[CreeP]

what to do, what to do?

i have visions of propellers and diabolousesses and felt.

my problem is thus: i consistently chew up the female side of the crank/bb interface on the left side. I need some cranks on which that won't happen. I don't weigh much so i notice extra weight, so lighter is better. I'm willing to spend what it takes, but i'd prefer that it doesn't take too much.

ze schort liszt( eeen no pahrticular horder):

+middleburn w/ RF or, if it ever comes out, King BB
+Felt Spline-loc, a cool bmx two piece
+FSA x-drive, nice price but the reviews on mtbr have me worried, as do the general comments about fsa stuff that i've heard
+RF Diabolous
+fly-sports propeller, crazy ti two piece
+bonz, but as far as i can tell, they only come in shiny colours
+on-one reetard, i'm thinking they're heavier than the rest except maybe the x-drive
+profile or similar but with a ti spindle

so- thoughts, experiences, criticisms, reccomendations.

i will :heart: you

 

[Zaskar Rider]

Don't get a Raceface BB if you decide to go ISIS I've only seen them blow up. I'd try a FSA or truvativ BB.

 

[dexterq20]

Middleburn cranks are supposed to be the sh!t, at least from what I've heard. And don't hold your breath for a King bb. Just buy a Truvativ. I've had the best luck with those. Also, what about Holzfeller cranks? They have a pretty good strength-to-weight ratio, and they're ultra-stiff. I love mine.

 

[Rik]

That Felt crankset looks absolutely awesome, but apparently it's not in production? Or at least it's not available down here, otherwise I'd own a set

 

[Acadian]

I use Middleburn cranks with Truvativ BB on my DHR and I'm pretty happy with them so far! At first glance they might appear flimsy, but they are surprisingly stiff!!

 

[math2014]

Nothing wrong with newer RF mid/high end bbs. If you get SRX ok you are asking for it, but with an evolve and a signature you are fine.

 

[Village Idiot]

Those Fly Sports ones look insane.

 

[CreeP]

for those too lazy to find the stuff on thier own:

+middleburn - here
+Felt Spline-loc - here
+FSA x-drive - here
+RF Diabolous - here
+fly-sports propeller - here
+bonz - here
+on-one reetard - here
+profile or similar but with a ti spindle



What about the FSA Pounder? it appears that they are identical to the x-drives only in an ISIS drive format.

 

[Shmoe]

Value wise.. you cant go wrong with V-drives. I prefer them over RF northshores for sure...

The diablous look really good as well, but not many people have very much time on them.

 

[red223]

i have FSA pounders with a FSA platinum pro bb. They're extremely stiff and i doubt i'll ever break them as all of the parts are chromoly.

 

[Brian HCM#1]

I love my middleburn's, I definatly recommend them.

 

[seismic]

I have been using a set of FSA X-drive for a cuople of years and I have never had problems with them. Maybe not the most bling-bling looking cranks but the bearings are still top after two years of dropping around.

 

[JohnnyBoyDH]

Let me start by saying that I never break/bend things, but I dinged one rock with my brand new FSA cranks on my Ironhorse SGS DH bike and bent the drive side arm in. My Raceface cranks took many dings with no issues....

 

[MikeD]

I have been using a set of FSA X-drive for a cuople of years and I have never had problems with them. Maybe not the most bling-bling looking cranks but the bearings are still top after two years of dropping around.

It's refreshing to see decently priced cranks with top-quality bearings these days. I blow crank bearings all the time.

Edit: Oh, and seriously, someone posted some sort of heavy alloy crank with a big square (not tapered, as I remember) spindle a month or two ago...they looked really cool and had a good price as I remember. Anyone recall these?? They were interesting; lighter than a cromo crankset but possibly pretty tough.

 

[Village Idiot]

It's refreshing to see decently priced cranks with top-quality bearings these days. I blow crank bearings all the time.

Edit: Oh, and seriously, someone posted some sort of heavy alloy crank with a big square (not tapered, as I remember) spindle a month or two ago...they looked really cool and had a good price as I remember. Anyone recall these?? They were interesting; lighter than a cromo crankset but possibly pretty tough.

Do you mean these http://www.rncmfg.com/cranks.html

 

[buildyourown]

I love my profiles and they are damn near indestrucatable. While servicing my chainguide, I forgot to put the bolt back in that holds the drive side arm on the spindle. I didn't notice until I had already taken three runs. Woops. It didn't seem to be doing any harm, so I just kept riding. I went to the local ACE and bought a bolt that night and rode the next day too. Try that with ISIS. No harm, no foul. I have had these cranks on three bikes over 5 years and they still look new. The chrome never wears off, and the steel pedal threads hold up to frequent pedal swaps. I'm still using the original bearings too. For serious DH use, you can't beat straight splines and tubular cro-moly. If you went with the lighter arms and the Ti spindle, the weight will be reasonable. My second choice would be the raceface. I like that new system but they probably aren't any lighter and they won't look as go for as long. I wish all products were this durable.

 

[p-spec]

Get middleburns i own a set on my trials bike.There mint!

 

[profro]

In the past 3 years I have gone through 3 truvativ bbs, truvativ hussenfelts, and raceface prodigys, then I switch both of my bikes to Profiles and I couldn't believe the stiffness and durability. The bb bearings are super servicable and cheap and the arms are awesome. I am running the Ti spindle on my DH bike and I love it. I suggest Profiles.

 

[CreeP]

my friend is getting RNCs with the ti axle. I need cranks before i can find out how those hold up. I don't put much faith in the square though.


are profiles still available in that flat black they used to come in?

 

[crashnscar]

Whatever you do, don't get the FSA V-Drive's. I fell for the good price and 10 year warranty deal and now mine are bent, dont stay on the BB, and the non-drive side pedal thread is stripped (from riding.... and metal shards are sticking out of it!)

I am calling them tomorrow to get it warrantied.... anyone want to buy the warrantied ones after this teriffic story?

I give FSA V-drives a since they lasted me a few months.


As for BBs, I've never had any trouble with Truvativs or FSAs but wouldn't get a Raceface

 

[bighitfsr]

Run far far way from profiles, xdrives and other BMX style 3 pc cranks.
The BBs are total crap, no sealing, poor bearing life, heavy and tricky setup.

Go for the FSA pounders with a truvative gigapipe BB (Ti is an option with these I believe) or shimano saint or XT.
From what I've read (just about every ISIS BB post on RM) the FSA platinum pro has issues with bearing binding if the BB cups are done up too tight and all the lower end raceface blow bearings. Raceface sig series BBs seem to be good but are very expensive.

The pounders should hold up really well as the ISIS interface is steel (much harder than alu).

I'd take the shimano cranks over the race face as they have the hollow arms and have been around longer (a little more proven IMO).

 

[CreeP]

i've heard about the bearings on the saints blowing. Not sure if it is a real issue but i'm trying not to buy mass produced items. Not that saint is exactly on the scale of honda civics, but it still is shimano. If you don't feel you'll blow your karma, I highly recomend saint provided the rumours are only that. If they aren't then i won't buy the diabolous either since they use the same bearings apparently (unless of course the problems are due to lame setup, which seems likely)

the pounders do make sense for the price.

 

[Rik]

Run far far way from profiles, xdrives and other BMX style 3 pc cranks.
The BBs are total crap, no sealing, poor bearing life, heavy and tricky setup.

But it's easy enough to knock the old bearings out and replace them. Setup is only tricky if you have a tricky BB, there's a few euro bmx BB's out there that are a dream to set up. And weight... well, that's the price you pay when you get strength, a Ti axle can help alleviate the problem there.

 

[Incubus]

i've heard about the bearings on the saints blowing. Not sure if it is a real issue but i'm trying not to buy mass produced items. Not that saint is exactly on the scale of honda civics, but it still is shimano. If you don't feel you'll blow your karma, I highly recomend saint provided the rumours are only that. If they aren't then i won't buy the diabolous either since they use the same bearings apparently (unless of course the problems are due to lame setup, which seems likely)

the pounders do make sense for the price.

The Saint bearings and the Diabolus bearings are only identical in their style. That being they're both outboard. They're not the same otherwise. So I doubt that if one manufacturer is having issues then the other will be suffering from the same.

 

[binary visions]

From what I've read (just about every ISIS BB post on RM) the FSA platinum pro has issues with bearing binding if the BB cups are done up too tight

I'm told (by FSA) that they fixed this problem.

Mine has the problem, I just put it on there hand tight and make sure to tighten it once in a while. It is, after all, the non-drive side and with self-extracting crank bolts it takes all of 30 seconds to pull the arm off, tighten the cup, and put it back on.

Good BB for the price - they're pretty cheap.

 

[Jeremy R]

I'm told (by FSA) that they fixed this problem.

Mine has the problem, I just put it on there hand tight and make sure to tighten it once in a while. It is, after all, the non-drive side and with self-extracting crank bolts it takes all of 30 seconds to pull the arm off, tighten the cup, and put it back on.

Good BB for the price - they're pretty cheap.

Yeah, I have great luck with FSA's cranks and BB.
I put my Platinum Pro on my bike in late November, and I just had to replace it at Mt. Snow. It held up to a ton of DH abuse before the bearings went.
And my BB never came loose after the initial installation.
Also, My v-drives extremes are still holding up fine as well.
It seems every person on here has a different opinion on this stuff,
so that is just my 2 cents.

 

[binary visions]

Yeah, I have great luck with FSA's cranks and BB.
I put my Platinum Pro on my bike in late November, and I just had to replace it at Mt. Snow. It held up to a ton of DH abuse before the bearings went.
And my BB never came loose after the initial installation.
Also, My v-drives extremes are still holding up fine as well.
It seems every person on here has a different opinion on this stuff,
so that is just my 2 cents.

It's hard to beat crankarms and a BB this sturdy, considering it's $100 for the set!

 

[profro]

If you are at all mechanically inclined, setup on Profiles is relatively easy. The initial setup might take some time, but you have the ability to set for optimum chain line, which you can't do with ISIS style bbs. The bearings are NOT total crap, they are not sealed inside the bb cartridge ala ISIS, but I have replaced twice the number of Truvativ bbs to the number of Profile bb bearings in the same amount of time.

 

[Mr Tiles]

I've had great luck out of profiles. They are the only cranks I run now. All of the chrome is gone off of one set and they are rusting pretty good. I kinda like it for some reason...

 

[thaflyinfatman]

I hate bmx-style cranks cos they're such a pain to set up (properly...). I would recommend an FSA Ultimax BB, and RF Northshore cranks. FSA cranks seem pretty shïtful (v-drives are at least, I've bent two sets and I don't go anything remotely like big) and I keep hearing all these bad things about RF BB's.

 

[buildyourown]

Profiles are NOT hard to setup. I have put mine on different bikes with different chainguides and different sized BBs. No problems. The beauty of the system is that one set of cranks/bb will fit a variety of shell widths. By addind or removing spacers, you can change the spindle length. That way you don't have to buy a new BB when you get a new frame. As for bearing durabilty. 5 seasons in the PacNW inlcuding lots of high pressure hose downs at Whistler, original bearings. Nuff said.

 

[Spunger]

My truvativ ones don't seem to loosen up or have issues. It's a giga team DH and their holzfeller cranks.

My raceface prodigy cranks loosen like a mofo. I have to check the tighteness all the time. No they are not ridden loose or anything but the bolts seem to back out.

I agree though, Profiles are the way to go if looking for super strong burley cranks.

 

[CreeP]

they don't have to be in the SUPER-strong category. they just have to hold up to normal(for me) riding with room for progression and the occasional serious force.

I'm only 130 btw

 

[thaflyinfatman]

Profiles are NOT hard to setup. I have put mine on different bikes with different chainguides and different sized BBs. No problems. The beauty of the system is that one set of cranks/bb will fit a variety of shell widths. By addind or removing spacers, you can change the spindle length. That way you don't have to buy a new BB when you get a new frame. As for bearing durabilty. 5 seasons in the PacNW inlcuding lots of high pressure hose downs at Whistler, original bearings. Nuff said.

I don't have profiles, I have some generic ones and they SUCK (I hope Profiles are better). Yeah they can be adapted to different widths, but the whole hold-this-and-don't-let-that-move-while-i-tighten-this-other-thing really pisses me off. And BECAUSE they're so hard to get right, the lack of correct bearing preload means that the bearings crap themselves.

Spacers are the devil, btw. Especially needing to have five between the crank arm and the bearings - that's just stupid. ISIS = no spacers = good (even though the bearing system is pretty poor).

 

[Rik]

I have some generic ones and they SUCK (I hope Profiles are better).

You're referring to the Liquids (which use the same BB as DMR's), yeh?
I found it's one of the better euro BMX BB's... compared with the Profile and Odyssey ones, the Liquids are a dream to set up IMO. At least you can adjust bearing preload relatively easy, on my Odyssey BB, which is similar to most other BMX euro BB's, you have to use spacers alone to adjust preload, which means a whole lot of trial and error, and great chance of things going wrong.

 

[profro]

Maybe some people aren't cut out to adjust things on there own bikes. I'm not trying to knock anyone, but adjusting the bearing preload and setting up Profiles isn't that hard and if you can't do it, the take it to the nearest BMX shop. Likely someone there can do it relatively easy.

 

[thaflyinfatman]

You're referring to the Liquids (which use the same BB as DMR's), yeh?
I found it's one of the better euro BMX BB's... compared with the Profile and Odyssey ones, the Liquids are a dream to set up IMO. At least you can adjust bearing preload relatively easy, on my Odyssey BB, which is similar to most other BMX euro BB's, you have to use spacers alone to adjust preload, which means a whole lot of trial and error, and great chance of things going wrong.

Having to hold the cup precisely in place while you tighten the lockring with a tool that doesn't quite fit over the bb cup tool is GREAT fun, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has lots of priceless artefacts they'd like to smash in frustration.

 

[profro]

Having to hold the cup precisely in place while you tighten the lockring with a tool that doesn't quite fit over the bb cup tool is GREAT fun, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has lots of priceless artefacts they'd like to smash in frustration.

I am using a FSA and a generic European BB and they are nothing like this.

 

[thaflyinfatman]

I am using a FSA and a generic European BB and they are nothing like this.

Awesome, I own a cupboard and it's totally irrelevant.

 

[profro]

Awesome, I own a cupboard and it's totally irrelevant.

It is relevant.

You are giving the opinion that BMX style bbs are too hard to setup and because of your experience someone might not try it out. I am saying that with the BMX style bbs I have tried from FSA and a generic company there isn't the problem you have with holding the cup while tightening the lock ring.