Hossa,

Right I’ve just had one almighty battle with some SRAM GX gxp, self extracting cranks. Previously I’ve had no issue with taking them off, this time I chewed the bolt and need bike shop help and massive leverage. Funny thing that when it did break free of was well greased. I thought I was going through end up like Bob from this thread and get the power tools involved.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sram-crank-removal-fiasco/

I’m now scared the of putting these back on my bike, so what cranks are recommended? Standard threaded BB, SRAM GX 11sp drive train.

Hope… cos they’re dead nice… looking at £300ish for the full setup inc BB mind

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/creaking-hope-cranks-bb/

Are they not known for creaking?

If you are willing to pass them on cheaply I might be interested.

Tbh you can’t really go wrong with shimano cranks in terms of functionality at least.

If we’re playing STW ‘recommend what you’ve got’ then I’m voting for cinch-mount Turbines… 🙂

Do the raceface cranks require a specific BB?

@ molgrips, if that is directed at me then… easy tiger, wasn’t a stealth ad 😉 however if I get something else sorted I will pass them on.

Yes, it was 🙂

Always looking to scavenge broken stuff for cheap that I can patch up 🙂

in typical STW style: i’ve Hope cranks (on 2 bikes tbf) and have zero issue… ymmv

Whoever said c inch turbines is having a giraffe right!!?

They are self extracting like all RF cranks iirc and my none drive side came undone mid ride nearly falling off.

Apparently there have been loads of riders encountering this dangerous crank arm behaviour.

Plus RF BBs are utter shite

I’ve got race Face aeffect cranks mated to a hope bb, no issues

Had Hope for a couple of years, no problems including any creaking. Now got Praxis Flyte, lovely & light, stiff & noise free. They are a bit chunky though & run quite close to my chainstays, which are pretty boxy.

Whichever Shimano ones take your fancy.

SLX or XT crank

mid and fine – XT

spendy and handsome – Hope

weenie and handsome- sixc

all – oval and 165s

[except sixc which are 170]

SLX for £80 on CRC. You could spend more but it won’t get you to the top / bottom of the hill any faster.

If it’s about maximum performance for minimum cost, then SLX is very hard to beat. The Shimano BB will be better than SRAM or RaceFace and fitting is a doddle.

XT costs more and is slightly blingier/lighter.

I’ve Raceface Aeffect cranks on my fat bike (Deore BB) and my Spearfish (Hope PF converter BB). I’ll put them on the Solaris when the time comes to replace the Raceface (can’t remember the model) cranks on that. The RaceFace BB on the Solaris lasted 1500km, replaced with a Hope which has so far lasted 10,000km.

Here’s how to correctly fix the GXP BB: Put bike in stand; remove cranks; remove BB; put BB in bin; fit a decent BB – SLX, XT or Hope. If you keep the SRAM cranks then it’s Praxis or Hope along with the adaptor rings.

Shimano has to be the correct answer…

To your budget and use… you can’t go wrong with slx anything else is just unnecessary 😉

From reading these threads I’d have to agree anything other than Shimano is just vanity. They look good IMO, work perfectly, excellent value and above all piece of piss to install and remove. I can’t be doing with unnecessary,  expensive faff

Hope… cos they’re dead nice… looking at £300ish for the full setup inc BB mind

But they have the craziest attachment method known to man. Add in their BB and you need a raft of special tools to fit and remove them.

You simply cannot go wrong with Shimano HT2. Why use anything more complicated? You can pop them off in the middle of nowhere with a coin and a 5mm allen key 🙂

Never, ever had a problem with a Race Face crank ‘self extracting’, or doing anything it’s not meant to. They’re my default brand and have been for years apart from a brief flirtation with SLX chain sets when they were stupid cheap.  Granted I’ve never had a carbon one – I understand they tend to come loose at the pedal insert and get warrantied but never had one personally

Other BBs are available…

So long as you don’t mind a 30mm BB, the Turbine is excellent. Stiff enough for most non Redbull riding and heading rapidly for carbon weight while being all alloy…

Much as I like Hope stuff the crankset is a step too far.

I went with the Aeffect as I wanted a 28T oval chainring on the fat bike and direct mount is the only way you can do it. So when I was building up the Spearfish I got another Aeffect. Attach/remove with a single 8mm Allen key (and a bit of grunt!)

If you use a 1x drivetrain I think that direct mount chainrings make a lot of sense but I wouldn’t swap just for that.