I love my e*thirteen TRSr cranks. Like, I really love them, but every time I talk to one of the guys at KRD (the distributor) he keeps telling me that I need to see the Race Face Next SL cranks to truly know what is indeed up. Well, yesterday a box arrived in the office, and when I initially saw it I thought it was a crankset but as the courier passed it over my desk I wasn’t so sure. I mean this was a light box, a really frickin’ light box. I thought I’d weigh it on our postal scales (they weigh up to the nearest 10 grams) and the box came in at 710 grams. To break that down for you, my alloy TRSr cranks (with 32t ring) weigh 694grams and a set of carbon XX1 cranks (with 32t ring) weighs 670grams. So without the box they were going to be crazy light.
So as you can see, out the box things are indeed crazy with the cranks and 28t ring weighing in at a paltry 420 grams (Race Face say they should weigh 425g).
The cranks themselves are pretty simple. The carbon arms are completely hollow and are produced with all the unnecessary stuff removed; there’s no alloy insert at all.
The 30mm spline interface is machined from a newly commercialised aluminium super alloy that is 20% stronger than 7050 alloy (the alloy commonly used in this application).
It would have been rude for Race Face not to include their spider-less Narrow/Wide chainring. They were second to market with this thing and it’s a proven performer.
This sweet little lockring holds your chainring securely in place.
And much like the e*thirteen TRS cranks the non-drive side comes with this sweet CNC’d preload adjuster. All you need to do is install your cranks to the correct torque setting then hand tighten up the preload adjuster to fine tune play, it even has a little pinch bolt to ensure that it won’t move.
Now as you would expect all this doesn’t come cheap; you may have to mortgage your first born or downgrade your wife’s bike but you could own a set of these tomorrow for just $899 (with BB). They are shipping now and all shops should be able to get them for you.
Specs
BUILT FOR: XC Race/Trail/Enduro
SIZE: 170, 175mm
BB OPTIONS: BB92, 68/73 BSA, 100mm BSA, PF30
BB Chart for Full Compatability Options
Spindle Diameter: 30mm
WEIGHT: 175mm w/o BB
B.C.D.: 64/104mm
535g (22/36T, 24/36T)
540g (24/38T)
585g (22/32/42T, 24/32/42T)
B.C.D.: 80/120mm
545g (26/38T)
560g (28/40T)
SPIDERLESS DIRECT MOUNT: 26,28,30,32,36,34T)
425g (28T)
CHAINLINE:
2X w/bash – 47mm
2X w/o bash – 49.0mm
3X – 51mm
DM – 51mm
RING CONFIGURATION:
64/104mm, 80/120, Spiderless
