FSA Issues

[Pretorim]

We've got FSA carbon cranks, replaced the chain and now experiencing chainsuck on the middleblade. FSA seem to be having some difficulty in SA and I can't get a new FSA 32T chainring (4Bolt). I am being told that Shimano XT won't work on these carbon cranks. (It's on a new Merida '09 Multivan hardtail) Any suggestions? Suggestion was made to go for a generic such as BBB. Are they trustworthy?

[Overlord]

BBB tough as nails!!

[scotty]

FSA have real problems with support in SA, took me 3 weeks to get a silly crank bolt from them last year. I dont know if they have agents in SA anymore. scotty2009-05-09 09:43:09

[Johan Bornman]

The generics are fine, provided you get a good fit. The fact that they have the bolt circle and the number of teeth right, doesn't mean it will fit. Middle chainrings also sometimes have a bit of offset to centre the ring between the big and granny blades and not all generics get this right. I should actually rather say, not all generics fit on all cranks just because the numbers look right.

Apart from that, they're fine. A sign of a good middle chainring will be ramps and pins and cheapo will have no pins and rivets, only cutouts. Even so, it'll still shift OK if you are gentle with it.

As for durability, there's no problem there. The aluminium everyone uses is no secret and they all use the same stuff.....except for the manufacturer of my original equipment middle chainring, I think they used soft cheese, it wears that quickly.

[Pretorim]

Thanks Johan, must agree with the cheese - this bike is 4 months old, take special care with cleaning, maintenance etc. Didn't think I would have to start replacing chains & blades so soon.