Quantcast

E-13 prototype crank

sbabuser

Turbo Monkey
Dec 22, 2004
1,114
55
Golden, CO
Good comparison, highly discounted from retail after they've been on the market for over a year vs. not-even-brought-to-market-speculation... :rofl:
Oh, and the Saints aren't in stock at CRC, as they also weren't when I was shopping for them a month ago. :s
That being said, the color choice was the only thing going for Altas FR IMO, and it wasn't quite enough to get my $.
 
stands to reason that the hive cranks are real similar to this e.13 proto... i believe there is some shared ownership between the two companies. Also, regardless of what e-pinions we conjure up: has e.13 failed us yet? Does dw and crew ever let a less-than-rad product hit the market?

not that I can remember
 

dilzy

Monkey
Sep 7, 2008
567
1
My bad on the square taper, it is a rock and thinking about it, it couldn't be given the hollow spindle.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
Ya...they do basically. You'd be a moron to run anything besides saints, xt's, or SLX cranks (depending on budget/application). Best cranks, period.
****, on the 3 bikes I ride there are none :( Is RF, Sugino and Truvativ making me look stupid in front of the chicks? ;)
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
Yeah but really... can you actually fault Saints? They're freakin bombproof, super quick and easy to install/remove, no interface-wear issues like RF have, reasonable weight.
Okay. So? Who's to say these aren't freakin bombproof, super quick and easy to install/remove, no interface-wear issues like RF have, and lighter? That would be right within the M.O. for E.13.

again assuming these cranks are actually the real deal, I'd be very surprised if they brought out something that wasn't as good as, or better than the existing market offerings.
I agree with you.

Ya...they do basically. You'd be a moron to run anything besides saints, xt's, or SLX cranks (depending on budget/application). Best cranks, period.
:rolleyes:

Okay. Sure.

Your opinion does not dictate the entire mountain bike market. I love Shimano cranks, but they do not own the market. Period.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,030
5,918
borcester rhymes
:rofl:

Okay. They're cranks. What, exactly, did you expect them to look like? Did you do a quick FEA on the photograph?
Let me rephrase that...they look like catalog parts. E13 has a history of innovation and excellent design work, and these look like they picked them out of a catalog, like deity, and put their logo on them. LOOKS LIKE. You can't start the hype machine and not e-speculate. You already seem to think they'll be the best thing out their based solely on e13's reputation. I think they look iffy based solely on their looks. Who's right?

I don't know where these will be targeted, but there will be the same draw as any other cranks. Shimano doesn't own the crank market. They will be a different weight and different quality and different strength qualities as other cranks - for better or worse. And people will make buying decisions on that. I don't know how you speculate on how a crankset competes in the market with no information but a photo.

I can even see frame speculation on just a photo, since you can make educated judgments about suspension design and performance based on pivot placement, but... cranks? Really? We don't even know the material or what the inside/back looks light.
My point in your quoted statement was not that these will be crap...it's that, as Socket mentioned, e13 has a history of innovation and creative thinking. I can't see them releasing a set of crank arms just to add another product to their inventory....which leads me to believe there will be some kind of draw with it, ie a better interface, superb weight, better strength, or something. I just don't imagine them saying "let's slap our logo on something else to cash in on a competitive market". You even say so yourself in your first paragraph above.

Back to the point, as bad as people claim e-speculation to be, the equivalent is all of the people jocking dw13 so hard they can't judge a product for what it is.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
You can't start the hype machine and not e-speculate. You already seem to think they'll be the best thing out their based solely on e13's reputation.
I think what now? I said explicitly that we don't know anything about them and have no idea what they'll be like. That's it. I agreed with Socket above that I'd be surprised if they weren't very good, judging by E.13's general history.

I think they look iffy based solely on their looks. Who's right?
Who's right? Well, we can say for sure one thing: your judging that they are "iffy" based on one photo of one side of the cranks with no further information is bound to be a lot less right than stating what is a basic fact: without further information, it's impossible to judge.

Incidentally, I don't think it's totally out of line to be excited for, and have high expectations of, a product from a manufacturer that has a history of producing excellent products. That doesn't mean it'll definitely be great, but if E.13 puts out a new crank, and Truvativ puts out a new crank, I'm going to tend to have higher expectations out of the small company with excellent customer service and a virtually unmarred track record going back to the Evil frames. Is that crazy?
 

IH8Rice

I'm Mr. Negative! I Fail!
Aug 2, 2008
24,524
494
Im over here now
Good comparison, highly discounted from retail after they've been on the market for over a year vs. not-even-brought-to-market-speculation... :rofl:
Oh, and the Saints aren't in stock at CRC, as they also weren't when I was shopping for them a month ago. :s
.
you said they were expensive. i showed you they werent.
and if you want to pay $425 for them, this thread should be right up your alley:
http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231760

oh and they are usually in stock every 2 weeks.
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
:rolleyes:

Okay. Sure.

Your opinion does not dictate the entire mountain bike market. I love Shimano cranks, but they do not own the market. Period.
I'm really just trying to make an observation. They REALLY do seem to own the crank market. I don't know many serious DH riders who don't run saints (who have a choice that is).

****, on the 3 bikes I ride there are none :( Is RF, Sugino and Truvativ making me look stupid in front of the chicks? ;)
Yes, yes it is. I've seen guys turned down for intercourse for running truvativs. Granted I run bontrager king earls with a truvativ BB on my hardtail (gasp!), but I did get them for free.
 
Last edited:

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,882
447
That didnt get nearly the reaction I hoped for! :rofl:

I'm going to try posting that in some other random threads and see what happens.

I luv CRC!
ahhhh, I like what you're doing.. Maybe step it up with some insults, that will get reactions. like:

You're wrong and you suck!:rofl:
 

bdamschen

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
3,377
156
Spreckels, CA
Anyone ever thought that maybe these cranks were made for a tradeshow display or something like that just to showcase their latest bash?

1. Get a pair of catalog cranks with logo etched on them for bash
2. Mount on trade show display wall
3. ???
4. Profit!
 

sbabuser

Turbo Monkey
Dec 22, 2004
1,114
55
Golden, CO
you said they were expensive. i showed you they werent.
and if you want to pay $425 for them, this thread should be right up your alley:
http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231760

oh and they are usually in stock every 2 weeks.
They retail for a lot, as is speculation for the E-13 cranks. Market price (esp when buying from across the pond) is a whole different thang. And no, I don't pay retail for anything, and definitely not my Saint cranks. :weee:
 

LukeD

Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
751
2
Massachusetts
I just went through this entire thread and am no more informed than when I first saw the picture. haha...what a waste of 10 minutes.
 

Steve M

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2007
1,991
45
Whistler
Okay. So? Who's to say these aren't freakin bombproof, super quick and easy to install/remove, no interface-wear issues like RF have, and lighter? That would be right within the M.O. for E.13.
It's not impossible, but without access to hollow forging like Shimano are doing, I'd be extremely surprised if you could make something that had a better strength/stiffness-to-weight ratio. The reliefs machined on that crank make me think it's unlikely to be hollow forged, hence my doubt that it is actually a genuine E13 product. Lack of pinchbolts on a two-piece setup also indicate either a tapered spline setup (a la ISIS, Octalink etc) which would have tolerance issues with BB shells not being *exactly* 83.00mm wide causing improper bearing preload one way or the other, or a non-tapered spline setup (a la Raceface's current offerings) which are prone to interface wear. Unless they've thought of a way to have a tapered spline with a separate bearing preload mechanism, like a small lockring on the BB spindle or something.

All that said, I'm inclined to think bdamschen is probably right.
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
Unless they've thought of a way to have a tapered spline with a separate bearing preload mechanism, like a small lockring on the BB spindle or something.
Shimano already thought of that too, it's on the later-gen XTR.
 

wood booger

Monkey
Jul 16, 2008
668
72
the land of cheap beer
These cranks are being made for E13 by the Hive (makers of 15G cranks). They have a big axle pressed in to the drive side crank shimano style. BB appeared to be BB30 size, but I didn't look closely. No pinch bolts, just a slight taper on a honkin 3 sided BB spindle. http://bythehive.com/collection/fifteeng-offroad/fifteeng-single-cranks/

The 15G cranks use normal thread in cups w/ BB30 size bearings in them, that is what these will do also I am assuming. I have been running 15G cranks for a year now w/ zero issues.

The arms look beefy and slender at the same time if that makes sense. Looked pretty cool to me.
 

beaverbiker

Monkey
Feb 5, 2003
586
0
Santa Clara
These cranks are being made for E13 by the Hive (makers of 15G cranks). They have a big axle pressed in to the drive side crank shimano style. BB appeared to be BB30 size, but I didn't look closely. No pinch bolts, just a slight taper on a honkin 3 sided BB spindle. http://bythehive.com/collection/fifteeng-offroad/fifteeng-single-cranks/

The 15G cranks use normal thread in cups w/ BB30 size bearings in them, that is what these will do also I am assuming. I have been running 15G cranks for a year now w/ zero issues.

The arms look beefy and slender at the same time if that makes sense. Looked pretty cool to me.
Yea, they looked super cool. These aren't some crappy catalog crank knockoffs.
 

daisycutter

Turbo Monkey
Apr 8, 2006
1,651
124
New York City
from a bike mag article on the Hive

After more than two years in development the new Fifteen.G cranks are going into production and will be available for sale early in the spring. Fifteen.G is the mountain bike brand of a product design collective known as The Hive.
The cranks come in the triple-ring setup, shown here, or a single-ring configuration with a bashguard. The triple weighs in at 711 grams and the single tips the scales at an odious 666 grams.

But the real story with the crank lies in its spindle interface, which, while innovative in its execution, is not the first time a tapered polygonal interface has been tried on a bicycle crank. Some might remember Grove Innovations’ try a crank with a similar tapered, three-sided spindle. But if you don’t, you’re not along, because the system, which relied on an—ahem—*spindlier* steel axle and bottom bracket bearings small enough to fit into a bottom bracket shell (kids, ask your parents), tended to blow out bearings and never caught on.


Fast forward a technological generation in manufacturing advances and behold a beefier, more precise 30-millimeter diameter axle, which runs on bigger, externally-mounted bearings. The Fifteen.G cranks use the same 30-by-42-millimeter bearings as the up-and-coming BB30 standard—long used by Cannondale and now being hyped and pushed by components companies like Full Speed Ahead and being adopted by more and more frame manufacturers taken by the promise of lighters, stiffer bottom bracket interfaces.

But the beauty of the Fifteen.G crank is that it works with any conventional 68- or 73-millimeter-wide bottom bracket shell. The package sells for $295 with a 32- or 34-tooth chain ring and a corresponding-sized bashguard. The triple shown here will set you back $275, and the bottom bracket is sold separately for $70. The crank uses 4-by-104 millimeter chain ring spacing, and is available in 175- and 180-millimeter crank arm lengths.

Buy the whole kit together and you get this trick installation tool for the bottom bracket, which also includes a 15-millimeter pedal wrench, and a socket slot for torquing the BB to spec. (If you loathe the idea of more specialty tools, fret not—a 1-3/4-inch 12-point socket will also do the trick on install. And a free pedal wrench is nothing to scoff at.)

The advantage of using the tapered polygonal interface, as it’s technically called, is that it makes for a 100-percent contact connection between the crank and spindle. With an interface like the fast disappearing ISIS standard, a compression fit between a steel spindle and an alloy crank arm, over repetitive press-fits, leads to corrosion between the grain boundaries of the respective components, and, eventually, slop in the connection or failure. Given the tight tolerances of the Fifteen.G interface, there is only 1.6 millimeters of space to be taken up while torquing the crank arm to the spindle. With ISIS-style connections, there is between 3 and 6 millimeters to compress to get a solid fit.

The Hive also produces trick super-wide flange singles-peed hubs under the Chub brand name and is working on road bike components under the REVL name, but these cranks are the first Fifteen.G products to market. Availability of the cranks is expected to be March 1. Keep an eye on www.bythehive.com for more.
 
Last edited:

Inclag

Turbo Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
2,750
439
MA
So E.13 is essentially licensing Hive out as the designers/manufacturers of these cranks?

Seems like a good deal for both companies. E.13 has a far greater reach and brand recognition than the Hive and should be able to hop in the DH crank arm market and establish a foothold far more effectively than the Hive could.

Secondly, the Hive has the design know-how and can extrapolate from their current designs to create a more robust downhill specific crank. They also have an established manufacturing network already in place.

Should work out as a nice little collaboration and a win-win for both companies if the sales numbers are hit, and I'd have a hard time believing it wouldn't be the case with the E.13 name being used.