Remember these? Sweet Wings

As you probably know from a fairly recent post, I have been digging through some of the stuff in my bike room lately. Last night, I came across my old Sweet Parts catalog from the mid nineties. Man, I absolutely loved those Sweet Wings cranks when they first came out, which probably explains why I still have the 12+ year old catalog. At the time, I thought that the triangulated truss spider was the greatest thing since sliced bread. These cranks, along with the Alex Pong designed Magic motorcycle cranks from roughly the same era (scroll down a little to see them), were way ahead of their time. There were quite a few CNC aluminum cranks on the market in the mid nineties (I had Cook Bros on my mountain bike), but hollow crank arms were not at all common. The later Cannondale Hollogram and Shimano Hollowtech cranksets can trace their design origins back to the Magic and Sweet designs. The Sweet Wings system (cranks and bottom bracket) weighed just over 500 grams. The large diameter, hollow tubular bottom bracket spindle that was integrated with the left crankarm was incredibly innovative at the time. If you don’t remember Sweet Wings, take a closer look at the inside of the catalog. It is amazing how similar some of the design elements are to the cranksets that we are used to today. To quote Mountain Bike magazine’s review at the time, these really were the “world’s sweetest crank” in the nineties.

Speaking of nice looking cranks, Go Clipless posted some pictures of the new Crank Brothers components including a single speed crankset. I generally like the design of Crank Brother’s products, so I am happy to see them expand their product line. The new products all look very clean with nice attention to detail. I can’t wait to see this stuff in person.


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9 responses to “Remember these? Sweet Wings”

  1. bikesgonewild Avatar
    bikesgonewild

    …if i recall…’sweet wings’…hollow welded ti crankarms w/ waterjet cut spider…

  2. bikesgonewild Avatar
    bikesgonewild

    …my mistake, just now clicked on brochure & realize, ‘steel’…always thought they wuz ti…

  3. Jim E. in Colorado Avatar
    Jim E. in Colorado

    They did make a few in Ti but were never advertised. Kind of defeated the purpose as they were flexy compared to the steel versions. I am still running Sweet Wings on both MTB and Road. Too bad someone doesn’t buy the design and start making these again in compact. The only design upgrade they needed was a locking nut on the main anchor bolt that held the two halves together. Campy Ultra Torque half shafts look like they took a lot of inspiration from Sweet Wings.

  4. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I still have a pair. Broke left arm inside the BB jumping, it was replaced around 2000, well after they stopped making them. The guy is still around, I agree it would be cool if they made them again, but they would need to be beefed up.

  5. julia vandenoever Avatar
    julia vandenoever

    I have a pair of sweet wings on my salsa mtn bike which are great, and I recently lost the bolt to the crank. anyone have an idea how I can get a new bolt, or one that would work??

  6. Michiel Eldering Avatar
    Michiel Eldering

    in commend of Julia’s qustion:

    You can to a metalworkshop and let it made…

    I broke one day a stud of my yo eddyfork and a guy just made a coppy….

    gr,

    Michiel Eldering

  7. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I still riding a set on my road bike. I just bought a Sram compact crank to replace them now that I’m too old to push big gears. The Wings still look Sweet and they are of course for sale.

  8. congopowers Avatar
    congopowers

    I’ve got a set that have been in constant use for over ten years, lost the bb bolt but it was easily replaced at a hardware store. Now the bearing seal looks like it failed. Anyone know if this is repairable?

  9. Offended yet? Avatar
    Offended yet?

    I too loved the Sweet's design and wish someone would but the design to continue making them.

    I was so excited to see the original paperwork for them. Very Cool.

    With that said, I am in serious need of a set with the 73mm bottom bracket. Anyone out there that wants to unload a set, hit me up!

    Cool blog btw.

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