Well I've got to head out the door so I'll make it short: My chainrings up front are shot...I almost pulled the elusive uphill endo while climbing out of the saddle. Anyway, advice? Chain and cassette are fairly new (Feb?) so I'd love to not replace them....is that blasphamy? I'm thinking race face as they have held up great for the past 2 years and probably 1500+ miles. But maybe shitmano... As many of you know I'm in the aggro-xc--perhaps arguablly light all-mountain considering the vast 100 mm of travel I have to work with--category....The "roll" is my signature move but I'm no twinkle-toes. Dude at the bike shop tried to sell me on the Truvativ Holzfeller but I think they are a little more beefy than I would ever need in Cali, let alone NC. Crappy thing is that riding San Juan on Sunday with no middle ring should be pretty interesting....](*,)
I am in the same boat, I have been wanting to replace the cranks on my 5-Spot for awhile. I keep loosing bids on e-bay. I am looking for 5-spider square taper cranks....old XTR's and old Race Face Turbines. Reason is, I want to try a 20/30/42 setup. My current cranks are old XT cranksets and have preformed flawless, after 4 years and thousands of miles I am wearing the crank arms out.
I ran Race Face on my first Turner and they lasted over 5,000 miles. Great rings and cranks from that outfit. I have yet to buy anything from RaceFace that hasn't supassed my expectations. But they still haven't made me any faster.
Since loosing numerious E-Bay bids I am probibly just going to pull the trigger and order a compact square taper set from these guys in Georgia, the only importer of Middleburn cranks in the USA.
Truvativ seems to be the "in" cranks at the moment. I have a set of Stylo GXP's and they have been trouble free. I have heard of people using the same chain rings for a couple of years. That being said, I have nothinig but good look with Shimano XT cranks over the years. The newer ones are kinda pricey, but are in line with everyone else's. I know that the Truvativ's seem to be in short supply locally.
Eco-Stallion - Unless I missed something your cranks are fine. Just buy new chainrings. Check that the bottom bracket spins freely when you have the cranks off and you're good to go. Middle ring should run you about $25, maybe $15 for inner. I have the tools if you need to borrow them tomorrow in between your packing duties. If you decide to just ride in your granny Sunday, let me know and I'll bring the tools to the ride. Here's a link to show you what's involved in pulling the cranks. http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=120 Buy me a beer and I'll screw up your bike for you. C
Good point Craigger...and thanks for the advice guys! On one hand, what a better excuse to upgrade my entire crankset/BB...on the other hand, a $75 chainring set from Jenson (I'll call around OC tomorrow) sounds much better than dropping close to 3 bills. And really, the cranks and BB still seem to be going strong. I'm not sure what the diff is between the "Race Face Race Rings" at ~$80 and the "Race Face Team Ring Set" at $75.... I have a feeling that San Juan will be a granny adventure so bring your tool big daddy! Once I get the parts I'll gladly donate a sixer of some fine brew for your help.
Craig is right about replacing the rings. I have the cheaper LX rings on my XT cranks because the LX rings are made of steel rather than aluminum. I wear the aluminum rings out too fast.
I have Race Face Deus crankset. They're made in BC eh! To be honest they tend to creak if you don't have them extremely tight. Maybe that's with all cranks, but I don't beleive I'm the only one with these cranks that have creaking issues. My other Truvativ's did not do this.
Two sets of Deus cranks for me with no creaks. You're right about getting them tight. They have to be torqued until the bolt won't turn anymore or there could be problems. I've had mine off and on a few times and I swear I'm going to strip the threads off the bolt everytime I tighten them. C
Well if I did decide to go with new cranks it is good to hear that those Race Face Deus work well for you guys. The website says "specifically designed for XC racing". ...if they can handle the sh!t you throw at them, they can handle my riding, no prob. Still, I'm going to look for rings first.
Call some of the local shops for rings, last one I bought was a middle LX ring for $16 at Rainbow Bike here in Laguna.
