Touring chainset – SpaCycles

I’m choosing new touring chainset x2. One triple for short of leg, one double for long of leg.

SpaCycles have a good few, thier Stronglight and own brand look daft value for money.

Is the SpaCycles a step too cheap?

Would the more expensive Stronglight or Shimano offer something better?

I’d say so. Rings look remarkably like the shitty old Truvativ ones that destroyed many chainstays with their horrific chainsuck when specced OEM on Treks and others.

Stick with Shimano.
And remember… Spa Cycles are great until something goes wrong.

Several mates have been very happy with Spa’s own brand bikes, given that their reputation is built on touring kit that needs to be durable, I’d be willing to risk it.

I’ve got that own brand Spa triple on my 8spd commuter hack. It’s the second one in 10 years as rather than replace the worn rings individually I just started again with a complete fresh crankset..

No shifting issues or chain suck to report.

Lightweight precision engineering it isn’t, good value it is

It’s a it rough looking but works ok in my (3years) experience. The chainrings are better than the cranks.

I’ve been running one of those for several years on an 8spd hack bike, no problems at all.

I fitted one to my touring bike this spring. A lovely silver square taper triple goodness.

Not done too many miles on it so far, but I suspect it will last for a very long time indeed.

I can’t stick with Shimano for the triple – they don’t make a super short of leg/155 or 160mm crank arm.

I have to say that look like the chainsets that came on 1990’s MTBs, and they were just fine.

I think the spa rings are (or at least used to be) made by stronglight. I’ve used them on my old nth hand road/audax bike with an old campag triple. Work fine. Not used the cranks.
Alternatively SJS sell own brand cranks badged as Thorn. They are on our tandem and are fine. Basic alloy cranks but plenty functional. Quite possibly from the same source as Spa cranks.

I think the rings are fine. The bottom brackets aren’t that durable but are cheap. The cranks metal might not be great or maybe I’m an idiot. I had a pedal come out. I think user error meant it was unthreading then I weighted it and it fell out. The threads took a bit if tlc and then it all went back together. 2 weeks back I wentto remove a crank. I thought thus will be fine and grabbed a cheap puller as I couldn’t see the Park one. I stripped the threads on the crank. Not sure what I conclude. They aren’t bomb proof but new bits are cheap. The replacement cranks was £17 posted

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Sugino cranks. You’re more likely to hear about them on a track bike… where strength is pretty bloody key.

I have a set of XD2s absolutely fine for a budget crank.

Cheers all.

Matt – I have messaged you.

i have run spa stuff for years on touring and work bikes.
fantastic value for money.

and i have used spa cycles for nearly 30 years. never once had a problem with them.

If they’re Sugino then we have 3 of their chainsets and they’ve been completely satisfactory. The rings have lasted well and the cranks are as good as anything else we’ve used – including Shimano and Campag – and certainly a whole level of reliable better than SRAM.

It’s worth noting that crank length (other than extremes) is fairly irrelevant. If the user has enough articulation to spin a 175mm crankset they’d probably be fine on it (and have the ability to produce more power in the lowest gear, if that’s an issue). If you’re trying to keep costs down just use what you have

I’ve run a 160mm Spa XD triple for years and done 10s of thousands of miles with no probs. I use the Zircal rings which last longer. I’m 5’4″ with short legs so perfect for me. Choose a quality bottom bracket and it will probably last you the time that you own the bike.

I’ve got exactly that set on my tourney/commuters/ gravelly thing, and I’d have no issues getting another.

I did have an issue with one arm working loose after a while, but l rang them up, explained what was happening, sent the arm back for them to have a look at and they let me have another for (their) cost price, which was fair enough I thought. And they told me to stop greasing the tapers on the bottom bracket.

If you’re trying to keep costs down just use what you have

The existing cranks are 110BCD and therefore smaller rings are rare and more expensive than the move to these.

And when your 1.5m/5′ tall, long cranks are really awkward…

I put some spa chainsets on my tandem earlier this year; really pleased with them TBH

Put a Spa Chainset on my Salsa Casseroll with custom ring sized to what I wanted – black and silver. It looks superb and works perfectly. Getting your rings right, a triple and the crank length right means I can spin uphills not mash. Old school bb which may be less stiff but they’tr cheap and go forever. SPA stuff is excellent. I don’t have one, but their bikes and frams look amezeballs value with Reynolds 725 and dynamo options. I seem to have gravitated to to how they spec their bikes by my own experience, so I’d say they know what they are doing. Good shop, company, products and value. Looking back I probably should’ve just bought one of their Audax/ tourers and saved myself a load of hassle.

I’ve got a set of their ‘Dural’ rings on a 130BCD Shimano chainset simply because it was cheaper/easier than replacing the whole chainset when I wanted smaller chainrings.

They work and wear well enough, maybe not quite as slick shifting as the stock ramped & pinned jobs, but definitely adequate.