[banj]

I'm looking for a new crankset for my do it all hardtail (see pic below). I've narrowed it down to the Truvativ Stylo 2.2 GXP, FSA Gravity Light, and Shimano XT.

They all seem to be in the same weight range but the price ranges by about $100 with the stylo at the bottom the fsa right in the middle and the xt at the top end. I'm leaning towards the stylo for this reason alone.

As I said it's on my do it all hardtail. It's my primary bike and I ride pretty much everything on it that isn't street or lift accessed dh so I want something that will last but would like to keep it light.

 

[Jm_]

Get LX, super inexpensive, same BB as the XT, crankarms are still very good. For the price around $100 usually, they are hard to beat. I got em on my karate monkey.

 

[Wrench]

New SLX since LX is no longer made or the M770 XT's! Why mess with the rest if you want your shifting to work!

 

[FCLinder]

Been rocking the Stylo's on my do it all bike for over a season now. Not one problem. All the ones you are looking at will work fine and all are around the same price. You will not go wrong with any of them.

Good luck,
Cecil

 

[stumpjump]

I have had the stylo's on my XC ride for a little and IMO they are lacking when it compares to any of the others. The two piece setup comes loose and you will have to carry around an 8mm because it loosens itself all of the time. It's fixable withl loctite, but its just too much crap to have to deal with when you can get better for the same price.

I'm buying an XT as soon as I get some current coming in.

 

[banj]

What year are your stylo's?

 

[ChapmanMTB27]

My 2pc FireX crank set NEVER comes loose.

 

[bikerpunk98199]

Get lx's or hones if you can find them. The hones that have 2 chainrings and a bash have a saint axle and pedal inserts btw. I have stylo's on my slalom bike and I don't like the flex they have compared to xt I had before. I also think the shimano's will hold up better.

 

[banj]

I had a set of xc hones on the bike before and liked them. Never had any problems until I had a stack up with a buddy and bent the drive side crank arm. Nobody seems to have them any more.

Which year of stylo's do you have. As I understand it the 08 are nicer than the previous offerings. I could be wrong on that though.

 

[stumpjump]

What year are your stylo's?

07's. For the first year they were pretty legit, but after then I found them to start loosening more and more. Now they bearly last a ride without having to stop and tighten them. I liked them overall, but I hate midride wrench sessions.

 

[banj]

I liked them overall, but I hate midride wrench sessions.

Me too, that's why I liked my hones. Never touched them until I bent them. I want to get a set of xt's but the price is holding me back and I've seen a few complaints on here about them.

 

[Jm_]

New SLX since LX is no longer made or the M770 XT's! Why mess with the rest if you want your shifting to work!

You can get LX still, they'll still be making it (and it doesn't appear to have bene changed yet).

The SLX would be good, but it's not as cheap. LX is damn good though, just put a LX group on my monkey, and it's solid.

Hones are another good one. Hones (are pretty close to LX).

 

[William42]

I have XT's and G lites. I would be running my XT's if I could fit them on my 83mm BB. Sadly I can't, so I'm running the Glites. They flex more (maybe its just because of a wider BB, I donno, but I can feel it more with them) and the BB/crank interface isn't as nice.

That said, my friend goes through stylo's like its free candy from some dude in a van, so I'm pretty unconvinced about them. Get whatever you want. Or something.

 

[stumpjump]

Anyone know any sites that are still selling XT's. I did a quick search for them and all I got was review sites. Even pricepoint and a bunch of the MTB sites already have the slx's up.

 

[banj]

One of the sites was blowing out the lx's (I'm assuming XT's was a typo) them out for $100 a week or two ago. I didn't jump on it right away and now I can't find them anymore.

Cambria has hones for $184. And last years xt's in 165mm for 190.

 

[Kntr]

I love my Gravity Lights.

 

[The Breaker Man]

I bent a set of Gravity Lights and a set of the old Stylo's. The pedals felt angled down towards the ends. I have a pair of used XT's from my friends bike on my hardtail right now, so we will see how they hold up.
FWIW, I spent way to much money on light cranks. Both my Demo 8 and Bottlerocket now sit on saint cranks. Yes they are heavier, but buying stuff over and over again just pisses me off. I feel that rims and cranks should be awarded a little more weight for piece of mind and wallet.

 

[banj]

I hear ya breaker man. I don't want to constantly be buying and replacing cranks that's why I'm trying to find a happy medium between light and strong.

I'd like to know what the slx's weigh but nobody seems to have that info.

 

[Jeremy R]

I hear ya breaker man. I don't want to constantly be buying and replacing cranks that's why I'm trying to find a happy medium between light and strong.

I'd like to know what the slx's weigh but nobody seems to have that info.

They are 40 grams more than Xt crankarms,
and according to Shimano they are a good bit stiffer than XT cranks.
They sound spot on.

 

[ph4se_1]

go with the xt a lot of dh riders i know run them and have no problems whatsoever.ive seen gravity lights bent by little kids and the stylo arent the greatest either.xt are worth spending the extra money on.

 

[stumpjump]

SLX's or XT's pretty much sound like the winner to me. I had to sort through the specialized for like an hour to find out that my cranks were 175mm and not 170. Upon looking at the chainring sizes I saw that the two rings I had on there were 22s and 32A. What the F do the letters stand for? Anyone know the role on that?

 

[banj]

They are 40 grams more than Xt crankarms,
and according to Shimano they are a good bit stiffer than XT cranks.
They sound spot on.

That does sound perfect. Cheers.

 

[The Breaker Man]

That does sound perfect. Cheers.

I would agree also in that crank choice. Still on the light side and stiffer than XT's. Do they have a pedal thread insert, I heard that is the weak ling of the XT's.

 

[banj]

It appears that at least the double crankset does.

The double ring chainset. The double has pedal thread reinforcement too.

from

http://www.singletrackworld.com/article.php?sid=2723

 

[ciszewski]

Upon looking at the chainring sizes I saw that the two rings I had on there were 22s and 32A. What the F do the letters stand for? Anyone know the role on that?

Steel and Aluminum

I am in the same situation right now with my new DH build, i think i'm going to with th SLX though because they are stiffer (apparently), cheaper and only 40g heavier. and also better looking IMO, not that it matters though.

 

[ez-v]

If you are interested in looking at SLX, definitely try Chain Reaction Cycles. They're in the UK, but I believe they ship to the U.S. free of charge... Some of the best prices I've seen on any Shimano stuff....

SLX crank
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=28020

XT crank
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20679

Hope this helps....

I've also been looking at doing a custom build on a cheap frame (looking at the Azonic AZ-7 right now) and was debating between SLX and XT for the drivetrain (crankset, cassette, front derailleur) as well. Not sure where the sweet spot is in terms of price to weight...

 

[banj]

What about theirshipping to Canada?

 

[stumpjump]

They're in the UK, but I believe they ship to the U.S. free of charge

Negative, its 15 lira to ship over in the US.l I would assume its similar shipping costs to you guys up north as well.

 

[banj]

Still a good price though.

They don't have the double in stock right now but they do have a 175mm triple for ridiculously cheap.

 

[stumpjump]

I did the conversion and it will run about 70 US dollars and change to get it over to seas. How is this place so ridic cheap?

 

[bdamschen]

if you spend over $300, shipping is free to the US

 

[banj]

I did the conversion and it will run about 70 US dollars and change to get it over to seas. How is this place so ridic cheap?

Umm, I think you have your conversion wrong. In the top right corner you can change the currency to USD.

 

[stumpjump]

Yeah it was, I was using Lira instead of pounds. Still not a bad price though. I am goign to wait until the 2 ring becomes avail. I have to pick up a new rear casette anyway so it looks like I have to do what I can to make my current crank last another month. Oh well

 

[Mattoid]

Will there be any duties or importing fees when buying from chainreaction from the US? I imagine there would be and if so it would make it less of a steal.

 

[banj]

I just ordered a set of the 3 ring 170mm. They still didn't have the 2 ring 170mm in stock and I didn't really want a 36 tooth middle. They have (last i checked) both the 170 and 175mm in the 3 ring and the 175 mm in the double.

All told with shipping it cost me $160 cad. Looking forward to getting them on the bike.

 

[stumpjump]

Yeah, i ordered mine last week. It cost me about the same when all was said and done. Can't wait to get my hands on it.

 

[banj]

Haha...Just got an email saying the 170mm double is in stock...oh well.