Hi guys,

After completing my brakes upgrade i am now wondering the following.
RaceFace Prodigy XC crankset vs Shimano XT octalink.
RaceFace Deus stem vs Easton EA50 stem vs Raceface Prodigy Stem.
and finaly Raceface low riser bars vs Easton EA50 risers.

Any opinions are valuable to me. I weight 200lbs 6.3" and i ride XC/DH(mild) with a specialized hardtail. Durability and weight are an issue to me and mainly stiffness and robustness.

thanks guys.

You are talking about the same quality (give or take a little bit here and there). It will be pure opinion.

I prefer the look and style of raceface and they are very tough. And they are canadian a big plus for me

thomson stem

I second Peter.

If its an option, I have always had good luck with Thomson stuff.


-moab

XT cranks over the Prodigy cranks. Easily.

A stem's a stem until you get a Ritchey WCS.

I've always run Raceface bars, to good effect.

A

I'd save a bit more and get LP Turbines, over the XT's or the Prodigy line. It's o.k., but the LP's are sweet and the rings are great!

I agree with the Thomson stem, or the RF Diablos, or an Azonic block stem (can't remember name!)

I've had RF riser and liked it and it held up well, and Easton is always top notch stuff, so that's a toss up! Currently, I running some Easton Monkeylites.

Race Face Diablus is HOT!. I am grabbing one just for sheer sexiness. That and it is strong as hell

Thomson for stem and seatpost. Raceface for bar and XT for crankset. Then you can tell them yours is like mine.

But seriously, all are good. I ride Thomson on both road and MTB and think they are the best (opinions are like.......everyone has one). Have had excellent luck with my XT gear, but like to see someone give them some competition.

The Diablo is a great stem. I run one and it seems to have no flex and never loosens. But if he is building a xc bike it will be a bit too short.

As for all the products you mentioned, they all work great. It is going to be a matter of personal choice. I run a mix of Race Face, Shimano, Thompson and Easton on one bike. As mentioned before, check out Thompson. Very good equipment.

As for looks I would say either the Race Face stuff or Thompson.

Just know that if you get the Octalink you have no choices on what bb you can use. Only the Shimano will work. Where as the Race Face you can get a bb from many diff companies that will work.

Slainte

I never imagined myself paying 80 USD for a stem. One day, I was feeling a little saucy, so I dropped the money on a Thomson stem. It was worth every penny.

I run a Race Face SYStem (no longer produced I don't think) mated to Easton CT2 straight bars (they're called EC70 bars now I think) and they sit on top a Race Face Thermo SP headset. I also have RF Turbines (square taper) mated to an RF BB. All of these components came stock on the bike (except the stem... OEM was Titec for that and I replaced it because it was too long) have held up strong through a lot of crashes over the past 4 years. The SYStem is a damn stiff stem. It's a little on the heavy side by it's well built. I was originally worried I'd snap my CT2 bars like a twig on the first crash but I've since hooked plenty of trees (and yes I do run barends even) and smacked them around pretty hard but careful inspection shows not even a scratch. The cranks and BB still spin like new with no play whatsoever and they shift just as smoothly as XTR. When it comes time to replace my BB and cranks, I'll probably go for ISIS splined RF Nexts and a RF Signature (either Ti or XS) BB... I have a Ti Taperlock now. All in all, you can't really lose with Race Face. I'd also give a thumb's up for Easton. My fork legs and swingarm assembly are both made by Easton (the bike is a K2 OzM with a Crosslink carbon fork). I have their seatposts (CT2... now called EC70) on both my MTB and my RB. I also run Easton EC90 road bars on my RB.