To All:
Holy Cow! I recently got back from vacation and have noted that apparently there is a post-millenial Zeus 'Anschluss' in progress - there's been tons of stuff on Ebay and elsewhere lately and I've been going nuts! There is no more room in my garage! There is no more money in my pocket!
REGARDING IDENTIFICATION OF ZEUS CRANKS: From about '74 to '79, all Zeus crankarms have the same shape. If you check the Zeus parts page on 'le Rendezvous', the photo of the crank with the reddish background (below the photo of the hubs) is from the 1977 Zeus 103 catalog and although this photo particularly depicts the 2000 model, it shows the generic topology.
Starting with this image, you get yourself a Criterium crank by deleting the slots in the arms, the holes in the rings, and the black coating on the chainring bolts. From there, you get you a Gran Sport crank by deleting the milling in the spider arms, using a softer grade of aluminum, and replacing the Zeus-in-an-oval logo with the older Zeus-world logo.
In a manner which mimics Campy, 1977's Gran Sport crank is twins with 1971's Criterium.
There were at least 5 versions of the 2000 crank. The early one (version 1, I don't know when it premiered but It was before I joined the party in '75) had 3 equal-length slots milled all-the-way-through the arms. A later one (v2) had 3 through-slots which tapered in length (shortest one at the pedal end). By '77 (v3), Zeus had stopped putting the slots all the way through, despite the fact that the picture in the 103 catalog still showed them. By '79 the Zeus 104 catalog showed the design pictured in the second crank photo on the Zeus Rendesvous parts page (with the 'sand' colored background - I call this version 5). In this model the rings are beefier, the arms have a different aspect ratio, and look! We've changed the logo again! In '78 there was a hybrid (v4) that had the '79-style rings on the '77-style arms.
Circa '80, there was a 'Supercronos' crank which was the Criterium arms with the 2000 rings. (There was an early Supercronos parts group which was a cocktail of criterium parts mixed with the flashier 2000 derailleurs and chainrings, and the 2001 sidepulls.)
After '80, the criterium crank had the beefier rings mentioned above but without the holes.
Sometime before '86 Zeus changed the arm design to get the 'Aero-look' in the new Supercronos and New Racer (think updated Gran sport) cranks. The aero crank style is shown in the New Racer ad at the bottom of the Zeus Rendesvous parts page. The Supercronos had drilled rings, the New Racer didn't. The Supercronos arms can be distinguished from the New Racer arms by checking out the finish: if it's satiny anodization, it's Supercronos; if it's shiny polished aluminum, it's New Racer.
All the '70's cranks used a 118mm spindle (like stronglight) and to the best of my measurement ability have 119mm chainring bolt circle diameters. I suspect that some people call it 120mm because they distrusted their senses and picked the closest round number. In '79, the titanium in the 2000 BB (and elsewhere in the 2000 series) was replaced with another metal referred to as Titanox, which I can now confirm is magnetic (via testing with 28MGO Samarium Cobalt) and I'll guess that it is some form of stainless steel since it is uncoated.
The later cranks use a 110 spindle with the same 55mm flange spacing and cups as the 70's models.
Brad Stockwell Palo Alto (year 2000 final tally: 6210 bike miles - only about a factor of 3 less than Lance!)
-----Original Message----- From: Harvey M Sachs [mailto:sachs@erols.com] Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2001 6:58 AM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Zeus Crank ID...?
Lads & Lassies -
I'm trying to identify a Zeus Crank set (so I can sell or trade it).
Classic-looking 5-arm, with Zeus-pattern bolt circle
(slightly smaller than
Campy).
Arm looks like Criterium at
http://www.cyclesdeoro.com/
Definitely NOT New Racer chainrings as shown in
http://www.cyclesdeoro.com/
(Gee, thanks, Dale, for the wonderful photo albums that give us reference instead of just trying to drool words).
Harvey Sachs
_______________________________________________
Classicrendezvous mailing list
Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
http://www.bikelist.org/