Campagnolo Cranks

Campy Record cranks are forged from aluminum alloy, with the pedal spindle holes drilled and tapped with 9/16" by 20 TPI threads. The crank arm dust cap holes are bored and tapped with 22mm by 1mm threads. The square tapered hole for the B/B spindle is bored then broached. Each of the arms is hand polished then Silver (clear) anodized. Which aluminum alloy is used, Campy doesn't state in their statistic starved brochure. The arm is 34mm wide at the Pedal spindle, narrows to 28.5mm and on the left arm becomes 37.5mm wide at the B/B spindle. The right arm has an edge milled around the integrated spider.

The Record crankset uses a principle that Campagnolo innovated which has come to be known as the "hidden fifth arm." All present common chainrings have a bolt pattern that uses five fixing bolts, this generally leads crank maker to have a spider that has five arms. Campagonolo Record and Record OR cranks have the fifth spider arm hidden below the crank arm itself, this saves a slight amount of weight and makes it nearly impossible for that spider arm to bend. The outer chainring has a steel nutsert pressed into it for a fixing bolt to anchor into. The fixing bolt for the "hidden fifth" passes from the inner side of the inner chainring, through a forged extension on the arm for the chainrings to rest against, and through the outer chainring. The outer chainring is die-cut from 4mm thick aluminum plate, then turned on a lathe to taper the teeth and thin the chainring to make shifting easier.

Steel rivets, just below the teeth, are positioned to assist the chain onto the chainring. The outer chainring also has an anti-jam pin. The inner chainring is die-cut from 3.5mm thick aluminum plate, then turned by lathe to reduce the thickness of the teeth to 1.86mm. The chainrings use a 135mm bolt center diameter. Campagnolo is the only crank maker to use pattern. There is one mechanical for them to continue using this pattern and that is "the distance from the bolt center to the chainring outer edge is a shorter distance, therefore the aluminum is less likely to bend." In practice a one tooth difference, using a 53 tooth 135mm chainring has the same 43mm span as a 52 tooth 130mm chainring, so this isn't a real advantage, and the outer is made from 4mm thick plate that is sturdier than many 130mm pattern makers use.

Many people in the bike industry agree that the real motivation is to obligate the owner of a Campy crank to buy only expensive Campagnolo replacement chainrings, since no one else makes a 135mm pattern Road ring. Each of the Record arms uses the Campy "built-in extractor." Many avid riders will remember when Shimano around 1981 introduced their "one key release," the differences between the Campy and the Shimano are hard to tell. A Chrome plated steel bolt threads into the crank arm, having a 6mm hex fitting on the outer end. A steel crank arm cap threads into the arm with a 15mm hole through it. The cap when tightened into the arm exposes the bolt head. Turning the 6mm counter-clockwise pushes the bolt against the steel cap. Further turning of the bolt pushes the arm off the B/B spindle. Turning the bolt clockwise pulls the arm onto B/B spindle for installation.

Record cranks come with chrome plated steel outer fixing bolts. We found Record cranks to have a Bike-Pro Q measurement of 150mm. The Record crankset is compatible with any two degree tapered spindle B/B. Record cranks are available in 170mm, 172.5mm, 175mm or 180mm. They come with the 42-52 or 39-53 tooth chainrings. The Record cranks come as right arm, left arm, two chainrings, the required fixing bolts, and the arm pulling crank bolts. The 172.5mm 42-52t crankset, with all included parts, weighs 720.5 grams. Specify length and chainring sizes. $ Price in Catalog

The Chorus arm set is forged of aluminum alloy. The pedal spindle holes are drilled and tapped with 9/16" by 20 TPI threads. The crank arm dust cap holes are bored then tapped with 22mm x 1mm threads. The holes for the B/B spindle are bored then broached to give them the 2 degree tapered square sides. Each of the arms is then hand polished and Silver (clear) anodized. The right arm is forged with a traditional five arm spider with the outer edge milled giving it a perfect edge. The outer chainring is die-cut from 4mm thick aluminum plate, then turned on a lathe to reduce the thickness of the teeth 1.88mm and taper their tops. There are three pairs of steel rivets driven into the outer chainring, to assist in giving the chain up in shifting to the inner under load. The inner chainring is die-cut from 3.5mm thick aluminum plate turned to reduce the thickness to 1.84mm for the chain. Both of these chainrings are Silver, and use the Campagnolo unique 135mm bolt pattern.

Replacement chainrings will be Campy only. Each of the Chorus arms comes with "built-in extractor" crank bolts described in the Record crank review above. Chorus cranks will work with any 2 degree tapered B/B spindle. We found Chorus cranks to have a Bike-Pro Q measurement of 149mm. They are available in 170mm, 172.5mm or 175mm with 42-52 or 39-53 tooth chainrings. The Chorus cranks come as left arm, right arm, two chainrings, the needed fixing bolts, and the arm pulling crank bolts. The 172.5mm Chorus set with 39-53 tooth chainrings weighs 797 grams. $ Price in Catalog

In the 1994 model year Campy wisely discontinued their Centaur and Icarus mountain parts groups leaving just the Record OR. The OR crankset is a compact type using a triple chainring set with 20-32-42 tooth rings. The Record OR cranks have a "hidden fifth" spider arm which is used only by the outer chainring. The outer chainring uses the 110mm standard outer bolt center diameter by mountain cranks, but does not use a common chainring. At point of fixing bolt fastening, the outer has a steel nutsert pressed into it. The nickel plated steel fixing bolt passes through the spider from the outer side and anchors into the nutsert in the outer chainring. I know what you're thinking, "how is the mid and inner fastened?" The aluminum mass that surrounds B/B spindle on the inner side of the right arm is oversized with splines like you find on a freehub. The middle ring is made of die-cut plate steel with machined teeth and it slides over this splined core.

The inner ring is made like the middle ring and slides over the splined core once an aluminum spacing ring has been placed between them. These two chainrings are held in place by a steel lockring of the sort used to hold the non-fixed B/B cup in place. This lockring can be loosened or tightened with a lockring spanner. So not only must a Record OR crank user by a Campy only outer replacement, they must also buy only Campy mids and inners. It's possible that Campagnolo has some commitment to this unique standard, but remember they just abandoned 2/3 of their mountain parts groups. If riders fail to kneel and kiss their OR cranks, maybe they will conform a bit more. The OR set comes with the "built-in extractor" written about in the Record crank review. Record OR cranks will work with any 2 degree tapered spindle B/B.

We found the OR cranks to have a Bike-Pro Q measurement of 166mm. They are available in 170mm or 175mm with 20-32-42 chainrings. The Record OR cranks come as left arm, right arm, the three chainrings, the needed fixing bolts, and the arm pulling crank bolts. The weight of the 175mm version of OR cranks is 790.5 grams. Incidentally, if you need chainrings for an OR set you already own, call us and we will give you pricing and try to arrange them for you. Campagnolo has discontinued the Record OR Group of parts. We sold these for $219.99.