I've been riding the Herse cranks for a few months now, and really like them... I went with a 48/30. My main reason for getting them was the desire for a compact double with a smaller-than-34 (I ride in the Berkeley Hills a lot... love my 30t!). Shifting up for the 18-tooth jump works nicely.
I do have one issue. In order to make the shift onto the big chainring, the derailleur cage is pushed out far enough and the Q is low enough that the crank arm rubs the cage as I pedal. At the moment, I just back the cage off a bit after I shift up (friction shifting). I wrote Jan about it, and he pointed out that the Campy "Mirage FB" front derailleur is pretty wide, and that, together with the 18t jump, might be the cause. I know a lot of folks here use that derailleur, so I thought I'd point out the problem. On that note, anybody got a good suggestion for a different front derailleur? Corwin On Sunday, May 27, 2012 12:36:06 AM UTC-7, stonehog wrote: > > I've been commuting for the past few weeks with one of the new Rene Herse > cranks on my AHH. http://www.compasscycle.com/cranks_bb.html I haven't > seen any reviews on this yet, so I figured I would share a few > thoughts/opinions with the group. I'm not really a crankoholic, and have > mainly ridden wider Q mountain cranks. I mainly wanted to upgrade the bike > a bit, and thought a well built crankset would be a nice add. Something > that would last as long as the frame, perhaps. > > I've never had any experience with a narrow tread road bike, and was a bit > worried that having a narrow Q would be a problem. So far that has not > worked out to be the case. I find it comfortable, and natural. The length > of these are 171mm, which is close to what I'm finding to be ideal for me. > I tend to lately favor the 170mm cranks I have on another bike over the > 175mm I've been using for the past 20 years. > > The finish and feel of these cranks is indeed very nice, and every bit as > good as it has been billed. The chainrings are nice and thick, but > elegant. To me, these cranks feel more solid than the others I've used > lately including Sugino XD, Suntour XC Pro, and modern Shimano Deore and XT > cranks, as well as a Race Face outboard bearing set I have on my mtb. > They are very nice to look at, as well, with a highly polished finish, and > simple, clean and classy lines that go really well with the Rivendell > frame. > > It was recommended by Jan that I use a 110mm bottom bracket, so I ordered > one, but decided to try the cranks with a 107mm that I had on already. > They went on easily, and the arms have at least 3-5mm clearance with the > chainstays. The chainline is adequate, as well. I got 44/28 rings to go > with an 11-32 cassette. This gives me plenty of range for the hilly riding > I do in the area. Bottom line - I highly recommend these. Love em! > > Pics: > > http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzzumnw > > Brian > Seattle, WA > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/sJd-Sf99NwUJ. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
