Technical & Reference Section > Tech and Restoration
Refinishing carbon cranks
Midschoolfool:
Thought I would bung up a thread on this. So I have hit the limit on my bikes now. I have no space for any more (booooooo). No one said I could not upgrade the ones I have though :D
A couple of years back I bought some forged carbon cranks for my fixie not fixed. They were totally battered. So I wet sanded out all of the scratches and bad clear coat (they were shiny eww I hate shiny carbon !)
I repainted the pedal inserts as they too were battered. Did that by hand.
IIRC I paid about ?40 for those. The hollow Kooka ceramic BB cost more than the cranks :LolLolLolLol:
Any way when I built my GT I spent an awful lot of money on it, but couldn't find any cranks I liked. It too is ISIS, it currently runs these arms and spider.
I mean they are OK, being CNC machined and all (and made in the UK) but it is time to upgrade. Don't worry, the micro gearing has long gone and I had a new back wheel built with a race hub that's sealed.
So here is what I bought.
I am going to sand off all of the clear coat and the logos. Get them to plain carbon. Then I will decide whether to use decals or leave them plain.
Got a new 48t ring too.
So all in all it will be a nice weigh shave.
Mikku:
I like the look of those. :daumenhoch:
Slightly off-topic but I keep seeing non-bmx cranks (including carbon ones) and often think about putting them on a 20" but then start worrying about getting the right spindles, BBs and chainwheels, and give up on the idea. ::)
Midschoolfool:
--- Quote from: Mikku on July 24, 2020, 11:38 AM ---I like the look of those. :daumenhoch:
Slightly off-topic but I keep seeing non-bmx cranks (including carbon ones) and often think about putting them on a 20" but then start worrying about getting the right spindles, BBs and chainwheels, and give up on the idea. ::)
--- End quote ---
It's actually really easy tbh. My GT was a BB30, but came with a euro sleeve. As soon as you press that in the world is your oyster. With race bikes now there really isn't such a thing as BMX cranks tbh. They are all pretty much the same as a mountain bike. What I like about these FSA is they are single ring bolts only. So no lugs sticking out the back side. You just remove the dual ring set up and put on a single ring.
Carbon cranks are just so light dude. It's absolutely mental tbh. Like, my PK Ripper fixed came in weighing 19lbs stock. However, it had a set of 4130 BMX cranks on it ffs. With a solid spline. I don't know why, because it sure wasn't a BMX !
It's much more of a BMX now but it's still a flying machine. Good thing was the 19mm Euro BB costs about ?30, so I put that to work on other frames. That now has a ceramic hollow Kooka BB and the weight loss was enormous. I mean sure, my wheels are pretty heavy but then I am a fat ass and that is the only thing that really worried me about riding such a light machine.
My Standard runs American - Euro with a 19mm BB, as will my Fat Boy (well, American - euro - square taper). Most race bikes now are using the external cartridge, with raceface or what not arms and a single speed sprocket.
The only mistake I have made thus far was buying a stupidly wide ISIS BB that just would not work. Turns out it was for a trials bike. Still, it gave me an excuse to whack it apart and take a good look at how it works :LolLolLolLol:
Midschoolfool:
Phase one complete. That was horrible. Took me about an hour of solid sanding.
Need a clean, then touch ups then clear etc.
Midschoolfool:
I usually hate shiny carbon. But I saw them when they were wet and they looked killer.
Just need to repaint the pedal bosses and touch up the back of the drive side, job's a goodun. Not bad for less than ?60.
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