Crankset Advice

reilig

I'm new enough to cycling, so excuse my ignorance. The right crank started to make a creaking noise when I'd be cycling up a gradient a few weeks back. I removed the bolt cover to find the bolt so loose that i could twist it with my hand. I tightened it up and it continued to loosen a small bit every cycle so put some loctite on the threads and it now holds it in place, but the creaking/knocking continues when i cycle uphill or in a high gear.

I realise that I have made muck of the right crank. There is ample instruction online to show how to remove the cranks. The only information that I'm lacking is how to choose a new chainset.

I have established that the cranks are 175mm. They are square taper. Do I need to count the number of teeth on the two chainsets and then order a chainset with that exact number of teeth? Or will a chainset with a few more teeth or a few less teeth fit it without having to adjust the front deraileur?

If I was to put a compact chainset onto it, would I be able to put it on without having to adjust the front deraileur??

Any help or information would be appreciated or links to cheap chainsets

Thanks

Reilig

Lemag

If you change the front crankset to something which isn't equivalent to what you had then you will need to adjust the FD and probably resize the chain.

studiorat

The chain rings should have how many teeth stamped on them, save you counting.

The FD should only need to be dropped down a little and the end stops adjusted if anything at all. If you can figure out how to get the chain set off you can easily do that.

Chances are you'll need a new bottom bracket as well, which opens up a whole new can of worms since you don't need to limit yourself to a square taper one anymore.