design alone, there's no way that they could compete with the stiffness of a standard XT crank arm.


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