Has anyone had or heard of a problem with these cranks, specificly the drive side carbon arm coming loose on the boss that attaches it to the spindle.

thanks
Mike

I have seen that once, can’t remember if it was on sixC or nextSL’s though. Best bet is phone/email raceface (or get your LBS to talk to the disty) and warranty them.

A mate had the the exact same, warranties no probs.

only happened today so will be on to LBS/Raceface tomorrow, good to know it’s a known problem though so should be sorted with no issues.

cheers

Mine have failed twice now. The alu inserts that the pedals thread into, come loose in the carbon crank arms…and they are apparently going to replace them, this time, with the, SixC, 2016, carbon cranks…….watch this space, when they eventually become available (Jan/Feb, whenever) bit effed of now…as you may gather.

Mine have gone back within the last week with this exact problem.

As it’s Christmas break not heard anything yet but hopefully it will be a warranty issue.

I’ve broken 4 pairs now. I just bought XT!

The full story is these are my brothers cranks that have failed and i thought these Next SL’s were suposed to be the dogs. All my bikes have the carbon sram cranks which ive had no problems with but just looking to get a new bike that comes with next sl’s on, so might swap them straight out for sram.

Mine have been fine for the last year.

Bit of an up date, i got the new bike and never swapped out the cranks, surprise surprise the Next SL’s have failed after 1 month.

XX1 cranks now fitted.

Oops just realised I’ve already had a rant on this one

I bought some second hand and epoxied the loose pedal insert and it’s been fine ever since. Have just done the same with some XX1s.

I’m fairly confident I won’t die as a result of this particular issue.

My Next SL Cinch NDS pedal insert has started to become loose. Been on the bike since May 2015 and really well looked after. Contacted Wiggle, they want them back for inspection. Hopefully Raceface will warranty them.

If you can perform thread necromancy, can you also raise pedal inserts from the dead?

I had exactly same issue, 8 month old, sent back via CRC got a new set of new style G4 ones. They have changed the design of the inserts. Hopefully these are ok now, leaving the XT ones on until spring.

Had a set of next SL cranks lasted 4 months before I ripped out a pedal insert, Silverfish replaced them with SIXC which have been absolutely fine since.

Thanks @blairc70 and @boxxer7. Sounds positive.

I’ve taken the opportunity to strip the bike, give it a good once over and have the Reverb, Fork and shock full service done while the weather is poor. I’ll update with my outcome so it might help others in the future.

Mine have been fine, probably 1500 miles on them.

I’ve done 1500km+ on mine so not quite so far as you and still on original BB spinning smoothly. I have loved having them they’re great cranks but there’s play in the NDS insert now so :(. I was so sure they were great I bought another set for my other bike in a sale in December. Those are rock solid ATM.

For the money they should last longer than they have really. I split my riding time 50/50 with the bikes. So they don’t get the full ride distance they could from me. I’m pretty light too 75km.

Had my Next SLs back on Friday via Wiggle customer services in a Silverfish box marked repaired. Obviously a little concerned about “repairing” carbon however looking at them the carbon parts are brand new (none of the tiny stone chips or heel rub marks present) but all of my aluminium Cinch hardware (axle, removal bolts, etc) has been transferred over.

Thanks to Silverfish and RaceFace for standing by their products.

Very happy that they’re back. Wiggle said as it’s a lifetime warranty if there’s any issues again to get in contact. Obviously you need to be prepared for 3 weeks with no bike unless you have another or spare components to use.

I haven’t had chance to re-fit them yet as I wanted to get a new chain ring and only ordered that once I knew the cranks were actually being returned.

I picked up a OneUp oval 30T to try as I’m getting wimpier. Interestingly the claim that they correct chain line from 51mm RaceFace ring stock to 49mm on the OneUp DM rings appears to be accurate. I’ve been using AbsoluteBlack (or AbsoluteLiers as they shall now be called) Oval 32T Cinch rings which also claim to correct the chain line to 49mm. However having three Cinch DM Rings; RaceFaceN/W 30T round, AB 32T Oval and OneUp 30T Oval on my desk it’s absolutely clear that the offset/dish on the OneUp ring is quite different to the other two which appear to be identical. So if you do want to correct the chain line from 51mm to 49mm on a DM Cinch… buy a OneUp ring. I wanted a round one but they only had ovals. I’m happy with round or oval though. Makes no odds.

I’ll report back once I’ve had time to fit it all and hopefully get a chain guide to work with it too. Haven’t got much time ATM though.

Just sent back a pair of Next SL’s today for the same issue as the OP. Seems its a fairly common problem!

Also had the loose DS pedal insert of doom on mine. Fortunately living near Silverfish, they sorted out replacement crank arms in a couple of hours but I also took the opportunity to strip down the bike and get bearings and forks serviced, so I’ve been several weeks bikeless. All back now and raring to ride!

I cannot attest to the reliability of the Next SL’s. I have a set that need to go back with the following set of issues.

Driveside (small crack on the inside side of the crank.
Non Drive Side (crack per drive side)
Loose pedal insert.
Loose crank insert.

I have also had a loose crank insert on a previous set.

I cannot say I am entirely impressed. They are light but clearly there is an issue with this. I cannot fathom how so many manufacturers are fitting these even on Enduro and Trail bikes.

Well they’re specced for Enduro racing and specced on many a EWS level steed so they should easily put up with my mincing. They don’t have a weight limit either. I’m 75kg + kit.

I noticed they’d just put them on Matt Jones’ new “trail” bike. I hope he doesn’t forget they’re fitted and attempt some Slopestyle…

gelert – Member

Well they’re specced for Enduro racing and specced on many a EWS level steed so they should easily put up with my mincing. They don’t have a weight limit either.

I’ve never seen one outright snap- they fail fairly soft. So when my second set went wobbly at the crank/axle interface when I was up at the kinlochleven enduro I just kept riding. As far as pro use goes, there’ll be a spare in the toolkit. Or 2 spares.

I’m 10 stone, I got about 4 months out of them on average. 2 different failures but it’s all the same “metal comes lose from carbon” that they all break with.

Supposedly the G4 fixes it all.

yeah common problem, happened to a mate, got replaced under warranty

Ah, the joys of owning these cranks. A 3rd pair (a warranty replacement for a previous pair) have failed tonight – both arms loose on the axle.

Anyone had any joy getting them replaced with say the turbine cranks?

I not long got my 2 year old Next SLs back from warranty (see above posts). Seem fine so far since.

I think I’ve got Next SL woes again on my other set which were bought new November 2016. This time I’ve got a pronounced creak when I put weight on the pedals (no chain attached for testing) at bottom of the stroke.

First I thought it was pivot bearings. I found play in them with the shock off so I swapped them (old 2013 Five) for new ones. Glad I found that. Play gone now. Shock bushings are fine too.

Creak still there. I took the cranks off, cleaned, re-greased. I also took the BB seals off and they were nearly full of grease and running smooth. I topped it up anyway so I don’t think it’s the BB (was new with the cranks). I’ve changed pedals 3 times to eliminate that.

I’m pretty sure it seems like the axle interface this time. It’s torqued up to 50Nm as per spec.

Big pain the ass would be for me to remove the Next SLs off my other bike and swap these over to that bike to double confirm it’s not the BB or to buy a BB and change it.

I’m going to re-fit the chain try to ride it again to see what happens. I can’t feel any play by hand with the cranks only when I put my weight on the pedals and lean on a wall to weight them up.

Any other suggestions? What was the main symptom of the axle interface going bad for people who had that?

I’m buying alloy cranks Next time.

Axle interface simply shows up as one of the cranks having play in it.

Also worth inspecting the back side of the crank as it is possible to crack them. Now running Shimano cranks.

Cheers for the reply @shortcut. I’ll check them over again, ride it, check again. Hopefully it’ll show up some play without killing me. Or whatever is creaking will reveal itself.

Luckily I kept a set of SLXs using middle ring 1x but obviously that’s a BB swap too.

I bought the 2nd set ready to go on a new bike when I eventually decide which new bike so thought I’d run them in the meantime. At that point my 1st set hadn’t failed yet and I thought they were the dogs and figured it’s one of the only parts that I can move from a 26er to another bike so I’m not really wasting money.

Update on Next SL creak. I took the trouble to change the BB for a new one. Re-installed the cranks. Creak was still there. The original BB felt fine but I had to be sure.

Took the cranks off again and screwed the 8mm nut up off the bike. Twisting the cranks by hand I heard the creak. I removed the DM ring. Removed the pedals. I can make the creak happen by hand.

There’s no visible play but apply some torque and something around the axle interface area creaks. I had already cleaned it all up and used grease everywhere you should.

I’m hoping I can grab a quick video for reference. Then try to get them sent back. Total pain in the ass. That’ll be two Next SL fails in 2017 for me.

I can’t see any visible signs of the carbon de-bonding from the alu bits but it could possibly be the alu axle interfaces themselves that are doing it. Whatever, it doesn’t sound right.

I’d re-packed an old Hope BB with grease the other day. Put that on (it came on the bike and has sat on my shelf for a year or more so I wasn’t sure if it was ok or not). Fitted my old SLX cranks and jobs a good un. Silence is back.

Literally the creak from the cranks is bad enough you’d swear the bike was going to fold in half. Going up a hill with it is torture twice a revolution.

Still waiting… over 5 weeks now. Heard nothing except CRC are “chasing” it with Silverfish. Was a lot quicker turn around with Wiggle on my other set.

Anybody thinking of buying Next SLs… just don’t. Save your money.

My new boost SLX cranks should be here tomorrow. £65. Just can’t see the point of carbon cranks, bit of weight saving is the only benefit in such a vulnerable, load bearing area. I like a bit of bling as much as anyone but even so, nope.

Old £80 SLX is what’s on the bike with missing cranks. Have I noticed? Nope. Silly, pointless, waste of money.

Stuck with it now and nobody will want to buy 2nd hand or even warranty returned cranks, I’m guessing. They are really lovely when working.

I’ll have to chase CRC next week. See what’s going on.

^ were these G4s?

@adsh no the ones I just returned to CRC were Next SL G3s bought only 6 months ago.

I sent them in on May 4th. Today (June 12) they were returned to me. But instead of Next SL G3s they’ve replaced them with brand new boxed Next SL G4s.

Looking at the RaceFace website they’ve “downgraded” both Next SL G3 and G4s to XC Race / Trail and now only put the Enduro suitability on their new Next R cranks.

I’m really grateful I’ve got brand new G4s rather than have them repaired but it seems despite when launching both the G3 and G4s as Enduro suitable and having Lifetime Warranties RaceFace are backing out of both things now.

Sell them brand new in box or get on with mincing around on em?

The G4s do look the part. 365g without a ring. 6g lighter than the G3s.

What sort of epoxy can I glue them with?