At the point where I have to make a choice between these two cranksets
Which is better?
Cheers
Ken
Raceface bottom brackets are known to not last all that long, maybe that has been addressed for the newer sets.
Shimano SLX is much cheaper (still £100 on some sites) and gets a pretty good rep from most mags and users. Use SLX myself and it's taken plenty of abuse since I bought it.
SLX is £89.95 from Merlin - sorely tempted myself.
That is cheap, it cost me £99.99 and that was before all the prices went up, if I had cash i'd buy another set for my spare bike, total bargain for that price.
SLX all the way - you will get a better BB from Shimano than RF and when it expires just get a Hope - I always found RF cranks more fiddly to adjust too
How about one of these?
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=41358
Ive got one and so far it seems good.
I'd have RF cranks over shimano, and I'd have a shimano bb over RF. That's useful I guess.
a bashguard is only £4 so why ae you limiting your decision between just these 2 chainsets?
you'd need to get a new middle ring as well, triples tend to come with with a 32 and the SLX comes with a 36
I've the SLX. I've clipped enough rocks to leave the pedals pretty mangled but the cranks are still spot-on. They have a stiffer axle/spindle/whatever than the SLX triples. You can buy a nice Gamut bashguard and stick it on there for a total of £120 quid or so, which is pretty good value.
After owning a Race Face crank, I'd never have another. Play developed in the spline interface after 18 months, I have a set of cranks good only for the skip.
SLX all the way.
AFAIK, the Shimano sets are 22/36. Is that going to suit the riding you do ? You might find that 32 or 34 rings are better suited and as stated above, just buy a ring and make your own set up.