Crank Rock Strikes

Posted by: SixZeroSixOne

Also consider the sag of your shock....

Anecdotally, I seem to have more rock strikes when I've lost a few PSI from my shock. I must remember to check my shock pressure more often. 😳

This

Posted by: DemonMike

All part of the sport 'IF' you ride no groomed trails. I run alloy cranks as well. Boots do help on carbon cranks. But they still can have the pedal thread get trashed. At least with alloys they are typically half the price to replace.

I can’t for the life of me justify carbon cranks. Of all places to save on weight that is the last place I would go.

agreed. With the new reality of a lower bb aluminum cranks seem the only way to go.

I was also thinking about setting less sag. Only two rides on the new rig so early days of set up.

Posted by: Poz

Posted by: DemonMike

All part of the sport 'IF' you ride no groomed trails. I run alloy cranks as well. Boots do help on carbon cranks. But they still can have the pedal thread get trashed. At least with alloys they are typically half the price to replace.

I can’t for the life of me justify carbon cranks. Of all places to save on weight that is the last place I would go.

Agreed. Carbon is a great material for alot of things, but cranks aren't one of those things. I can't ever recall thinking my ride would somehow be better if only I had carbon instead of alloy cranks. OTOH, I know many people who's ride has been ruined when their carbon cranks detonated. Not for me.

Posted by: Brocklanders

Posted by: SixZeroSixOne

Also consider the sag of your shock....

Anecdotally, I seem to have more rock strikes when I've lost a few PSI from my shock. I must remember to check my shock pressure more often. 😳

This

On a similar note also have to consider how a bike uses it's travel. I had a horrible time with the original Norco Range and pedal strikes while climbing. Had to do with sag, wallowy mid stroke, short chain stays, slack sta, steep climb, and some magic combination involving all of the above. 

FWIW with a modern hardtail none of those issues are issues

Posted by: Poz

Posted by: DemonMike

All part of the sport 'IF' you ride no groomed trails. I run alloy cranks as well. Boots do help on carbon cranks. But they still can have the pedal thread get trashed. At least with alloys they are typically half the price to replace.

I can’t for the life of me justify carbon cranks. Of all places to save on weight that is the last place I would go.

I had a set of Next SL,s the 1st version. I did get several seasons before the inserts came loose. Switched to a alloy version and have not looked back. Old bike has carbon bars, new bike has no carbon what so ever.

Posted by: OneShavedLeg

I was also thinking about setting less sag. Only two rides on the new rig so early days of set up.

I would 100% not go this route personally.

Get your suspension setup perfect and address the crank strikes in another way. Either with boots / shorter cranks / be more aware of your pedal position, etc...

Why compromise on suspension setup (which we use for 100% of our ride time) for the sake of something that happens rarely?

If you're coming off an "old" bike switching to a more progressive bike you'll have plenty of things to relearn so I wouldn't consider having the ratchet a little more often as a dealbreaker. If you're finely tuned into your old bike you'll find everything has changed. Weight shifts, balance, stability are all different on a longer wheelbase bike, different chainstay lengths, ESTA, etc. Adjusting to new BB clearance is just another thing to relearn on a new bike.

@thaad I agree on the set up to suit your riding. I think though that when setting air pressure in the fork and shock that I was thinking lighter than I weigh with all the gear on. Or how do you say, quarantine fifteen? ;)

Anyhow some fiddling about mixed with relearning the skill set as @craw states should go a long way to sorting this stuff out. 

Thanks again for all the great feedback!

Posted by: craw

If you're coming off an "old" bike switching to a more progressive bike you'll have plenty of things to relearn so I wouldn't consider having the ratchet a little more often as a dealbreaker. If you're finely tuned into your old bike you'll find everything has changed. Weight shifts, balance, stability are all different on a longer wheelbase bike, different chainstay lengths, ESTA, etc. Adjusting to new BB clearance is just another thing to relearn on a new bike.

This is my position right now - moving to a Fugitive LT the BB was much lower and necessitated composite pedals - I'm smashing rocks that I didn't ever notice but then I had to realise that my riding style was a consequence of the last bike. So the learning curve goes

Posted by: DanL

Posted by: craw

If you're coming off an "old" bike switching to a more progressive bike you'll have plenty of things to relearn so I wouldn't consider having the ratchet a little more often as a dealbreaker. If you're finely tuned into your old bike you'll find everything has changed. Weight shifts, balance, stability are all different on a longer wheelbase bike, different chainstay lengths, ESTA, etc. Adjusting to new BB clearance is just another thing to relearn on a new bike.

This is my position right now - moving to a Fugitive LT the BB was much lower and necessitated composite pedals - I'm smashing rocks that I didn't ever notice but then I had to realise that my riding style was a consequence of the last bike. So the learning curve goes

The composites are a good point. I’ll likely never go back to metal pedals. Most of composites are serviceable, lighter and because of their cost I won’t shed a tear if I bend ore damage.

I inherited carbon X0 cranks on the Fugitive and was freaking the f*ck out when I got strikes even with boots, but it's a sunk cost so I'll just replace them when they die, if I'd explicitly paid for them I'd be very scared. The crank brothers stamps have been taking an absolute kicking and there are no problems at all.

I bought 2 sets of carbon cranks back when they first came out and I was working in aerospace composite manufacturing...just out of professional interest and a 3rd set came on a complete bike I bought. My GF has a 4th set that came on a complete bike. Logging many years of riding on all those cranks I managed to loosen the pedal insert on the set installed on my one bike with a low BB after several seasons of use including the many crashes that happen MTBing. The damaged pair were the lightest XC/trail variant of that crank. 

While I'm not motivated to buy more carbon cranks at this point I wouldn't say no if they came on a complete bike or I got them at a discount. I expect I'll be riding the carbon cranks I have for many more years. They don't seem particularly fragile especially the later versions that were built even stronger with feed back from the lighter duty versions.