I recently bought a 2018 Whyte Friston.

It came with the new Sram Apex 1 Chainset that is so ugly it sets my teeth on edge.

So, I would like to replace it with something a little nicer and better looking.

I am looking for a 68mm GXP compatible chainset that can take a 42t Narrow Wide ring. Carbon would be nice.

All advice gratefully received

Throw away the bb as well and buy something you find suitably appealing from shimano would be my recommendation.

If you want to keep the BB, then something like Sram Rival 1 or Force 1 would fit.

But, if you are spending the money on a new crank a new BB isn’t that much more money so as suggested above, just find one you like & get a new BB if needed.

Do you have a budget?

I don’t really have a budget, I just really dislike the Apex chainset.

So, If I swap to a Shimano 68mm Hollowtech BB I could run XT/XTR/Dura Ace cranks with an aftermarket 42t N/W Ring?

Ah. It’s never quite that simple….

68mm refers to the shell width. From memory, road is 68mm wide & mtb is 73mm wide.

So, you can swap to a Hollowtech II BB, but you would then have to go for a Shimano road crank; Sora, Tiagra, 105 etc. None of which appear to be single ring.

Or you might be able to run an mtb crank with spacers, but not sure how that would affect your chainline…it would push the chainring 2.5mm further out. I don’t have any experience with single rind stuff, so don’t know if that is an issue or not.

It’s never simple, is it? Maybe there’s a reason that all single ring road bikes (gravel/adventure/gnarmac…whatever they are called these days) seem to be fitted with SRAM….

I have converted Ultegra and 105 Cranks to Single Ring before.

So maybe I need to go Sram Force CX OR Dura Ace

Second hand SRAM Red 10 speed; cheap/light/looks nicer than the Shimano offerings/takes normal five bolt chainrings which are always dirt cheap.

Get a Hope BB for it.

I am gonna go SRAM Force 1 Carbon

Thanks for your advice guys

James