Andel Track Cranks a short review

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  • Bought them about two weeks ago from Outspoken cycles.
    Price is 55 for 144BCD cranks and a chainring. There are 46 or 48 to choose from.
    Got also the Tange 110.5 BB.
    I must say, for the price, those are a damn good cranks. The finish on the outer sided is quite nice on the silver ones, certainly not Super Record but probably not miles off.
    From the inside it is another story, look very cheap with some remains of the casting process.
    The cranks are much stiffer than my previous Fuji Track Stock FSA vero's. They alos look way more sturdy which they probably are. The difference in amount of flex during hill climbing is really big comparing to Veros.
    With the aforementioned Tange BB they give a great chainline of 42 mm and make for a silent drivetrain with my Formula hub and Surly cog, something I could not say about FSA Vero's.
    Overall, this is a damn good set of cranks for the price and anyone considering Sugino RD2 and their chainline problems should stop right there and get the Andels, unless you must have 130 BCD for those tiny chainrings.
    The only gripe is that the silver ones look shit on my Fuji, but the black with 46t was out of stock:(

    http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/4995/andel3.jpg
    http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/516/andel2.jpg
    http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/4766/andel1x.jpg

  • Thats a lovely carpet.

  • Ace. I like it when people review things.

    Am now paranoid about my Vero cranks being flexy though.

  • Have fairly recently switched from stock Fuji cranks and BB to Miche Primato cranks and BB, I can confirm that the bottom end of the bike definitely feels less bendy now.

    Of course, then I got the Webster, and now the whole of the Fuji feels bendy again ;-)

  • Thats a lovely carpet.

    Derby rented property specific!!

  • Anyone know how they compare to the eigthinch crankset?

  • AND HAUL
    Are these the same as Andels?
    http://hubjub.co.uk/index.php/store/drivechain/single-speed-fluted-chainset-detail
    Which look the same as these without the engraving as the HubJub description suggests?
    http://www.bricklanebikes.co.uk/blb-super-pista-crank-silver

    "Note: there is occasionally a slight issue with the cranks and non-Andel rings. There may be a slight step (0.5mm or less) on the spider of the arm which does not affect the slightly larger diameter (inner bore) Andel rings but may affect others. To fit certain non-Andel rings perfectly flush you may need to modfiy and remove a very small amount of material from the step or the inner part of the chainring."

    So the step between the arm and where the chain ring bolts on is slightly too shallow for some rings making them stand half a mm proud of the arm?

  • Yes mate: I'm using a pair and also fitted some to a bike I built for someone, both of which I got from Hubjub, who are the cheapest I've found even taking postage into account.

    The finish could be better in places: evidence of the milling process in the flutes and on the back of the arms, but you'd only be miffed if you were daft enough to pay BLB three figures for the privilege of having them scratch their name into them.

    If I remember correctly, it's not the whole area where the ring sits on the spider, just inside the corner: rather than being a crisp right-angle, some are more like 45 degrees; nothing two minutes with a Dremel couldn't sort out. Neither of the pairs I bought were affected.

    Perhaps @Drew_Hubjub can explain it better.

    All in all, I'm more than happy with mine and have had no complaints from my friend either.

  • i had different andels, the more classic looking ones. used andels for time, now got a campag copy from the 70's called tevano, both are fine , fuck the blb ones though

  • Practically everyone who made components, made a copy of the Campag cranks, although some are susceptible to cracking where the spider meets the crank (brittle alloy).

    When I was looking for fluted cranks, I did plenty of trawling through Velobase and eBay and found the "original" copies went for the same sort of money as the Andel copy.

  • Andel cranks are decent, I was impressed with the strengh and the finish on mine.

  • Cool, thanks. Wasnt going to buy new blbs, but had seen some 2nd hand... But if £40 is the going price for new then that makes more sense.

  • They're the same cranks, but who wants to be seen with BLB branded parts?

    Better off spending your money with Hubjub: you'll struggle to beat their prices and they're good people too.

    [@Hubjub please make cheques payable to Scilly.Suffolk]

  • That's what I meant :)
    Also hubjub have been awesome so far I'd much sooner spend my money there.

  • whats matter with blb components ? I see this mentioned a few places gotta say I got some grips and they do just fine.

  • Hipster tax innit.

  • Order placed with HubJub.... One step closer for the Bob Jackson.

  • I have these cranks on a couple of bikes. Decent and seem to last. I got them from hilary stone. Sold as zenith, £65 inc chainring.

  • Found these pics (courtesy of Max at Velosolo), which explain things better.

    As I said, I've had two pairs which didn't have this step.


    3 Attachments

    • andel1.jpg
    • andel2.jpg
    • andel3.jpg
  • Ahhhhh, yeah, that's an easy fix if I have to.

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Andel Track Cranks a short review

Posted by Avatar for Numeryk @Numeryk

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