Thanos Crank Ready for Winter Convert

[ReapThaWhirlwind]

Ready for my Snow Speeder convert on my GT Tempest.

Silver and gold is a throwback to the Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer song.

Front tire Maxxis Crossmark // Rear tire CST Rock Hawk

Staying oval from now on. Given the power of the oval chainring, I've decided to step up the freewheel in the back to 16t. Last year I ran a 38t round ring with a 17t freewheel. It was great on the snow. Really lets you tear into the hard-packed ground with a little muscle power. On the pavement, it kinda suffered, especially on a climb. Lots of work for little go. Can't wait to see if this combination enables the same ground control with extra utility on the pavement.

[ReapThaWhirlwind]

Snowspeeder conversion peek. Just waiting on the snow.

I painted the topcap with a gel nailpolish (Sunset Socialite).

Having to go back on the oval crank kinda sucks. I think the difference in feel is noticeable.

[jeffg]

Nicely done. The paint on the top cap looks factory smooth. I never thought to use nail polish for other than touch up, but you have shown it is good for much larger applications. I'm going to give it a try.
What happened to the oval chain ring?

[ReapThaWhirlwind]

(01-02-2022, 07:43 AM)jeffg Wrote:  Nicely done. The paint on the top cap looks factory smooth. I never thought to use nail polish for other than touch up, but you have shown it is good for much larger applications. I'm going to give it a try.
What happened to the oval chain ring?

I still have it. It's just that I couldn't install it on this setup.

The reason being that the chainring has to be installed on the front-side of the crank, and it was causing too much crosschain so that it was pulling the chain off the single speed freewheel. I have a chain tensioner. Installing the chainring on the back-side of the crank causes rubbing on the frame. Attempting to use a BB spacer for the cups would just offset me the 2mm that I saved. There was no option but to compromise.

The wheel is perfectly dished as even as possible for these tires, which custom spacers I had to buy from Home Depot. There's like 1mm to each side between the frame and the tires. Thus, there's no way to dish the rear wheel and push the hub closer to the right side of the frame.

After riding an oval ring for months, I can definitely feel the 'more work for less effort' from the elliptical ring.