I was looking to replace a crank on a commuter/beater bike. The Race Face Deus and Evolve looked affordable but MTBreview doesn't give them great reviews. Anyone try either version? If so, what did you think? Are there better budget cranks out there? I'm not spending more money on a crank than the bike's worth.


Tim

MTB reviews are peer written, this includes 12 year olds take them with a grain of salt. Commuter/beater bike, get whatevers on sale would be my advice.

I have both Race Face Atlas and Evolve cranks on 2 different bikes and they work just fine. As mentioned before, you have 13 year olds with no jobs buying parts cheaper parts to do HUGE jumps and what not with parts not meant for that and they fail, well no ****. You'll be happy with the Race Face cranks.

If it's just a beater/commuter, Nashbar, Jenson, or Pricepoint will likely have something that'll work. Cheap.
Check with your local shop(s) as well. They may have something cheap and easy hanging around in the used bins.

I can't imagine putting a Deus crank/BB assembly on a beater/commuter bike.

For reading the mtbr reviews, you have to read selectively, and filter out all the asshats.

The RF cranks are nice, but their BB's are crap. I went through 3 last season, on a bike I race and train on maybe 2 or 3 times a week. My brother went through 2 in less time. If you get those cranks, sell the BB and pick up an XT BB, you'll be glad you did.

Mo bettah option:

https://www.enduroforkseals.com/id180.html

I've got two RF crank/bb setups: one with the bearings swapped to the plain steel bearings, one to the ceramics. Problems solved. I'll not buy the ceramics again; maybe a measurable difference in the lab, or if I raced, but for my trail riding I can't tell a damn bit of difference between the two when pedaling.

Anyhow, most of the problems I've seen with RF outboard bearings have been from overdoing things with the spacers and putting too much preload on the bearings. The only thing wrong with their system otherwise as I see it is the stupid little plastic sleeve bits. The enduros use a smaller I.D. on the bearings, meaning you no longer need that part.

Thanks for the link. So, is it the bearings or the entire BB assembly that needs replacement?

Tim

no no, don't even worry about that right now. you may never have any problems anyhow; plenty of riders have had no trouble with the race face stuff. i broke one of the little plastic spacer sleeves on my stock setup, so swapped in new cups/bearings for the hell of it. since the new ones don't need the sleeve, problem solved. easier than ordering new freakin' spacer sleeves.

if you really want them, get the evolve xc set. anything more than that is overkill on a commuter, IMO. actually, that's overkill on a commuter.

go to your local shop, e-bay, or a ton of various online places to get a cheap and easy crank/bb for your commuter. unless you're super picky about how it looks parked in front of the coffee shop, you can find something easily for $50-75.

if you want outboard on a budget, get some shimano lx or hone units. they both can be found for decent prices, and on sale all over with different web retailers.

I've been using the deus on one bike since 05, no problems. Stiff, light, chainrings last.

that's been my experience with two sets of evolve xc. the only hitch was the stupid plastic axle to inner bearing race shim part. whatever race face calls it. managed to mangle two of them (swapping the setup to a different frame.) that and possible overloading of the bearings with too many spacers in place when you tighten things up are really their only problems as i see it. i've set up some shimano units, and that is their big nicety - stupid easy to set-up.

so long as you pay a little attention when installing them and don't be a ham-fisted mechanic, they're fine.

the evolve sets come with crappier rings, steel bolts. i replaced the steel bolts with alu ring bolts i already had from my prior crankset, and swapped the steel rings for nicer alu units when the stockers started getting a bit long in the tooth. all that and setting both mine up with outer bash rings. you can even get the big m18 alu arm to spindle replacement alu bolt for a deus unit to lose a nice chunk of weight as well.

less money spent overall, and i end up with a set nearly as light as a deus set for much less money. (if you don't count the eventual replacement rings - stuff you'll have to buy new of at some point anyhow.) yeah, they don't looks as nice, but they're all gouged and dinged up now anyhow, so...

A freind of mine just bought the Evolve last year and is trying it now. Ive not had any problems with my BB yet but this bike isn't a daily rider so it doesn't see as much use as it would in other circumstances. I used an 04 race face Ride XC crank for a couple seasons on a bike I built, had no problems with them either, even though they were low end. How's the weather Scrub? We've got about 10 inches on the ground now.

Enduro seals for forks and for BB rock, I have them in all my forks and 1 BB, soon to upgrade the other BB.

You've also got to realize that most of the reviews, not all, are written because something went wrong. I think that I would be more inclined to whine about something if I were pissed off at it breaking. I have Truvative Firex's, which didn't have very good reviews, but I got a great deal on them and I love them.