OK, what happens when you have a ton of square-taper alloy Campagnolo Record double road cranks, and everyone has switched to the "modern" outboard bearing style cups and the carbon Campagnolo Ultra Torque Record road racing crank sets? The answer just got delivered to the bike shop.
Campy and a huge bike component distributor took the high-quality alloy Record square tapers and bolted them to some alloy 1/8th inch chain rings with holes drilled to fit cranks requiring 144 BCD (Campy and most true track bolt circle diameter) and 135 BCD (Campy road and Miche track BCD) rings. Yes, there are a ton of holes, but voila! You now have what I am calling "Campy Record faux track crank sets" that you can use to run 1/8th-inch single-speed and fixed gear drive trains. (You can also change out the ring and run a 135 BCD 3/32nds Campy road ring if you run a 3/32nds drive train on your fixie.) These faux track cranks cost much less than the super pretty and crazy pricey real Campagnolo or Dura Ace track crank sets. (Jump for more and extra photos.)
Photos taken by Wheelgirl
Right now we have silver 170mm Campy Record faux track cranks ($150) in the bike shop and some other Campy faux track cranks that are made of Xenon old cranks ($50). The chain ring isn't made by Campy. But the Record crank sets look great. Of course, if you turn it over, you can see the double-ring tabs, but they are going to be there on any other road crank set you convert to put on your fixie.
A few months ago, I ordered a Record 10-speed square-taper crank set on closeout, since I figured that the worst case scenario, we could use it for parts in the shop, and I always liked that crank. We did, in fact, use the rings for a customer's tune up. Then I ordered a Campy faux track crank set just to see what they were about. Guess what? The same exact numbers, marking, measurements. Both arrived in official (but differently printed) Campagnolo Record packaging and boxes. A bunch of crazy amazing road cyclists used this crank set in the pro peleton. You can surely spin it down to the pizza parlor or on your daily commute and feel good about your value-shopping self.
Suggestion: Those new to building fixies, make sure whenever you are putting on a new crank, you are mounting it on a bottom bracket that has the correct taper (the shaped flats on the spindle that match up with the inside of the square taper of the crank). Also, make sure you have the correct spindle length. Crank sets, based on the year the brand and the year they were manufactured usually require certain bottom brackets shapes, and your frame and drive train will require a certain spindle length for the chain line to be within an acceptable range.
Photos taken by Wheelgirl
