Road Cycling - Carbon Cranks

I've been reading up on carbon cranks (since I saw some relatively good deals on Ebay for a few brands)...through it all, there seems to be a distinct division between those who claim that carbon is a great upgrade cause it's stiffer and lighter and cost is the only drawback. However, there are also those who say that carbon is not stiffer, makes no difference at all and is only an asthetic upgrade.

If anyone has any saddle time experience with these I'd live to hear your impressions. I currently ride an old Ultegra set and was interested in the Profiles or FSA's. SO what do YOU think? Stiffer? Lighter? B.S.?

Thanks everyone and ride on!

If anyone has any saddle time experience with these I'd live to hear your impressions. I currently ride an old Ultegra set and was interested in the Profiles or FSA's. SO what do YOU think? Stiffer? Lighter? B.S.?

I'm of the latter camp but I do have carbon cranks and I really like them. I don't think there's much in terms of practical performance gains between carbon cranks and a high-end aluminum crank. The CF cranks however do look nicer (IMHO). If there's spare cash laying about and nothing else to throw it towards then go for the CF cranks. If you're budgetting and prioritising then I'd definately throw the money towards better wheels first.

Yeah...just got the wheels so I'm moving on!

Velonews did a comparison of a bunch of carbon cranks last month and threw in Dura Ace for an aluminum comparison. I can't find my copy right now but if I remember right the Dura Aces were the third lightest (within a few grams of the lightest) and the stiffest by a long shot. The test included all the major brands of carbon cranks along with Colnagos and some cheepies. I would definitely read it before buying a set of carbon cranks.

you can pic up some of the FSA compact carbons (50T/39T) for arouns $320 from excell sports...they claim that with an 11-23 cassette you get a more practical range, and less overlap than with conventional setups.

do i WANT carbon cranks? hell yes. do i NEED carbon cranks? umm...probably not, but it depends on who's asking. :)

I've thought about the compact cranks myself but our tues night torture ride has a downhill that someone always attacks on and I am real close to spinning out my 53-11 so the compact cranks (50/38) probably would not work for me. As for carbon cranks I think if you are a spinner they would be fine but if you pound the pedals the stiffest (dura ace) is probably the way to go.

http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/reviews/crank.shtml

Thanks for the article shokhead - found it helpful and informative!

the Dura Aces were the third lightest (within a few grams of the lightest) and the stiffest by a long shot.

Bare in mind that Dura Aces have the bearings integrated with the crank arms, so they are probably the lightest cranks around (unless the weight includes the complete BB, in which case ignore me).

I read at some point that something like the FSA's that I picked up were stiffer than the alloy Campy cranks. That was a big part of the decision. Seriously.