Murray Adjustable cranks

Does anyone have anything good or bad to say about these?

I’ve been thinking a lot about adjustable cranks lately, since my long distance routes usually consist of alternating flat road with fairly steep hills (central Virginia). I currently have 125’s on a 700c road tire, and I found during last year’s MS bike tour (Richmond to Williamsburg), 150’s would have come in handy for their torque during the hilly parts, and 110’s would have optimized speed during the flat parts.

So, these cranks appear to be everything I desire (except the price). Can anyone vouch for this? I think I saw these on Nathan Hoover’s coker in a picture somewhere.

-Frank

I think those are the ones that Nathan said disintegrated way too soon. He wanted to use them in Norway but couldn’t because they fell apart.

Nathan should verify this, though.

Yep, I just found his pictures:

Here’s a good shot of the whole thing: http://community.webshots.com/photo/29172825/66847009ZhAcCU

And here’s some pictures of the damage: http://community.webshots.com/album/69235331yrOdYE

Too bad. However, he says he took it off-road with 1+ ft drops. I’d be using this on a strictly-road unicycle (700X25c, 100+ psi tire). Perhaps they would stand up better to gentler treatment?

Otherwise, does anyone know of any other cranks like this? I’ve seen a few that adjust between around 150-175mm. However, I’m really looking for the 110-150 range.

Yes I did try a pair of those and you did find my photos. But I want to state that I was using a prototype and the final design may be better (I hope it is).

Here is the story. Bronson ordered a pair from Murray first and they came but he destroyed them very quickly. He sort of lost interest, but the folks at Murray really wanted to be able to make a quality product so they built a second set and sent them for free. By the time they came, Bronson had the Terminator and was training for Tasmania so had no interest. So I rode them 250 miles and you saw the results.

Adjustable cranks are a great thing, but other than Bronson’s Creative Gecko solution I don’t know of any that really hold up. I am not so interested in pure road riding with the Coker anymore. If they can’t hold up to mild muni (drops up to 2’ at 160mm setting) then I have no use for them.

I guess I will let the cat out of the bag and tell you that this week I ordered a pair of 120-160mm cranks from High Sierra Cycle Center It will take 6-8 weeks to get them and then a similar amount of time to test and then I will report on the results. These are the guys that built Gary’s 210mm fixed length cranks. The thing I like about their adjustable design is that they use stainless for the steel parts (the pedal end of the crank plus the adjustment bolts). It’s an expensive experiment, but what the hell.

—Nathan

At least they’re on sale. :smiley: Can’t wait to hear what your results are.

Thanks for the input Nathan. I think I’ll get in touch with Murray and see if they’ve improved their cranks any. I’ll be waiting to hear your review of the uglier, but perhaps stronger High Sierra cranks.

All I noticed was that the Murray web site does not show any photographs of their $300 cranks. This is a problem for me. Looks like they need to be a lot stronger around the slot area. Steel or another metal probably needs to be added to protect from the constant torque of the pedaling motion. This would add weight, and more importantly expense, to the design.

Caution for anyone else thinking of trying these out. The wear & tear on Nathan’s was probalby from plain old cranking more than it was from a few drops. Unless he was really beating on his Coker?

Thanks for sharing your results. I hope the new cranks work better!

What say you Mr. Hoover, are the High Sierra cranks any good?

So far the High Sierra cranks have been great. I have about 600 miles on them now, mostly on the 130mm setting. Not a lot of offroad yet, but it looks like I may be using them in the Moonride next week which I hope will result in lots of miles!

The extra width seems to be no problem and they are so well made that they don’t loosen up: the length adjustment or the bolt that attaches to the hub. All in all I am very happy with them - will give another report in a few weeks after some offroad.

—Nathan - off to New Zealand in a few hours!