Profile Cranks... through the years.

[ED209]

I was talking to someone about this at MK... how do you tell the era of a Profile crank???
Seems pretty straightforward with Flites as the design changed by the Profiles look pretty similar?

[kuwahero]

The first crank with the lovely pedal from the period is our first generation of cranks. These were made for only a couple of years, from 1980-81 or so. These were the same as the original Hutch cranks, which we also made. These were a box section crank, like the second generation cranks. They were made by folding a plate of CrMo over into the shape of a squared C, and welding a plate on the back at the same time the spindle and pedal bosses. The example I have here of the second generation shows this clearly, since it doesn't have the back or the bosses welded onto it.

The second generation cranks were made from thicker, heavier material, and they had the indentation for the sticker, but they were otherwise similar to the first generation. They were made from about 82-84. While many have fond memories of these cranks, they still weren't all that strong, due to the box-section welded back design. We knew we needed to come up with a new, tubular design.

The third generation Profile cranks looked a lot like the Profile made GT crank pictured here. There was still a square shape towards the spindle boss, but they were made from a CrMo tube, and were so strong that we didn't really mess with the design a whole lot from 1984-5 until around '98 or so, when the current generation of round, tubular cranks with the stamped logo came out. The tubular cranks are made by swaging a CrMo tube into the rough shape of the crankarm, machining out the areas for the spindle, crank bolt, and pedal bosses, welding the bosses into place, and finally powdercoating or chrome plating the arms.



While the shape of our cranks hasn't changed a lot, there have been a lot of small changes to the metal over those years. Our Mini Magnutanium cranks use a very thin walled tubing to produce an incredibly light crankset, one that's also surprisingly strong. Our Flatland crank has a double boss to enable you to run sprockets as small as 18 teeth, and as large as 46 teeth. Our massive SS cranks from the early 2000's grew our cranks as large and as strong as possible, while our DJ arms brought those oversized arms back to a more standard 19mm BB spindle.

But still, our Race crank keeps plugging along. Some years, we make them a bit lighter, some years heavier (the wall thickness is the main determiner of the weight and strength,) but for the most part, the Race cranks remain unchanged. And made in the USA, to boot.

[ED209]

Marc... can you go in a little more depth please mate 

thanks for that bud... so what age were the ones I had from you?

[kuwahero]

  No prob. Got the info from the Profile site, anyway mate. 

They were from last year mate I believe they are classed as around 5th gen

[berndott]

anyone know when the GT stamped version came out?

[Dannywhac]

anyone know when the GT stamped version came out?

Around 1990/1991 ish - think they ran until around 1994.

From memory I think it was around 1995/6 that the rounder sectioned 'Profile' stamped Profiles came out. Also worth noting that the 'Powerlite' stamped profiles came out the same time as the GT stamped ones - although these seemed to run for a lot longer - one of my mates bought a set of the Powerlite one's in 1997 and remember still seeing them in shops in 1998.

Quick edit - also the SS cranks came out 1998 - I got one of the first sets in the UK around September time I think, although the memory's a bit hazy  

[Dannywhac]

anyone know when the GT stamped version came out?

91 to late 1999 as they were stock on the GT TOUR bike that legend Jamie bestwick rode 

So they ran the same length as the Powerlites - ahhhhhhh

[markyp]

i was told that there was actually another set in between the second and third and that most people think they have seconds when they actually have thirds as the differance is tiny

[Mattdub]

i was told that there was actually another set in between the second and third and that most people think they have seconds when they actually have thirds as the differance is tiny

That'll be right , the Profile site info is limited   .

Square box no indent - Gen1
Square box indent - Gen2
Slightly more rounded shape arm with indent - Gen3
Modern design even more rounded with no Profile writing & GT version .
Modern design with Profile writing .

Think that's roughly it , Gen 2 & 3 mixed up often .

[(((sonic)))]

2nd Gens.



3rd Gens



The 2nd Gens as stated above are a "box' crank with the much more common 3rd Gens much more rounded, the 2nds are chunky!

B

[Mattdub]

2nd Gens.



3rd Gens



The 2nd Gens as stated above are a "box' crank with the much more common 3rd Gens much more rounded, the 2nds are chunky!

B

We needed pre warning regarding sunglasses required ! 

[HUTCHMAN]

as far as i understood,there are two gen 3's.gen 3a had the crank length hand engraved,gen 3b the length was stamped.

[(((sonic)))]

as far as i understood,there are two gen 3's.gen 3a had the crank length hand engraved,gen 3b the length was stamped.

True, the later 3rd Gens were stamped  with the length not engraved.

B