I need new cranks for my devinci spartan, press fit bb.
I realise i cant get all three of the criteria, so, weight is the least important of the three.

Maximum budget of €120ish but i could spend more on something nice. Any ideas?

Cheers
Paul

I almost always buy second hand cranks. I got a set of xtr boost trail cranks for 130 a few weeks ago on ebay.

Pressfit doh

Saints.

anything else is pointless with your criteria

Aeffect cranks are great value, fairly light, and mine have held up to a fair old batttering.

http://www.ubyk.co.uk/race-face-aeffect-direct-mount-cranks/29870

Shimano to whatever your budget suits, SLX maybe? Or Saint?

Aeffect or SH Turbine are worth a look IMO. Being as it’s Christmas you might even find new Turbines at the price!

I was thinking second hand zees or saints, but a lot of saints seem to be 83mm .

Second hand sram carbon ones?

a lot of saints seem to be 83mm

The 68/73 ones aren’t. 😉

(1st gen = 800, 2nd 810 or 3rd 820) There’s no benefit paying more for 820 over 810. 800 are a lot heavier.

hope that helps

Saints aren’t light but they are strong, put a wanted ad up. Although if I check my shed there might be a pair of Saints in there…..maybe.

Aeffects are good. Old XTR are better though. M970 used to be a pain in teh arse with its nonstandard granny ring but it’s great for 1x

M970 for me , light enough and easy to fit to press fit frames. Only down side is they need a special tool to remove them

Aeffects are good. Old XTR are better though.

Are either actually strong though?
and how did you quantify it?

My XTRs are over a decade old, I’ve had them in just about every bike I’ve owned including my dh bikes, they are beaten to **** and haven’t missed a beat. That’s how I quantify it. And no shortage of similiar reviews.

Aeffect is essentially a Turbine with more metal in it, so it’s up for the job.

lunge – Member
Shimano to whatever your budget suits, SLX maybe? Or Saint?

SLX aren’t that strong, only cranks I’ve managed to snap since some late nineties billet FSA things.
I agree with Gwurk. My Saint cranks have taken some abuse and are battered from rock strikes but still going.

I bent a set of XTR arms fairly easily. Probably around 10 years back I’ve no idea if they are the same version you are talking about though.
Have you actually checked yours are straight (and not twisted either) if they’ve genuinely had a hard life?

I’m running current cinch turbines on one bike. but I have a set of Saints to replace them with when they fail or the chainring wears out (whichever is first). They haven’t been given too much of a hard time so far though.

gwurk – Member

Have you actually checked yours are straight (and not twisted either) if they’ve genuinely had a hard life?

Never really checked but if they are, I’ve not noticed so I’d probably better not look too closely

i did twist my old saints but that was by doing something really stupid at glencoe so I didn’t object.

Bent cranks feel wierd, you’d know if they were even a little bit bent as soon as you rode them.

Buy a decent BB (Hope?) and then spend the change on s/h SLX/XT/XTR cranks. If they ever do bend (unlikely) just buy another pair off ebay, they’re peanuts.

Aeffect is essentially a Turbine with more metal in it, so it’s up for the job.

There’s one crucial difference that might be a dealmaker for some: the Aeffect can come in 24mm as well as 30mm, so is more BB friendly for anyone who’s spent out on stuff like a Hope etc.

I don’t mind the 30mm axle on my Turbines and I like the cinch fitting and preload arrangement. The idea that the axle is modular is attractive too, but I suspect I’ll never actually use that feature.

Slx are the same as xt without rings. Won’t find lighter unless you spend silly money.

Buy a decent BB (Hope?) and then spend the change on s/h SLX/XT/XTR cranks. If they ever do bend (unlikely) just buy another pair off ebay, they’re peanuts.

Not what the OP asked for though.

Strong
Cheap
Light

Pick 2.

OP already realises this

If you want to pick 3, canyon are knocking out e13 trs cranksets for under your budget, dirt cheap.

Thanks for the replies,
The e.thirteens sound good but I can’t find them on the canyon website.

I have seen a few cranks with ’30mm axle’, am I right in thinking that this would need a different bb from my current deore cranks?

thisisnotaspoon – Member
Bent cranks feel weird, you’d know if they were even a little bit bent as soon as you rode them.

On the other hand, sometimes you don’t notice your own cranks are bent until you have a go on a straight set.

Gah, just checked and yeah, the e13 are £208 – they were £108 the other day. Keep an eye on them, the dtuff is rotating around in sales. Sdg saddles have been at 4 different prices this week…

Ah! Will keep checking, cheers

SLX are about 600g without ring, they’re strong enough unless you’re 20st or riding Rampage, and you can grab the current ones for about £60 when they get discounted.

I have seen a few cranks with ’30mm axle’, am I right in thinking that this would need a different bb from my current deore cranks?

Yep. There are 30mm BB’s that fit regular threaded shells and will replace a standard Shimano threaded BB. They use a different spanner to tighten and may introduce longevity problems due to needing smaller bearings to fit a bigger axle through the same hole in the bottom of the frame (so less space available for bearing unless you build out). I’m not 100% sold on the idea from this standpoint and I know there are people posting about poor life, but there are always people posting about poor life of *everything* including things I’ve never had issues with so I applied a pinch of salt to the Internet 😉 I think the standard came from the press fit side of things. The thicker axle should give better durability to impacts. I’m never going to worry the axle that way as I’m not gnar enough, but I wanted the rest of the Turbine package (weight, cinch etc) so figured it was no great loss.

chakaping – Member
SLX are about 600g without ring, they’re strong enough unless you’re 20st or riding Rampage, and you can grab the current ones for about £60 when they get discounted.

If photo posting was easier I could show a pic that shows how thin the metal in those arms is where they snapped neatly In two. Stiff and light, yes. Strong not so much. I’m not 20 stone either.

I don’t doubt your experience for a second, but “one bloke on the internet broke one” isn’t enough to put me off when I’ve found all three generations (numerous pairs) totally fine.

I’ve bent a few cranks and stripped a few pedal threads in my time, but the only cranks I’ve managed to completely snap were mk1 SLXs (the double and bash model with the meaty axle and pedal inserts)

This is more down to an anatomical issue than anything, the issue in question being girth. Not girth in the sense of barrel chest and tree trunks for thighs (though I am thus endowed), but girth in the ankle region.

Whilst the cranks perform admirably for a long while, over time, those with particularly manly ankles will wear down the raised spine on the outer face of the hollowtech structure, to the point that cracks will start to appear in the shiny, Mankle polished, surface, then one day when just riding along* (*doing abubacas n tree ride fakies etc) they’ll just fold, all backwards origami like.

Thought it was a one off, then discovered cracks forming in a 2nd set, once again, due to girth.

This only applies to the original SLX cranks with the raised spine on the outer face, the newer ones, in all their sleek flush glory should be fine

This valuable insight into anatomy has been brought to you by the Manly ankle association of Great Britain.

Just came back to post and it’s top of the page

https://www.canyon.com/en-se/accessories/?category=T253#id=63558

E13 cranks back at canyon

Not what the OP asked for though.

The thread title is “strong, light, cheap cranks”

I’m sure if the thread ran long enough we could find examples of people breaking every crank under the sun.

Before they released Saint Shimano were adamant that XTR was as strong as any of their competitors DH specific chainsets, it just happened to also be lighter than their XC chainsets because Shimano actually hold the patent for that type of hollow forging.

As JHJ found though, the walls are thin so they do wear out if you’re prone to heel rub.

On the other hand, sometimes you don’t notice your own cranks are bent until you have a go on a straight set.

Maybe I’m just picky/sensitive, I had (might still have in a box somewhere) a set of RF X-type Deus cranks, ride them back to back with a set of shimano cranks and you can feel why RF made the diabolus cranks, the Deus feel like they’re made from spaghetti compared to XT.

light and cheap, would cover the M6000 cranks. weigh in about the same as XT M8000.

no idea about strength, but shimano cranks generally seem to hold up to most things.

XTR has never been close in stiffness or strength to a MK1 SAINT crank. And Shimano never said it was. Mk1 saints are still in production as DXR BMX racing crank guise and probably the most common choice for this application. For good reason.

I have bent a Saint crank. But it’s still stronger than anything else recommended here so far.

XTR has never been close in stiffness or strength to a MK1 SAINT crank. And Shimano never said it was.

Has anyone said that?

Mk1 saints are still in production as DXR BMX racing crank guise and probably the most common choice for this application. For good reason.

Pedantry, but I think the DXR’s are now the new Saint cranks, they’re visually much narrower than the original Saints.

He hasn’t said what riding style he’s doing. To recommend Saints if he’s doing bog standard XC (or, IMO, anything other than full on DH and isn’t a fat lad) then they aren’t appropriate.

You must be riding pretty clumsily, GW, to bent Saints, which given your riding god status is a surprise. I have a set of FSA’s second lightest K Force carbon cranks on my Transition Patrol that have been down downhill tracks and massive mountains just fine, as has every set of cranks I’ve owned in the last 10 years.

chakaping – Member
I don’t doubt your experience for a second, but “one bloke on the internet broke one” isn’t enough to put me off when I’ve found all three generations (numerous pairs) totally fine.

That’s fair enough and for the record I still use SLX cranks on two bikes, I just wouldn’t call them strong.
If you google snapped SLX crank images you will see pictures of pretty much identical failures on the drive side crank arm.

^with regard to riding style I am reluctant to call it ‘enduro’, but I live in the alpes and use the bike for riding downhill tracks and some big uphill then downhill rides.

I have looked at the e13s again and they look ideal but with the new bb they end up fairly expensive.

I too have bent a pair of slx’s in the past, my current deores went at the pedal thread. I’ve had saints before that were perfect but at the time budget and availability only allowed deores

I’m siding towards zees or saints I think.
I did have a wanted ad up and will pop another up.