Let's talk about Carbon Cranks

i now own 2 mtb specific fsa carbon cranks. the first set i have is a carbon pro atb set with 28/38/48 chainring combination with 170mm arms and 5 arm-spider 110bcd. its very stiff and light and i love the gearing combination.
i just bought a fsa carbon pro atb team issue set with 22/32/44 chainring combination with a 4-arm spider and am loving that also even though i wish the chainrings were a little bigger. 22 teeth on a crank chainring is just way to small for me, maybe i'll use it someday though on an ultra gnarly technical uphill or something, i dunno. best shifting and stiffest cranks i have ever used. using ISIS drive also.
as far as the money is concerned its well worth it. 10 year warranty on the crankarms, 2 years on the chainrings, cant beat that.

Upstroke said:

How much of a diffrance does a Carbon Crank make ? Is the 200.00 - 300.00
worth the amount of return?
Does it compare with getting a set of nice ( for example) wheels.
Does anyone on the Forum regret buying a Carbon crank after it was all said and done.

difference in what, weight?

Some people claim that their carbon cranks flex more than alu

I think it's telling that Campagnolo make carbon cranks only up to 175mm, but make their 177.5 and 180s in aluminium.

531Aussie said:

difference in what, weight?

Some people claim that their carbon cranks felx more than alu

I think it's telling that Campagnolo make carbon cranks only up to 175mm, but make their 177.5 and 180s in aluminium.

Differance in performance. Enegy spent by the rider and what kind of performance gain comared to the performance of the same bike with a Ultegra crank?

My understanding is that the only benefits from carbon cranks are weight savings and "bling"

here's a crank stiffness test done by Shimano

http://dura-ace.shimano.com/publish/content/duraace/en/home/the_product0/drive_train.ExtraMainContentPar.0017.File.tmp/VN-crank-results-web.pdf

in my opnion, like a lot of carbon stuff, carbon cranks aren't worth the money

Well there you go, Thanks,
Joel

eh, don't let me stop ya 🙂

if you really want 'em, get 'em

they DO look great.

531Aussie said:

eh, don't let me stop ya 🙂

if you really want 'em, get 'em

they DO look great.

My frame should be here tomorrow or tuesday. I took apart my Litespeed Classic, sold the frame ( has always been too small) and I'm going to put everything on to the new frame. The crank is a Ultegra Triple and the BB was trashed (new in 1998). So....I really want to buy one BB and not change my mind later. Just trying to priortize the process. The idea of a Carbon Crank didn't exist until last week. 🙂

Upstroke said:

Differance in performance. Enegy spent by the rider and what kind of performance gain comared to the performance of the same bike with a Ultegra crank?

...

Does it compare with getting a set of nice ( for example) wheels.

No where near the comparison. If it can even be said that a carbon crankset will yeild a measurable performance gain, it will not even come close to that of less rotational weight of lighter wheels, tubes and tires. No contest.

And for what it's worth, I have both Ultegra and 105 Octalink cranksets (polished silver, of course 😉 ) new in the box out in my garage. If you hold each one in a different hand the difference in weight is imperceptible. For all practical purposes they appear to be equally well made with different labels on them.