I am looking at a set of Sugino Super Mighty three piece cranks. I understand they are for road bikes, but will they work on a BMX bottom bracket?
Any idea when these were made? I have been trying to locate a gold set of three piece cranks appropriate for my GJS restoration, and these have the look I want.

Steve,

Super Mighty Cranks are from the mid 1970s and came before the Mighty Compe Cranks. I don't think you'll find them in any color but Clear over aluminum. They were 144 BCD and use Mighty Compe, Campagnolo and other 144 BCD chainrings. They use a standard square taper spindle.

I have had a few sets of them in the recent past.

I've always thought they were the coolest looking of the Sugino cranks. They'd look rad in gold.

JP

Why not just get Super Maxy cranks? They look almost the same, and they are available in colors

I'd go with super maxy cranks, but have had no luck in the past year finding an nos set in gold.

Because the Maxie cranks have a swedged spider and the Mightys are forged as one piece with the right arm mucho better

The Mighty Compes you could get with 110 BC. I had a set

I like the Mightys better I reckon - more Campy-looking with the 110 chainring.

Mightys have a 144 BCD

uh yeah - what he said

These mighty compes were 110 BCD

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p288/cheezno6/pxa1.jpg

okay...i am ignorant.
What is BCD?

Bolt Circle Diameter

Tange/Tioga cranks tended to be 144 - Tourney, one-piece, Ultra Dyno, etc. and Shimano - DX, 600EX...

Suginos mostly 110 - Super Maxy, Maxy Cross, 400 series, one-pieces.

Pretty much fixed depending on what brand you bought.
ie. Sugino change rings will not fit most Takagi cranks and vice versa - hence the 'powerdisc' was born with both size holes for any brand chain ring.

Profile is actaully one of the only crank mfgs who offered both size spiders at the time.
Seems most people have the 110 versions though.

Man, and your a car guy too, tisk, tisk

Old Campagnolo, Zeus, Old Suntour Superbe, Galli, OMAS, Old Mavic, Ofmega, etc=144 BCD

Most Shimano "road racing" and BMX stuff=135 BCD

Anything "Touring" by Sugino or Sugino derived BMX=110 BCD

There is an amazing collection of incorrect information in this thread

I will share what I know to be fact, which will perhaps be helpful:

1. "Most Shimano "road racing" and BMX stuff=135 BCD" - this is wrong, perhaps just a typo - I think the author meant to say 130mm BCD. 135mm BCD is current Campy stuff (verified in this chart: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_bo-z.html#bcd)
2. Super Mighty cranks definitely came in anodized colors red (I have a drive side arm), blue (I have a drive side arm), gold (there is a set for sale on Museum right now), and silver (seen in this thread). There are also a few pictures online showing them in silver with the recessed area and the crown logo in black.
3. Super Mighty's are not JIS - which is the most common square taper spindle standard (All Shimano and Takagi stuff is JIS and most Sugino stuff is). They are ISO, which is used by Campy. That being the case, you'll have a hard time finding a bottom bracket/spindle that is both ISO and will work with an American bottom bracket. JIS square taper American bottom bracket conversion kits are readily available (YST still makes them in sealed and loose ball versions). I've never seen one with an ISO spindle. You can find the ISO spindle in a Euro BB... although width may be an issue.
4. As stated, the chainring interface is 144mm bcd... which is not very common and although a chainring in 144mm bcd can be physically made as small as 41T, you're typically going to find them in 42T and 53T as that was what was run commonly as doubles on this crank. You can new production ones, but they're expensive and won't look old school ($40 and up) and originals go for over $100.. just for the chainring.

It's just my opinion, but it's not a great choice for a BMX build for all these reasons....

I worked at a Pro Shop that sold Road Bike and Bmx stuff in the late 70's-early 80's. The roadies that worked there gave me a lot of exotic Road Bike gear they had laying around, most of this Road gear was just anodized later on and sold as BMX gear in magazines. I ran a set of 170mm Sugino Super Mighty cranks, Stronglights and Campy Nuovo cranks on 79-81 on a Patterson Avalanche and they worked great with a Phil Wood small BB square spindle and a Cook Bros large BB square spindle on an 1980 Robinson Pro. Most racers back then didn't comb through magazines to see what was factory equipped or "era appropriate" on a Bmx racebike so it gave you a lot of options and advantages to build ultra light race equipment. A GJS frameset showing up at the track would have had all of this road gear around that time because an OMAS headset was way lighter, smoother and considered cooler than a generic Bmx magazine promoted Tange headset.

I bent a Cook Bros b.b. spindle jumping but never bent Super Mighty cranks. FWIW I'd go with the Super Mighty's if you get a chance, they are just as strong as Campy's but cheaper to find (their made in Japan not Italy). BTW..Super Maxy's will flex and bend easier, I went through a lot of those back in the day.

Um - just to add

Road and track equipment though similar in look, was technically quite different. ISO and JIS are only technically different - they all fit if just for build sake but the for use if not properly designated and assembled can eventually lead to damaged or used up useless equipment ... One is a tapered square the other is just square - the just square type is the ISO version meant for track once installed are harder to adjust as not meant to be adjusted all that much - JIS is tapered and meant for road style bikes that may need more adjusting and fine tuning because of multiples speed and gearing - they each fit the other but since one is tapered inside the crank arm and one isn't - it can either stretch one out or not fully catch on the other and also lead to killing the arm.

Mighty - I never seen in color I have seen 110 and 144 bcd
Super Mighty I have seen in colors but only 110
Super well we all know they came in colors but again only ever seen 110

Neat that this thread still lives and breathes.
I did buy those gold super mighty cranks, and they are mounted to a bullseye bb on my GJS.

Funny once again this tread has proven there does not appear to be any absolutes to bike parts either