Ritchey WCS Compact 50/34 Road Crankset
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| Weight: | 868 grams |
| Price: | $150 |
The Ritchey WCS 50/34 compact is a reasonably priced, cold-forged aluminum crankset that’s compatible with Octalink bottom brackets. A silver finish with subtle Ritchey graphics make for an attractive, if somewhat bland looking, design. Weight is average and users report average stiffness.
The Ritchey WCS compact crankset is no longer available from Ritchey, probably due to a voluntary recall. However, you can still find this crankset for sale online, so beware of the risks if you decide to purchase. There have been several reports of complete crank-arm breaks on the non-drive side crank arm. Ritchey offers more recall details on their site. This is a very serious and dangerous issue if it were to happen while riding at speed or sprinting aggressively.
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 NOS Ritchey Road Logic Double Crankset with NOS Ritchey Bottom Bracket  US $199.00
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 NOS Ritchey Logic Road Bike Crankset 175mm 53 38 US $185.00
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 RITCHEY WCS Compact Crankset 175mm 50 34 Octalink 110 BCD Road or Cyclocross US $84.99
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 RITCHEY WCS CRANKSET 34 50 1725MM W SHIMANO CHAINRINGS 5500 105 OCTALINK BB US $49.00
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You can probably get a screaming deal on one of these and it might be an ok choice for a beater bike, but if you’re looking for an affordable, reliable compact crankset, I’d suggest SRAM Rival or one of the Shimano non-series cranksets like the R600, R700.
Please note everyone: the recall only applied to the model with the silvery machined surface finish. The all black model was not faulty. I use the WCS Road and Pro CX cranks on my singlespeed mountain bike and cyclocross bike respectively for commuting, trail riding and touring and they are very good cranks. Absolutely no complaints here.