Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
  • Truvativ Holzfeller Chainset DH Double & Bash
  • grimupnorth
    Free Member

    evenin all,

    looking for some info on the above chainset & bash if possible.

    anyone got one? how does it perform?

    CRC have got them on offer for £70-£80…..good deal if you ask me, but is it older stock they are trying to shift….or am I being a cynic? 😉

    also anyone know how the truvativ compares against the SLX double & bash??

    any info gratefully received.

    cheers 🙂

    messiah
    Free Member

    Nice crank… shame about the unique and heavy Howitzer bottom bracket… not a bargain at that price, cheaper on eBay if you must. SLX is so hard to beat.

    Macavity
    Free Member

    Truvativ cannot make a decent bottom bracket, their GXP, Powerspline etc are all shockingly poor.

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    BenjiM
    Full Member

    I’d stick with SLX. The crank arms never seem to want to stay on and the BB weighs a ton and is expensive (40 quid). My BB disintegrated on a ride a couple of weeks ago and I weighed up the option of getting a new BB and having the same happen again or buy SLX. Managed to pick up a barely used SLX triple for 63 quid with a new 44t ring (so I could replace my knackered one on my full susser) on ebay, including BB. There aren’t many options otherwise for Howitzer Bottom Brackets.

    Edit: I’d only had about 5 or 6 rides on that BB.

    julianwilson
    Free Member

    Truvativ cannot make a decent bottom bracket, their GXP, Powerspline etc are all shockingly poor.

    Yes, howitzer bb is huuuugely heavy and ties you into one standard. However in the 2 years I had mine it was super smooth and I found it far better sealed than shimano ones, in fact when I sold it the other day after 2 years, it still had the original blue grease, clean and no dirt between outer seals and cartridge bearings. Looking at the cups, when the bearings do eventually go (and mine lasted better than any other external bb I’ve ever had. Perhaps i was lucky?) you couldn’t replace just the cartridge bearings much as many of us do with shimano bb’s.

    But at that weight even the crc price seems like you could do a lot better elsewhere. I swapped my howitzer cranks out for xt ‘cos I am just not rad enough and I saved at least a pound in weight….

    messiah
    Free Member

    Truvativ spec their own bearings which are non industry standard sizes; therefore when a BB dies it’s for the bin… and unfortunately Truvativ BB’s tend to die an early death. The Howitzer system must surely be on borrowed time… why they persevere with it when everyone else has run a mile from ISIS and gone two piece is a mystery to me; especially when they have the GXP on the Stylo and Noir. I think the GXP is a good system and does away with the loading issues of Shimano (etc) and the dodgy RaceFace system… at least with the GXP WHEN it dies you can use a Hope Bottom Bracket (if you believe in them 🙄 ).

    If your determined not to go SLX you could look at the Stylo double and bash – but the ring sizes are poor and you should add in the cost of a new bottom bracket shortly… it’s simply not worth it when SLX is that good.

    FSA Afterburner or Gravity Lite are better alternatives to SLX than any Truvativ option – but good luck finding either of them cheap enough to make them a viable alternative.

    spoon
    Free Member

    I have a BB and crankset sitting under my bed, its weighs more than my entire bike I think.. its crazy heavy…

    Is that constructive ?

    julianwilson
    Free Member

    Truvativ spec their own bearings which are non industry standard sizes

    [devil’s advocate] I have some very much industry standard (actually, never looked anywhere other than BETD so not so sure about ‘standard’, but nevertheless affordable and available) enduro bearings pressed into my dead GXP cups and they are ace, well sealed, long lasting, and £20 a pop to replace if you can be bothered to press old ones out and new ones in. ….Or you can spend 2-3 times as much for a hope one.[/devil’s advocate]

    Never looked at the sizes/numbers of my howitzer’s bearings, mind…

    And yes, get slx or xt and you’ll be reet. Or even better and cheaper, try finding on classified/ebay some of the old hones on with the steel pedal insert (they have a bulge at the pedal thread which the normal ones don’t have, if the seller doesn’t know)

    grimupnorth
    Free Member

    mmmm this is all food for thought!

    one fly in the ointment for me with SLX is the chainline.

    according to the manual for my cannodale gemini I require 50mm. The truvativ setup I was asking about had a 51mm chainline which is workable for me. However on looking at the shimano site this morning, the chainline for an SLX double & bash (FC-M665) appears to be 46.8!!!!

    not sure if this is actually a go’er for me, going to nip in past my LBS and ask directly if SLX is good for me.

    will report back later on 😉

    julianwilson
    Free Member

    Is the gemini definitely 68/73mm bb shell? Is it possible that the 50mm chainline could be because of 83mm bb shell?

    [edit] oh, that was the other silver lining to the heavy cloud of howitzer: they do bb’s in all sorts of permutations of bb sizes and chainlines/spindle widths without having to change the whole crank. I bet its cheaper both for the manufacturer and the serial frame-swapper…

    grimupnorth
    Free Member

    yep! that’s a deff 68mm on the b/b (going by the cannondale manual & my dodgy measuring skills)

    will see what the guys in my LBS say, heading slightly towards SLX now….but as I say not 100% sure if it’s a go’er for me.

    GW
    Free Member

    if you are considering Holzfeller you probably aren’t tool fussed about weight so if you want bombproof cranks I’d just get some s/h old saints.
    They come in a double ad can def be set up with 50mm chainline too.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    If you want something cheaper than the SLX, I have a new Deore double and bash (170mm arms) I need to sell, email in profile.

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

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