Santa Cruz based company, Praxis Works, has been offering drivetrain alternatives to the Big S’s for a number of years now, having become well known for their cold-forged chainrings and slick bottom bracket solutions. Since their inception, the company has expanded its range to include cranksets, and more recently mountain bike wheels.
Not long ago, we reviewed the Turn Girder M30 crankset. It’s Praxis Works premium alloy crankset, and it earned praise for its bomproof construction and innovative M30 thread-together bottom bracket. Thankfully however, Praxis Works will be ditching the Turn name, and all future cranksets will simply be branded as Praxis Works. In addition to new models, they’ll also be updating the Girder M30 crankset, and we managed to get a good look at a working prototype during the 2016 Eurobike show.
During Eurobike 2016, Praxis Works were showing off the new version of the Girder M30 crankset. It will no longer will it be labelled under the ‘Turn’ label, instead being branded as Praxis Works just like the chainrings and bottom brackets.The new Girder M30 crank will follow in the footsteps of the Cadet M30 crank. That sees it using a spiderless design with a direct-mount chainring style. This offers a cleaner and lighter setup and the ability to fit smaller chainrings without need to worry about the limitations imposed by a 104 BCD four-arm spider.Also spotted on the new Girder M30 prototype crank was Praxis Works new 1x specific chainring. Utilising MRP’s “Wave” tooth design, this chainring is not narrow-wide like Praxis Works previous 1x chainrings. We suspect that’s got something to do with SRAM cracking down on their X-Sync narrow-wide patent.Wave Technology doesn’t use thick-thin teeth, but instead it uses teeth that alternate between sitting to the left, then to the right. The idea is for the teeth to grab the inside of the chain links and hold onto them nice and tight.This photo was about as good as we could get from the Wave chainring design. Look closely, and you’ll see how each tooth sits to the left or right.So the Girder M30 crankset still uses hollow forged alloy crankarms, but they’ve been smoothed off significantly compared to the outgoing model. The result is a much sleeker shape that just looks lighter. Because they’re prototypes however, we still don’t have an expected weight on the new Girder M30.So that’s what’s on the inside! Cutaway of a Praxis hollow forged alloy crank that shows you the hollow chamber inside. The idea here is to remove material, but end up with a stiffer construction overall. In general, the more surface area you have, the stiffer the crank arm can be.Now this is a crank that is currently available: the Cadet M30. Introduced as a cheaper alternative to the Girder M30, the Cadet is also made from alloy and offers both 1x chainring options with its direct-mount design, though there’s also a 2x option available (see below). In fact, the Cadet’s sleek aesthetic is what has inspired the shape and function of the new Girder M30 prototype.But rather than hollow crank arms, the Cadet M30 features solid forged crank arms. That means its heavier, with the complete crankset including a 30t direct-mount chainring coming in at a claimed 640 grams. Looking for a wider gear range? Then you can get the Cadet M30 crank in a double option too. Like the Girder, it also uses Praxis’ own 30mm spindle (not BB30, but still a 30mm diameter), that is designed to work with their own M30 bottom bracket. You can get the Praxis M30 bottom bracket to fit a variety of different frames, including PF30 shells and traditional threaded shells too.Praxis Works also had its long-awaited carbon fibre crankset on display, called the Lyft. We’ve covered off the Lyft crank before, but the only news we have here is that refinements are still being made before final production begins. Praxis Works were keen to stipulate that they want to be VERY sure it’s ready before signing off on the design. They don’t mind if they miss sales in the meantime, they just want to ensure they can release the best carbon crank they can.Carbon fibre crank arms help to lower weight over the Cadet and Girder cranksets. Claimed weight with a 30t chainring? Just 454 grams, putting the Lyft within spitting distance of the new Race Face Next SL Crank. However, Praxis Works achieve this weight with a much cheaper chainring than Race Face’s hybrid carbon/alloy chainring.We’ve also covered off Praxis Works mountain bike wheels before, but they still look neat, so we took photos anyway. So there.There’ll be an alloy Praxis Works wheelset offered with a 24mm internal rim width, and a lighter carbon wheelset that features a 32mm internal rim width. Head over here to read our Sea Otter article with info about the new Praxis Works wheel range.
