SR Suntour XCT Jr. Crankset 9-Speed 44/32/22T 152mm Includes Capless Fixing

I’ve had a high-quality crankset on one of my recumbent bikes for a while but the arms on it are only 135mm. I like short cranks but those are too short even for me. Experimentation determined that 155mm arms are best for me on a bent so I decided last year that come this spring I’d change that crankset. This Suntour crankset with 152mm arms has rings with the same tooth count as the old crankset and was very inexpensive; I figured that the worst that would happen is I wouldn’t like it and that would put me out only $20-$30 so I took the chance and ordered. I also thought it was unlikely that I’d notice the 3mm difference between my preference and the actual length of the arms on this crankset.Hefting this Suntour crankset in one hand while hefting my old crankset in my other hand I could immediately tell that this Suntour crankset was much heavier due to the steel chainrings. Not a problem for me, the recumbent bike I installed these on is a very light bike and has a very strong weight bias to the rear anyway so a bit of extra weight on the front doesn’t bother me. A little weight can be saved by removing the bash guard and the bash guard is easily removed without even pulling the crankset off the bike; for now I’m leaving it on, it looks good and it’s still cold enough (late March/early April here in NYC) that I’m wearing regular jeans while riding so the bash guard is helping to protect the cuffs of my jeans. The rings are round and true, the whole thing from the aluminum arms and spider to the steel rings and even the bolts all look well made and of high quality. The rings are bolted on, not riveted, so they can be easily replaced if desired – amazing for a crankset this inexpensive.My square-taper bottom bracket’s spindle length is 113mm and I get a 50mm chainline with this crankset on a spindle of that length, perfect for my bike. The description for this crankset weirdly states that it is not compatible with a 113mm bottom bracket spindle; ignore that, it’s some really odd error in the description which I confirmed with the seller before ordering.If you’re a weight weenie this crankset is not for you. If you want to brag to your friends about your $300 hollow cranks and lightweight ovalized rings this crankset is not for you. If you don’t mind the extra weight of the steel rings (or have aluminum rings to swap in) and just want a nice-looking crankset that works well at a bargain price for a 7- 8- or 9-speed drivetrain, it’s hard to imagine a better solution than this Suntour. It comes in versions with different arm lengths and chainrings with different tooth counts so you can get just what you need without having to buy an assortment of crankset parts to mix and match on your own.Great quality, beautiful, and inexpensive – if you’re not a racer or intensely concerned about weight, it’s an excellent value and will work for you as well as some other crankset at triple the price.

I'm a 5'10" (177 cm) adult with occasional hip flexor and knee issues, so I bought this crankset to limit my range of motion to something more comfortable. Gain ratios (see Sheldon Brown) with my particular cassette didn't change much. My hip no longer feels impinged and my knee rarely bothers me from riding. I think it has as much to do with better glute activation with the shorter cranks as it does reduced range of motion.A bit of paint around the bolt hole flaked off during installation (probably for lack of carefulness) but durability has been great since then.

I ordered this product because I wanted to try a crankset with smaller chain rings and shorter cranks. I choose the SR Suntour model rather than the Action model, because SR Suntour is a brand I'm familiar with, even though they were more expensive.Shipping to Canada was faster than estimated which was a nice bonus, and out of the box the cranks looked great. However, when I installed them onto my bike I discovered a CRITICAL problem. The pedal hole in the left crank had been threaded improperly at the factory and when I installed the pedal into it, the pedal was at the wrong angle (see Left Crank #1 photos). You might be thinking: "this guy doesn't know what he's doing and probably just cross-threaded the pedal and ruined the threads himself". I promise you that is not the case. The pedals were threaded all the way in and out of the hole with just finger pressure and no wrench. There is no chance that I stripped it. When I examined the crank, I could see that the hole was oval shaped and parts of the inside of the hole were smooth with no threads cut at all (see photo).Concluding that I had ended up with a factory defect, I submitted a return to Amazon and immediately re-ordered the same item again. Once again the item arrived faster than estimated, but sadly this crankset had the EXACT SAME PROBLEM! Just like with the previous one, the right crank was fine, but the left crank had the pedal hole threaded at an offset angle from where it should be. The angle on this one was probably only about half as bad as the previous one (see Left Crank #2 photos), but still very noticeable and uncomfortable to use when I installed it and took it for a test ride. Not that it mattered to me, but I should also mention that the second left and right cranks both had some paint chips out of the box (see photos).So I've now returned the 2nd crankset and ordered the Action brand ones to try next. I had very high hopes for these SR Suntour cranks and I am very disappointed by their quality control. With 2 out of 2 of these cranksets being factory defects I can only recommend that you steer as far away from this product as possible. I've wasted nearly 3 weeks of my life ordering, installing, uninstalled, returning and reordering cranksets. I have a week long bike tour coming up and would have rather spent those 3 weeks testing and breaking in my new cranks before then. Now I'll probably be getting my new cranks just a few days before the trip and won't have very much time to decide if I want to take them with me or not. Don't make the same mistake I made.

It’s a solid crankset with one major design element I would change...the large q factor. Even with a 107mm square taper bottom bracket, the Q factor was around 180.

likes: perfect complement to a recreational build for an older friend--short crankarms, 9s lor less versatility, square taper economy and chainguard all at a reasonable price. I've done a couple builds with these cranks so far: one for an ex-serviceman with gimpy knees that can now push up hills w/o pain, another for the older friend to ride with the younger grandkids...bikes don't need to be expensive, they just need to fit the needs of the person...this crankset does exactly what is claimed, and I'll continue to spec them for my builds.

While probably not the usual application of this piece, a bike mechanic buddy of mine recommended ordering this for the kid-sized 152mm cranks, which are hard to source. He chucked the SR Suntour XCT Jr triple rings and attached the cranks to a 30T front ring for a custom 1x11 Shimano Deore XT upgrade to my almost 10 year old son's 24+ mountain bike.