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DMR have released the perfect MTB crank and it's under £70!

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[#13536443]

IMO of course 😉 

9b5cac6b_dmr-sect-aluminium-mountain-biking-cranks---165mm---silver_1000x1000.png

DMR sect crank, 165 or 170 mm length - on trend lengths (though maybe a 160 would be cool).

Between £65 and £70 online.

Black and Silver (silver's best as it negates heel rub)

Shimano style preload and crank fitting - so pretty bombproof.

24mm spindle, so it fits Shimano BBs (and many others).

3 bolt SRAM ring fitting, so loads of options for rings.

Adjustable chainline with a spacer behind the ring (and comes with 2 lengths of bolts). You can also adjust chainline with different offset rings, so you have multiple options.

I struggled with chainline on my Moxie as my rear wheel is a Hope pro4 with boost conversion, so the cassette is still non-boost spacing.

.

Fitted in literally 10 minutes, and 2 rides in they feel absolutely bombproof, with the perfect chainline. Well done DMR 👍


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 11:19 am
nicko74, Tom83, tall_martin and 2 people reacted
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Looks pretty good. Might be a good option for superboost too.


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 11:32 am
 PJay
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Looks interesting although the arms look forged (their Axe crank has some snazzy hollow form type manufacturing).

As someone who's never gone down the single ring route it's nice to see that they do a 2x spider now if only they'd add one for triples!


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 11:32 am
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Looks interesting although the arms look forged (their Axe crank has some snazzy hollow form type manufacturing).

Yeah they're forged - hollowed out the back with X/cross bracing. Slightly heavier than hollowtech type cranks, but just as strong.

The Axe crank uses an annoying proprietary BB that only Praxis make, so that's out.


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 11:38 am
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I’ve been looking at this for a while (happen to have ring and bb to fit). What’s the silver finish like? Paint or metal?


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 11:52 am
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@kelvin slightly rough/matte finish. Looks anodised rather than painted.

Internet says....

Sleek shot-peened texture designed to resist regular wear and tear. Anodised in either classic black or bright silver.


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 11:58 am
kelvin reacted
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Sounds worth a try. 


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 12:09 pm
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Been thinking about getting some of these as I want to try some shorter cranks and the silver looks cooler than the new 165mm Deore chainset 🙂 I don't really know anything about current drivetrain standards though, can the SRAM-fit chainrings be used with an 11spd Shimano Deore drivetrain?


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 12:36 pm
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£90 list price.  I assume no ring.  

Still look like a great product / deal though.  


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 12:39 pm
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Mine’s an 11 speed SRAM ring I was using with 10/11 speed. Hope make a 3 bolt ring that works with just about everything. 


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 12:48 pm
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can the SRAM-fit chainrings be used with an 11spd Shimano Deore drivetrain?

I'd expect so.  It's just the way the ring mounts to the crank.  

I think it's SRAM type as they use a splined bit on the axle of the crank that the ring slides over and is then held in place by three bolts that just hold it tight.  

There's lots of stuff about "this tooth profile etc for this system" but I've got 12 speed GRX ring on an 11 speed SRAM setup, all manner of different chains and aftermarket rings and cassettes on 9-11 speed and they all seem pretty forgiving.  

I don't know if 12/13 speed and CUES (which seems to have some special compatibility issues) is more prickly.  


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 12:52 pm
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 I don't really know anything about current drivetrain standards though, can the SRAM-fit chainrings be used with an 11spd Shimano Deore drivetrain?

I'm using an 11 spd Sram x-sync steel ring (should last well) with a Shimano XT/Deore 11 spd drivetrain Think it was about £15.

£90 list price. I assume no ring.  

Yeah no ring. They can be had for cheap though. A lot of places selling for at least £20 under RRP. I bought for £65.99 from Triton with free postage.


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 12:58 pm
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I think they include spare hardware so that you can adapt them between boost and nonboost BB shells too, lovely touch at this price. 

I bet 20 scottish pence that the anodising wears off fast but since that happens with cranks costing 5 times as much, who actually cares? If they did a 155 I'd order one right now just to try.


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 3:18 pm
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Look like they’re from Samox or ProWheel. Their stuff is ok.


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 4:21 pm
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That’s a useful product. My monster cross isn’t boost but it has boost cranks. It’s ok as it’s the slightly narrower standard. But it’s useful to have a non boost option


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 5:24 pm
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Posted by: sillyoldman

Look like they’re from Samox or ProWheel. Their stuff is ok.

My Stage Evo came with a Samox crank that looks suspiciously like this. It was fine - worked ok for the two rides I used it on. But I chose to swap out for a nearly new SLX I had and pop the Samox onto old bike I sold. I am a big lad, but the SLX is stiffer and noticeably lighter.

 


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 6:03 pm
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As a Shimano over SRAM user for most things, I'm not a huge fan of their crank fitment (as used on these) - they are the only cranks I've ever had come off mid ride. User error maybe, but have had them come loose twice and I'm not mechanically backwards when it comes to bikes


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 6:37 pm
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That’s definitely user error.

 

Embarrassingly had that happen once. Entirely my fault, and the embarrassment came from me being a Shimano Sales Rep at the time….


 
Posted : 26/07/2026 7:36 pm
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Timely thread as I had a Deore crank fall off mid ride yesterday.

No idea why, it was last used on a 3 day Peak trip and was absolutely fine.  Preload cap had vanished and splines are knackered.

F manufacturers and their fing stupid fing standards.

I've got an unreasonable amount of spare parts accrued over the last almost 30 years.  Yet somehow no combination of cranks, end caps, chainrings, or the rest of the drivetrain went together.  Why in the eternal fery did they need to create an 8-bolt "direct mount" chainring/spider?  It's not fing direct mount then is it you absolute fwit, you've just taken a 4-bolt design that's been around for decades, and made it fing worse and now a fing Deore chainring is £69.99

On the upside I've got a set of NOS XTR cranks that someone donated to the Bikehub, I can only assume they were a victim of fashion and were convinced by a marketing department somewhere that 2x non-boost chainline was different to 1x boost.  Spoiler alert, it isn't.  Boost = 52mm, non-boost = 50mm, chainring spacing is 5mm, so a non-boost 2x is actually 0.5mm further out.  Add to that a 12s chainring is physically narrower than 10s so the chainline shifts out another ~0.5mm or so again and if anything it's now too wide.

And breathe ............

 

 


 
Posted : 27/07/2026 10:46 am
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Posted by: TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR

As a Shimano over SRAM user for most things, I'm not a huge fan of their crank fitment (as used on these) - they are the only cranks I've ever had come off mid ride. User error maybe, but have had them come loose twice and I'm not mechanically backwards when it comes to bikes

Opposite for me - less trouble with Shimano than anything else both to fit, stay tight, and remove.  Clean, lightly grease, preload with plastic tool, torque up the two bolts a bit at a time and use a torque wrench.  They do say you're supposed to check after a few rides and retorque but I've rarely if ever done that. 

 


 
Posted : 27/07/2026 11:07 am
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That's entertaining, if you self censor with asterixes it assumes you wanted everything between it and the next set of asterixis to be in red and bold.

How quaint and innocent of it.

What's Black, white and red all over?

STW trying to display some censored Rage Against the Machine lyrics.


 
Posted : 27/07/2026 11:33 am
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REad the title "the perfect MTB crank" and thought nah.

Looked at it:

shimano style fitting. Sram chainrings. 165 length

As I'm currently using Saints* on an otherwise sram driven bike, looks like a good replacement - especially if I wanted to try an O-chain. 

*Was an early 165mm adopter, the downhill ones were the only ones I could get. 

 


 
Posted : 27/07/2026 1:14 pm
kelvin reacted
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Long time, trouble free Shimano user 

 

Only cranks I've had come loose whilst riding are RaceFace and SRAM.


 
Posted : 27/07/2026 2:25 pm
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Only cranks I've had come loose whilst riding are RaceFace 

I think they call it a feature 😆


 
Posted : 27/07/2026 2:53 pm
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These might well be on the shortlist if my two current old 104bcd HTII cranksets (XT and Deore) ever give up.


 
Posted : 27/07/2026 5:48 pm
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Yeah I'm not a fan of Shimano cranks either. Also the only brand I've had come off while on a ride.

However, I'm not a fan of SRAM BBs as the bearings fail relatively quickly IME. (I've read this is due to the larger spindle size on SRAM not leaving much room and so the balls are very small)

As such, what would be even better on the dmr cranks is same Shimano standard spindle size, but a SRAM style interface.

(Ps - I don't really mind the high torque you have to put on the SRAM bolt to get them on/off - workshop job with a breaker bar works fine every time for me)


 
Posted : 27/07/2026 6:34 pm
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Posted by: ajantom

Sleek shot-peened texture designed to resist regular wear and tear.

Shot peening process is often used to strengthen components and reduce stress risers


 
Posted : 27/07/2026 6:46 pm
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Shot peening process is often used to strengthen components and reduce stress risers

Yeah it probably isn't actually shot peened, but it's not a smooth texture either - slightly rough/matte.


 
Posted : 27/07/2026 6:51 pm