Follow the money. FSA cranks are less expensive than Shimano, and the average rider isn't very discerning or experienced with the relative attributes of different cranksets.

I'd say "cost".

As stated before, their lower end stuff=garbage. I can't speak for their higher end cranks.
And, yes: Cannondale trusts their rings enough to spec them on Hollograms.

Dang! I was ready to pop down my money for a FC-7950 ... but that link is for a 170mm crank.

Rofl at people talking about slk.

I ran sl-k light crank, no problems with sram red fd-rd-shifters. I moved to a red crank also for the lower profile.

The only shimano crank i would consider is the duraace, fugly, but strong. But sl-k light and sram red are nearly identical stiffness as duraace testsnhave shown. They all shift the same. Oh wait, shimano needs adapters for bb30, guess i wont run them anytime, if ever as ling as i have bb30.

My FSA Gossamer has been nothing but trouble, too. I wear 9-speed chains out more quickly than 10-speed chains on an Ultegra crank. Had to replace the chain rings on the FSA.

Ultegra SL...+30 grams over the Dura Ace 7800, but stiffer and IMO, a whole lot prettier.
Shifting is about the same between the two (with the nod going to 7800 for smoothness).
I have an Ultegra SL crankset with Dura Ace 7800 rings which gives me the best of both.
But, I will be changing the ring to a Shimano Yumeya ring which shifts better than even
7800 and retains the SL's original rings' looks. Plus, it's 10 grams lighter so in the end,
I'll end up with a crankset that looks like an Ultegra SL, but will be 20 grams lighter and
will shift better than Dura Ace (final weight should be an 790g VS DA 780g).

Cheap cheap cheap Is there a bird in here?

OP - the low end FSA cranks are not especially incredible... I'd stay away.

The higher end cranks are just fine, they don't shift as smoothly as Shimano cranks do, but neither does anything else.

I use FSA bars on every one of my bikes, use FSA stems on 1/2 my bikes, and use posts/brakes/etc frequently enough... they are all find and do the job reliably.

Again, the low-end FSA parts are just that... I wouldn't expect them to be the equal of nice kit.

SRAM - great parts, they are the cranks on all my bikes, the FR/RD/brakes/etc on all my bikes - I swear by them. The front shifting isn't as smooth as Shimano, but the pluses of SRAM far out-weigh the minuses. 100% approved by this guy.

If you are moving towards SRAM, use their crank set. You mention weight as part of the issue. What kind of wheels are you using and how much do they weigh? Is it hilly where you live? You mention a 53/39 so I would think not toooo hilly and then how much of a difference is the weight savings really going to mean? I notice a bigger difference in bike performance when I put on my 1300 gram wheel set.

I would think that a larger part of your decision should be based on shifter brifter design differences between SRAM and Shimano. Don't ask me, I use Campy but I would choose SRAM for the shifter brifter design over Shimano. No knock on Shimano as their stuff works well.

OP, out of curiosity, did you go rival, force or red?

All the research I did said that Shimano and FSA BBs are compatible just like you say. I attempted to replace the BB in my crappy Gossamer with a 105 BB, but when I went to push the crank spindle through the BB, it wouldn't go. I tried pretty hard and there was no way it was going through, so I just put the megaexo BB back on. I'm not sure if I was doing something wrong or what.

It is a tight fit, but it works. I did that with the Gossamer crank that came stock on my TriCross after the bottom bracket gave up the ghost after all of 1400 miles. This year I switched it to Ultegra 6650 to match my riding better and the fit with the bottom bracket was (of course) much better.

My Ultegra SL crank is stiffer and shifts much better than the FSA Gossamer it replaced. Love my Red crank (and Red/Force mix group) on my new build. So to answer your question...
SRAM? Yes. FSA? Not even.

I am one of the (apparent) few who have also had no issues whatsoever with FSA components. Maybe my guads aren't as massive as those of you who are constantly breaking FSA stuffs.

Maybe just get Di2 to fix it all

Thank you.

How does Di2 fix crappy bearings?

I just bought some SRAM stuff - APEX cranks and GPX BB. The box clearly said Made in Taiwan, so I don't buy the made in USA line. The stuff works well and after reading these posts I'm glad I didn't opt for FSA, which I was considering. I ru ncampy 10 speed and I get smooth enough shifting with the APEX rings.

Switched from an FSA Gossamer to a Shimano 5600 HTII, and have never looked back. FSA cranks just cannot compare to Shimano. The Gossamer crank arm would come loose all the time and make a little creaking noise sometimes.

I think manufacturers use the equivalent FSA crank on their bikes because they might get them for a lot cheaper than the Shimano one.

You win the most ignorant post of the thread.

What should the CEO of a billion dollar public company be paid?

I am referring to two other threads going on right now where Di2 seems to be the shizz that makes everything better. It was totally tongue in cheek.

It seems a lot of the reason for using FSA cranks lately is BB30 compatibility. I don't think bike manufacturers like to put together a Shimano drive train with an SRAM BB30 crank, so FSA is one of the only other options out there.