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FSA Gossamer Crankset |
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Written by Andrew Freye
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Thursday, 22 March 2007 |
Tester: Andrew Freye, Team Bikeman.com Pro Rider, Certified Bikeman Product Tester
Conditions: So Cal to North East, and every type of weather the average person wouldn’t ride in, snow, rain, downpours, sub zero temps, sunny days, mud, dirt roads, etc…
Review: When I went to custom build up my brand new Salsa Campeon I wanted my components to match. Something about a bike that has matching cock pit, seat post, crank etc… makes the bike look all the better in my opinion. So with this personal pet peeve my options were limited.
Because of FSA’s reputation and Big Al’s recommendation on the crank I decided to go with the Gossamer. Now my new bike would have FSA wheels, crank, seat post, stem, head set, and handle bar! I debated between the FSA Gossamer aluminum crank versus a higher end carbon crank by FSA. Due to the light weight, performance review, and cost savings making the decision on going with the aluminum crank arms easy.
I have always had a problem with cranks, especially with mountain bike cranks. The problem that I have encountered is that I can destroy them in no time. It doesn’t seem to matter how tight I bolt the arms to the bottom bracket, or how much lock tight I put on I have always been able to make the arms come loose and thus round out the crank arm. This is probably do to the fact that my pedal stroke is more mashing on the pedals then smooth circles and the fact that I tend to do countless hours of intervals and sprints a year. When I first went over to a two piece crank on the mountain bike I had great success with it. For once I didn’t have to go through two to three crank arms a season. So when I purchased the two piece Gossamer crank I was excited to have a piece of equipment I could put on the bike and forget about.
Well, it has been a year later and I still haven’t been able to forget about the crank. This summer I noticed sloppy shifting up front on the bike. I looked over the gears etc.. The problem was my crank was loose! I didn’t have the adequate tools to tighten the crank on my ride thanks to the hex bolt on the left crank arm. When at home I loosened the hex bolts, tightened the crank down and then cranked down the hex bolts since these bolts are the ones that are suppose to carry most of the load. This solved the problem for about a week or two until the crank was loose again. Trial number two, repeat trial number one, except add blue lock tight to the hex bolts and carry hex wrench at all times.
Fix it trial number two lasted for a while, this time until early winter. When the crank came loose again I was about 3 hours away from my starting point and had about 4 hours left in the loop. So I had to fix the crank on the road, loosen the hex bolts, tighten the crank up and again crank down the hex bolts. When I returned home I purchased a new left crank arm bolt (CR3808) from Bikeman and told myself that this crank was never going to come loose again. I removed the hex bolts and cleaned them up and applied a healthy coat of lock tight. In addition to this I applied another healthy coat of lock tight to the new crank arm bolt.
Since going crazy with the lock tight and new bolts on the crank arm the crank seems to be holding up ok. I have put close to 20hrs a week for six weeks on the crank since I have last touched it. I am crossing my fingers and hoping that it holds up for a long time. I think the problem with the crank is the two bolt tightening system. Other two piece cranks that I have used are designed with one larger bolt going through the crank arm and attaching it to the drive side bottom bracket (example TruVativ Carbon Stylo). Besides the fact that the left crank arm keeps coming loose the crank is great. It shifts well, light weight, bearings are still working smoothly, and strong and stiff. However, if the product can’t stay together and withstand some hard riding then it doesn’t serve its purpose. Unless FSA decides to go with a different two piece design I would not recommend this product for anyone who likes to push the harder gears.
Andrew Freye
Rated:
 | $156.95
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| FSA Gossamer MegaExo Crankset: S10, 170mm, 39-53, w/ BB, Black. Integrated MegaExo BB. Cold forged aluminum crank arms. Monocoque crankarm/spider. Precision CNC machined 7075/T6 chainrings, ramped and pinned for perfect shifing. AL7075 Torx T-30 alloy chainring bolts. MegaExo oversize cartridge bearings. Oversize splined integrated chromoly... |
| $156.95
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| FSA Gossamer MegaExo Crankset: S10, 172.5mm, 39-53, w/ BB, Black. Integrated MegaExo BB. Cold forged aluminum crank arms. Monocoque crankarm/spider. Precision CNC machined 7075/T6 chainrings, ramped and pinned for perfect shifing. AL7075 Torx T-30 alloy chainring bolts. MegaExo oversize cartridge bearings. Oversize splined integrated chromoly... |
| $156.95
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| FSA Gossamer MegaExo Crankset: S10, 175mm, 39-53, w/ BB, Black. Integrated MegaExo BB. Cold forged aluminum crank arms. Monocoque crankarm/spider. Precision CNC machined 7075/T6 chainrings, ramped and pinned for perfect shifing. AL7075 Torx T-30 alloy chainring bolts. MegaExo oversize cartridge bearings. Oversize splined integrated chromoly... |
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