Spécialités TA

[woodbutcher]

Can anyone shed a little light on the subject of Spécialités TA .
l have a crankset from l would guess the 1970's or early 80's. 52,44 chainrings. Nice condition but since l cannot remember where l acquired them or if l removed them from a bike at some point, l am a not sure what to do with them or what type of frame they would suit . Any advice would be most welcome

 

[midlife]

This design?

 

[Illaveago]

Mid to late 70's. I have a set fitted to my Holdsworth Record which replaced the original single chrome one and I think my Carlton Competition has one.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Nice chainset for any decent steel frame bike from 70s on.

 

[Illaveago]

I think they became TA Stronglight .

 

[rogerzilla]

They're still very much alive. I bought a TA 47T track ring a couple of months ago.

 

[woodbutcher]

This design?

View attachment 446168

Yes the same except it also has the 44 chainring and the lettering has worn off the black strip on the crank arm .

 

[booze and cake]

I'm not sure about the older stuff, but they make good replacement chain rings that fit on Campagnolo crank sets, for significantly less than the Campagnolo ones. I got some to fit on my 10 speed Chorus Ultra torque and they've been great. In fact they were semi compact 52/36 rings that fitted directly onto my Campag Compact 50/34 chain sets, effectively allowing me a change crankset for a fraction of the price of a new Campagnolo one

 

[woodbutcher]

I'm not sure about the older stuff, but they make good replacement chain rings that fit on Campagnolo crank sets, for significantly less than the Campagnolo ones. I got some to fit on my 10 speed Chorus Ultra torque and they've been great. In fact they were semi compact 52/36 rings that fitted directly onto my Campag Compact 50/34 chain sets, effectively allowing me a change crankset for a fraction of the price of a new Campagnolo one

Smart move, how did you know that they would fit ?

 

[booze and cake]

Luckily someone more knowledgeable than me had already written about it online somewhere, and I found the post after having one of those regular Campag 'how much?!' moments, upon finding out the cost of some replacement Campag rings

 

[woodbutcher]

Luckily someone more knowledgeable than me had already written about it online somewhere, and I found the post after having one of those regular Campag 'how much?!' moments, upon finding out the cost of some replacement Campag rings

useful info. l will keep it in mind for future ref.

 

[midlife]

Yes the same except it also has the 44 chainring and the lettering has worn off the black strip on the crank arm .

TA cranks like that went out of fashion a bit in the 70's as Campag and copies took over. However they were used by TT bods as they were light and also by tourists as you could get small chainrings and run a triple.

 

[booze and cake]

I've just found out the rings I got are Specialities TA 'Nerius' that fit 10 speed, but also 11 speed by the looks. For anyone wanting to do this with 10 speed Ultra-torque cranks, for the love of God keep hold of your original chain ring bolts or you'll be paying as much for them as some rings! I recall the replacement 5 bolt set, including the 'hidden' bolt which cannot be bought seperately, was £40! And that was years ago, post Brexit I shudder to think how much they will be. And they weren't even made from any new fangled unobtani-expensivium materials.

And some other useful info and history on this. https://www.velonews.com/2016/05/bi...-faq-finding-campy-friendly-chainrings_405206

 

[woodbutcher]

TA cranks like that went out of fashion a bit in the 70's as Campag and copies took over. However they were used by TT bods as they were light and also by tourists as you could get small chainrings and run a triple.

Right in that case l will hang on to them for the time being in case l get the urge to find a nice 70's frame to play with !

 

[Nick Saddlesore]

TA cranksets of this type, similar to Stronglight 49D, are sought after for retro builds, and because of the small BCD. They are prone to failure as they get brittle with age, and early Alu was not as good as now. Be aware that the threading is a different pitch to all others, so require a specific TA extractor - not a Stronglight extractor which is different again (usually available on eBay). New TA components are distributed by Chicken Cycles. TA is still independent, not part of Stronglight.