For a singlespeed CX/gravel type bike with threaded BB shell, what would you consider? For MTB I’ve always gone for Shimano but from what I can see they don’t really do the job here and in any case I should look around. I’m thinking a 40 or 42t chainring (currently running 40:18 and might up that a bit while I’m at it).

I’m also a bit out of date with my standards so the new BB standards aren’t helping my research!

I’d look at a vintage style Stronglight with square taper BB.  I loves them, me.

How about some RS7 if you go down the square taper route, plus a 1x spider and MONO chain ring? Or if you go external BB then some RS8’s and again a 1x spider.

Press fit bb, but I ended up with a SRAM rival 1x for my CX bike. 38t direct mount ring from superstar should run really cleanly in the mud- barely any hollows and no bolts for things to stick to. 42t SRAM +spider that came with the cranks that I can swap to if I want to do a lot of road miles.

There are some nice oval direct mount options which I would consider for SS too. I’d have loved Force cranks but they are really rather expensive.

Are you using a cassette hub with spacers or a freewheel?

If using cassette hub you can adjust your chainlink and use a double chainset with single ring on outside.  That’s what I have always ridden my fixed gear with using a Halo Fix G hub (sort of like a fixed cassette hub).

Miche Primato might suit.  The BB used to come without shoulders on the threaded bits making chainline adjustment dead easy.

I think officially for track use, but I found them pretty robust (scottish winter commuting)

I’ve got Force CX 1 on mine, with a 42t chainring, lovely cranks indeed and they do a GPX version

Shimano 105 (5800??) with an Absolute Black Oval 42T ring on mine – It’s a Pressfit BB, but would be fine if it were a usual HTII bottom bracket. They do 44-50T under the ‘Gravel’ section… Chainline is dandy for the 11speed cassette on the back.

I run aforce cx1 bb30 crank with a bb30 to bs rotor converter B.B.

nice Stiff crank with none the of the manky bb30 issues.

Thanks folks. Useful info indeed.

SRAM Rival look like a good value option but is there a bottom bracket wear issue compared with shimano? It may be a long time ago but do I recall some problems with Truvativ/SRAM?

Middleburn with a direct mount ring has a very clean look but the cost difference is substantial. Are they shimano BB compatible? if they are then I see that as an advantage with only one BB standard in my shed.

I will probably use a narrow freehub rather than a screw-on, in which case I’ll have some chainline adjustment available to me. Probably not a full sized freehub though.

SRAM Rival look like a good value option but is there a bottom bracket wear issue compared with shimano? It may be a long time ago but do I recall some problems with Truvativ/SRAM?

I use a Wheels manufacturing thread together (because it’s press fit) so can’t comment on the standard sram stuff. There are aftermarket options if you do have trouble.

I just use a shimano deore with a 40t ring on my gravel bike. I cant see myself getting a bigger ring anytime soon so it works fine. Much cheaper than getting a road based alternative, just a little on the ‘heavy’ side for road use.

FSA Vero are a cheap and cheerful square taper equivalent, I was considering them for a 1x gravel/CX build.

Beware some of the SRAM cranksets as they have a proprietary bolt pattern which nobody else makes chainrings for, can you guess how expensive replacement SRAM rings are? 😉

I will probably use a narrow freehub rather than a screw-on, in which case I’ll have some chainline adjustment available to me. Probably not a full sized freehub though.

In that case you can just use any road crankset and put a ring on the outside so it looks right.  I would go Shimano as the external BBs are very cheap and I find them reliable enough..  I would also avoid an MTB crankset as the Q factor is bigger which for me makes it worse.  For single speed I go bigger rings rather than smaller as the drivetrain is quite (i.e 43/18 rather than 34/15)

I have a perfectly good rival (22) chain set in the shed I replaced with a 105.

Gxp bb’s cost 2-3x as much as the XT equivalent, last half as long and are way harder to get hold of.

The rest of the rival stuff is pretty good though.

Gxp bb’s cost 2-3x as much as the XT equivalent, last half as long and are way harder to get hold of.

Crap. A 2 second google search has them found at under £20 in stock in most places.

in my experience they last just as long as xt/ ultegra on the bike I’ve used them on.

I also found that GXP BBs didn’t last very long.  Get much more life out of a £11 Shimano BB

Rotor do some good 5-bolt cranks. 3D30 or the older 3D24, or indeed some of the newer Rex models

Merlin has some good deals at the moment too