i recently started to ride singlespeed and am loving it. However my bottom braket is not and i thought this was an oppertunity to switch to a singlespeed crank. however i have no idea what one to go for and most seem insanly expensive. any tips welcome.

I use a Deore crank with a SS-specific ring and shorter chainring bolts, not ss-specific cranks. My more ‘niche’ bike has Sugino XD cranks on a square taper BB, but they’re still triple cranks repurposed as SS.

Can’t see the appeal of specific cranks for any reason other than as bike jewellery.

Both me and a mate have snapped SLX cranks on singlespeed mtbs. You put a lot of torque through them. Have saint on mine now.

Shimano Square taper UN-54 BB and a Middleburn RS7 crankset work well for me.

What crank and bb are you running at the moment? Your post reads like the bb is the problem but you want new cranks! As already mentioned any triple chainset will run ss with an unramped chain ring. Fwiw I run the same setup as Teetosugars above with Uno ring on one bike and the same with a stainless On one ring on the other.

basic square taper Shimano BB and a stock Shimano crankset, with stainless rings and short bolts.

I’m running XT cranks & BB with an OnOne SS ring on mine. Don’t see a need for any ‘special’ cranks, as long as the chain line is right then there shouldn’t be any issues.

scott_mcavennie2 – Member
Both me and a mate have snapped SLX cranks on singlespeed mtbs. You put a lot of torque through them. Have saint on mine now.
POSTED 29 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Deore ones here, polished up with a Hope BB. Run a Renthal ring and small bolts. Cranks have been on for 5 plus years after continually breaking square taper BB’s on Syncros cranks. Totally fit and forget for me and ride it 6 out 7 days a week.

I ran a Race Face Ride singlespeed chainset on a Kona Unit for lots of miles without any issue.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the Race Face bottom bracket, but I think the actual chainsets are really good.

I’m running a White Industries ENO chainset now which is amazing, albeit dearer.

Used to run an XT chainset with SS on one ring with short bolts, now have a middleburn uno setup but for looks only, never had any trouble with shimano in 20+ years of mountain biking.

You probably put more strain through cranks riding fixed and I have used any old crankset for years this way with no trouble at all

You probably put more strain through cranks riding fixed and I have used any old crankset for years this way with no trouble at all

Yeah, my Sugino XD cranks have been perfectly happy on my fixied bike, on a Shimano square taper BB for years now. I don’t tend to break bike parts though; that bike also has touring rims 🙂

There is a common them here – Old Deore with square taper, polished up, and single-specific ring

thanks for all the advice.
I’ve gone for a deore with a ss ring,
i’ve got deore on my full sus, and i figure go with what you know.

+1 For Shimano Saint Cranks. You wont be breaking those bad boys anytime soon.

Standard deore ht2 on mine. Easy to get rings in 104bcd.

A set of old XTR M960s with a home done Jones conversion are my SS cranks of choice.

Middleburn RS-7 with HBC chainring, SKF 600 square taper BB.

There is a common them here – Old Deore with square taper, polished up, and single-specific ring

Should have said mine are ht2. Square taper BB’s just disintegrated under me.

Any tips on polishing up crank arms? Just nitromorse (sp?) and elbow grease? I’ve got some old square tapered RaceFace cranks that’d look nice polished up…

First generation rs7 for me with un55 at the moment
The cranks refuse to die

I was disgusted earlier this year when a 10year old set of Middleburn cranks finally died after I neglected to check the nds bolt after fitting.
I mean, only 10 years? User error resulting in failure? They even had the temerity to have spares available!
Had another set so they are on the ss now, using the outer ring of a Duo as I can’t be bothered to get the locking off to fit my UNO ring…

Did someone say shiny,singlespeed cranks……

Loving the polished cranks, look very nice.

Another HT2 running LX cranks, and an e.thirteen ring.

I use an old diablos I will never break that,cant say same about rf bb though.

My shiny cranks as of just now. 5 years plus and still look great for deores

These cracked 🙁

IMG_3568 by oxym0r0n, on Flickr

So now running RS7s on my last remaining un72 (73 shells are not easy to find)

This is mine, gradually getting more polished in one place 🙂

Deore HTII with an On-One ring. The red chainring bolt is the last remaining torx one; I couldn’t tighten the rest properly so replaced them, but this one must have had rather more Loctite 🙂

As many people above – Deore HT2 with standard shimano BB

Also using an On-One stainless 32 ring

Given the set up a hard time over the last 12 months but everything is just fine 🙂