Bike is a Niner Sir 9 and I’m looking at options for a new CS for SS or 1×9/10. Originally I was going for white industries on a phil wood BB but with the Niner EBB I need to use external BB cups so have been thinking of the following:

Raceface Turbine CS with RF BB then Chris King when it wears out?

wondered what other combos people were running with external BB’s

Deore cranks with Hope BB.

I’ve done 1000s of miles on them and can’t complain. I think it’s worth upgrading from Shimano bearings and Hope have seen me right.

Possibly a bit less shiny than you had in mind, though…

Middleburn do an RS8?

And they are lovely..

Ive their Square taper version.

used xtr m970 and pace bb on my Sir9 looks nice, allows easy access to the ebb bolt heads etc, used to run the xt version but found my spd buckles caught on the arms..

+1 for Middleburn

Why buy USA overpriced products when Middleburn produce really good stuff in the UK?

In the instance of the above, because they look like a cheap two piece crank you’d find on a £70 BSO… 😉

A good Shimano crank does the job pretty well – I’ve run XT and Deore with no problems. Middleburn looks pretty nice in my book. I’ve also seen a few Hive cranks around on 1×10 / singlespeed set ups. If you’re looking for super pimpy, you might want to look at the Singular Cycles site – Sam runs Campy carbon cranks on a lot of his bikes, and they look really rather lovely.

In the instance of the above, because they look like a cheap two piece crank you’d find on a £70 BSO…

Agreed…

The non-external cranks look great to me, but somehow minor changes to the design have left the external bearing ones looking horrendous!

Never been keen on the aesthetics of middleburn but they look sort of OK. Also Hope BB’s had slipped my mind so thats a good one.

Road ones too! Hive look nice as well.

not keen on shimano except XTR and they are a bit too much!

Thanks

maybe hope and SLX cranks?

e thirteen cranks? they do a ss specific one which is about the same weight as xtr. mine have been fine for the past couple of years.

pjt201 is the e-thirteen/hive crank only compatible with e-thirteen BB’s or can you use any external BB??

I love my square taper Middleburn Unos. But if I’m honest they have a few niggles. You can’t rotate and / or flip the ring to even out the wear (so lasts 4 x less than a regular 4 bolt ring – mine Hardcote 3/32 ring is showing heavy wear on specific teeth after 6 months use). I didn’t realise this before buying – I assumed that the spline chainring mounting let them fit anywhere – but the Uno ring is heavily dished to one side and machined to clear the crank 🙁

Also if using 1 x 9, I’ve found that bb lockring mounted chain devices don’t line up with the Uno ring position (but they do with Shimano HTII – and that is running what I was told to be the correct length sq taper bb).

Why buy USA overpriced products when Middleburn produce really overpriced good stuff in the UK?

@fenboy – e.thirteen only unfortunately. also thinking about it might not work with the niner ebb as they have a 30mm axle rather than 24mm.

replacement bb’s can be had for £30 if you shop around and they’re no worse/better than hope etc.

alfine crank?

I need to use external BB cups

Pretty sure Charlie of Bikemonger fame uses a sq tpr in his SIR9, unless the design has changed significantly?

New XT double M785 looks like it’d be great as a SS crank. Chainline’s right and the flush / smooth tab outers look good.

clubber – Member
In the instance of the above, because they look like a cheap two piece crank you’d find on a £70 BSO…

Looks more important than performance, then I’d suggest vintage Campag Record track cranks. Won’t fit etc, but they look really good 🙂

middleburn with an eliptical Uno stylee compatable ring (80g lighter than a ring and spider) that can be flipped for the win 😀

Tazzy, any chance of you doing one of these wonky rings in Titanium?? In a Uno stylee?

candodavid- ask kev at goldtec, he’ll make you what ever you want….may need to sell a kidney or two though for Ti 😀

Just out of interest, the RS7 won’t work with a BB mounted chain device because of the spacing on the Uno. I spoke to E13 about this (I had an XCX that wouldn’t fit no matter how I spaced it) and apparently its because the standard is 50mm but Middleburn use 54mm.

I’ve got both RS8 and RS7’s and they are lovely, but they don’t stand up to much abuse. The external RS8 comes with rubbish self-extracting alloy bolts that break, and the RS7’s have deformed around the square taper. That said, on-one are banging out the externals for £200 a set for the Uno, got to be worth a punt…

may need to sell a kidney or two though for Ti

But worth it if they look nice enough.. look at what Boones sold for..

Pleasantly suprised by how good my Goldtec wonky 34T feels. Made up some longer steel bolts for the M980 XTRs so I can fit flippable rings like this – looks as good as it works.

edit – candodavid, if you speak to BETD/Goldtec, add me to the list of punters / suckers that will buy a posh Ti version.

How strange.. I just this moment emailed BETD to find out if they’re available yet.. The normal ones, not Ti!

I’ve got some secondhand HT2 XTs on mine. They seem to eat BBs more than the Octalink ones I had before, but are noticeably stiffer.

Deore HT2’s with Surly SS ring here. Have one of Tazz’s wonky rings to go on later mind.
Have some XT 770’s that I’ve been keeping but when I weighed them next to the Deores there were but a few grams between them. Loath to take the Deores off now, they have quietly & effeciently spun away for a couple of years now. In the search for kit that lasts I kept some old Hones, with the steel pedal inserts. Nice, stealthy blackness. Always liked XTR960’s but they command a fair price, even now.
Would have WI if I was rich.

Race Face Deus well reduced on CRC at the mo, Hope BB?