Yo chaps.

I’m after a new chainset – currently using SLX

Not bothered about weight per se .. I don’t want to go much heavier .. but I want a proper increase in stiffness – I doubt XT will be much of a jump ..

Any suggestions for good stiff cranks? .. Under 200 notes if poss.

cheers

stiffer ?

can you actually detect flex in your current cranks ?

I have some saint cranks – not so heavy and I’m sure ded stiff. I got em a) on sale, b) to last, c) with pedal inserts, and d) because I wanted 165 arms for a low bb frame

I can’t pretend that they feel different at all

Wtf? I’ve never noticed a crank flex in my life. Why would need a stiffer one even if it did flex slightly?

saints are the obvious choice
can’t imagine there’s much stiffer out there

Do they need to be single or multiple ring compatible?

I thought SLX were stiffer than XT, XTs were just lighter.

I immediately detect flex with my slx. I generally find mtb cranks quite flexy.

Saints are the obvious choice if you have double, BMX cranks such as primo powerbites or odyssey twombolts for single ring use.

What absolute bollocks, as if you can detect flex

glenh – Member

Wtf? I’ve never noticed a crank flex in my life. Why would need a stiffer one even if it did flex slightly? Good for you.
I do.. so even for XC I use Saints and wouldn’t really want to sacrifice stiffness for a lighter crank.

cruzheckler – Member

What absolute bollocks, as if you can detect flex 🙄

Oops, didn’t mean to open a can of worms here!

I don’t ‘feel’ cranks flexing personally .. but I certainly can feel the extra drive that a stiffer pair of cranks provides.

I only need a single ring.

don’t fancy anything that widens the Q factor like bmx stuff

How do people find the DEUS cranks from raceface?

I certainly can feel the extra drive that a stiffer pair of cranks provides

In a double blind test on identical frames? 🙄

In a double blind test on identical frames?

I don’t know if I could be bothered p*ssing about with “tests” but I have changed cranks on a bike before and noticed a definite difference

I ride a lot of single-speed so it’s more obvious than if I was twaddling up hills in a granny ring 😉

I have changed cranks on a bike before and noticed a definite difference

I’m sure you have. I’m just not so sure it was a real difference due to the cranks actually being significantly stiffer (and even less sure that it makes the least bit of difference to how fast you go).

Im with Nixon here, can definitely feel a more direct power transfer with certain cranks, worst pair i ever had were the old Shimano Hones which you could feel flexing. XTR always give decent weight/stiffness but if your on a bit less than XTR budget the RF Atlas is a pretty decent option. Deus is tough for an XC crank but if your noticing it on SLXs then the Atlas will be a better bet.

aracer, I don’t think there’s much difference on the flat .. but I like to sprint up hills and when I’m out of the saddle ‘giving it some’ I can feel the difference.

On my CX bike I was running 1×10 with a 40t ring … which was pretty spinny – I changed chainsets and moved down to a 39t ring – (cos that’s what the new one’s came with) .. To my dismay it was a fair bit harder to push a 39 than it was to push a 40 with the older cranks! Seemed pretty conclusive to me.

I used to have some Carbon FSA cranks that also transformed my last bike.

If ur using the crank with a single ring set-up then its got to be saint .. I’ve had plenty of cranks in my time and nothing compares to the Saint .. Perfection.

Deus are alright but SLX are stiffer IMO.

XTR are stiffest Shimano cranks I’ve used; Saint would be a cheaper, but heavier, alternative.

Thanks for the tips chaps. I wonder if I can find an m970 on close-out .. hmm.

Although they made the saints lighter didn’t they? the m810 looks beefy enough!

According to a test done the back end of last year in a different mtb mag (gasp!), the Race Face SIXC was the stiffest in that it had the least amout of flex of 18 crancks tested. They set up a jig involving the same old hard tail with a chain bolted to the right rear drop out and using a load dail and a given waight did the test 3 times and took the average of the flex. The FSA K Force came in second with a reading of 0.7366mm compared to the RF SIXC 0.7112mm of deflection. Both cost more than £500 though.
The RF Deus SL Ltd edition was tested which has a titanium BB axel, it came in 5th but they said the non ti XC version was stiffer but not as light. They didnt put results in! Good luck.

the m810s were 150g lighter than older version apparently which puts them at about 900g with bb and bashguard according to weight weenies

rf deus are stif in my experience but not much more if any than slx…you sure its crank flex you can feel and not frame flex?? what frame are you on…big bloke?

I swapped my shimano slx out for some race face sixc cranks and can feel the difference… saying that the saints on my dh bike feel just as stiff and are half the cost. 300g heavier then just the single ring six c. should be some good deals around