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Submitted by
jSatch
a Weekend Warrior
from SoCal
Date Reviewed: June 26, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$150.00 | | Purchased At: | BicycleWarehouse | | Strengths: | Strong rings, smooth shifts, take abuse and still pretty light.
Warrantee!! | | Weaknesses: | after 2 years the chrome on the rings was peeling off | | Similar Products Used: | shimano | | Bike Setup: | SC Heckler | | Bottom Line: | Already posted for this when new, but regarding TruVativ warrantee:
Had this on my old Spec Stumpy XC Pro and mercilessly wore down the drivetrain. Frame welds gave way so went with a new bike.
Built up a SC Heckler- new drivetrain, except the cranks. The rings were shot, but as the chrome on the rings was peeling off I took it into BicycleWarehouse to see what they could do for new rings. They contacted TruVativ and put on a brand spanking new set of rings. Cost- nada. NADA!! Still within the 2 year warrantee period. Way cool, and lookin' good too.
The bb was getting a little scratchy. Typical here in SoCal with all the very fine powder that lines all the trails (except after a rain- ha, ha). Almost 2 years is darn good. Got a new one for nearly half the price of a comparable Shimano XT bb.
I think TruVativ made a good choice when compromising weight vs strength on these cranks. No complaints.
Sweet all around. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Antonio
a
from Madrid(Spain)
Date Reviewed: January 4, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | Cercedilla | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$130.00 | | Purchased At: | ChainReaction | | Strengths: | Nice, Lightweight, Cheap, and Strong | | Weaknesses: | crank bolt kept coming out until i called truvativ and they said to put a couple of washers on the bolt. this solved the problem. | | Bike Setup: | Lapierre X-Control 310
Norco Six 1 | | Bottom Line: |
This as good as some shimano Xt but cheaper.
I use the cranks with Qrings | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
ribaldmanikin
a
from Edmonton, AB, CA
Date Reviewed: August 1, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | River Valley Cycle | | Strengths: | Stiff, improved shifting, lightweight. | | Weaknesses: | Aluminum crank bolt. Sheared off at the beginning of a ride on a 4 day riding vacation, 2.5 hours from the nearest bike shop. | | Similar Products Used: | Kooka, XT, XTR, LX, RaceFace. | | Bike Setup: | 04 Dakar XC Comp, Duke XC forks, XTR wheelset, Avid BB7, SRAM Attack shifters, XT derailleurs, XT Cassette. | | Bottom Line: | I've loved these cranks since the day they were installed. I've never been happier with cranks on any bike I've ridden. Having a trip ruined because of a cheap aluminum crank bolt sure made me rethink the love. I've replaced the bolt with a steel bolt. I'll take the weight penalty.
I'm not hard on my bikes, and spend as much time taking care of them as riding them. Everything is torqued according to specs.
This review is for Truvativ Stylo Team GXP crankset. I think they are 06's.
I'd give them a 5/5 if it wasn't for that cheap aluminum bolt. However, a $3 fix isn't going to hurt the rating. Just pick up an extra steel bolt for your camelback. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Russell
a Downhiller
from Boise, Idaho
Date Reviewed: July 29, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Super-G | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$125.00 | | Purchased At: | www.blueskycycling.com | | Strengths: | Lightweight, Cheap, and Strong | | Weaknesses: | Left arm used to come loose a lot (but that was probably my fault for not tightening it) | | Similar Products Used: | Truvativ crappies, Diablous, FSA MegaExo | | Bike Setup: | 06 Trek Session 77, Travis Single Intrinsic, Manitou Revox, Transition Bikes components | | Bottom Line: | What more can I say? These have not failed on me yet, and they have taken a ton of abuse.
BUY THEM | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
mnh
a Cross Country Rider
from San Jose, CA
Date Reviewed: June 12, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Purchased At: | Jenson | | Strengths: | affordable, smooth precise shifting. 2+ years of hard riding, crashes, log hits and still going strong. | | Weaknesses: | crank arm finish wore quickly. Blue crank arms from ankle rub lost their finish within a couple of weeks. | | Similar Products Used: | XTR, race face | | Bike Setup: | 97 superlight, xtr hubs, mavic 717 rims, monkey light, fox float 100 RLC, xt rapid fire, xt front/rear, stylo team crankset - blue crank arms | | Bottom Line: | I bought these to replace a set of worn out xtr cranks. Originally I was going to replace the bike and just wanted a cheap crankset for the occasional ride. A couple years later I still haven't replaced the bike, it's just too much fun. The cranks have done really well, holding up to a fair amount of abuse. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Pablo
a Weekend Warrior
from Quito-Ecuador
Date Reviewed: May 5, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Very stiff | | Weaknesses: | In two years I changed the second ring once | | Bike Setup: | Jamis Dakar comp fox float, XT shifters and rear derailleur, manitou black elite, XTR rims, monkey lite handlebar. | | Bottom Line: | I made mainly cross cowntry an couple good races. And the last 8 months I started doing FR until my frame got broken. My crankset NEVER gave me problems, what else can I say? | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Nicolas Le Clerc
a Weekend Warrior
from Singapore
Date Reviewed: April 11, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Any | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Stiff, dependable
Affordable | | Weaknesses: | Not the lightest | | Similar Products Used: | Truvativ Stylo carbon, Crank Bros Cobalt | | Bike Setup: | Turner 5 Spot, Pike 454 air u-turn | | Bottom Line: | I like these cranks. They used to be on my Flux. I temporarily retired them when my upgraded my Flux to the lighter Crank Bros Cobalt and I got the more recent Truvativ Stylo carbon cranks on my 5 Spot. However I hated the carbon Stylos from the first minute I rode them, I found them way too flexy. I pulled my older aluminium Stylo Team out of retirement and installed them on the 5 Spot where they fit perfectly: the right balance of stiffness, dependability and weight for a trail bike. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Russell
a Downhiller
from Boise
Date Reviewed: January 19, 2007 | | Favorite Trail: | Super-G at Tamarack | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$125.00 | | Purchased At: | Blueskycycling | | Strengths: | Cheap, Strong, light. Simple. | | Weaknesses: | Chainrings are way soft. You need a bash and should buy new chainrings. | | Similar Products Used: | Cheap truvativ cranks | | Bike Setup: | Trek session 7. | | Bottom Line: | I'm using these for downhill running 22/38/bash. They work great. No complaints at all. They don't have any play like my old ones did and feel very smooth. The one piece gxp is genious. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
jSatch
a Cross Country Rider
from SoCal
Date Reviewed: October 12, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | the one leading to the pool | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$150.00 | | Purchased At: | bicyclewarehouse (LBS) | | Strengths: | smooth shifts
strong rings
stiff bb | | Weaknesses: | they don't pedal for me | | Similar Products Used: | the bendy junk they stocked on the XC bike | | Bike Setup: | two wheels | | Bottom Line: | a huge improvement over the junk that came on the bike (old stumpy fsr pro)
they take a pounding up hill, and remain stiff with the external GXP bb. i can now beat the he** out of myself and not blame the bike for not making the hill
rings a lot stronger than the stock junk- still true
but this is still an XC design- not made for jumps :-(
i have not had a problem with anything coming loose (newer 1 piece design, as mentioned by Foho), least not yet
after reading some of the problems here i had it professionally installed and correctly torqued, just in case anything fell off, it would go back
so far, no worries, just riding
also, lots of dusty trails in the canyons hereabouts in SoCal- as of yet, no sign of the bb crapin’ out like the last one
so if you actually work for a living, i think this is a very good value as the prices increase exponentially for the someone else will pay for it team gear | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Patrick Warner
a Weekend Warrior
from Needham, MA
Date Reviewed: August 18, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | my backyard | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | When they are tightened and not coming apart (which is not very often) they are smooth, relatively stiff cranks. Shifting is smooth and chainrings are quality. | | Weaknesses: | Where do I even begin? I can't ride these cranks for more than 10-15 minutes without the bolt working it's way loose. No joke. If I ride for an hour, I have to get off my bike and work these things tight about 4 or 5 times. Seriously, if I get one pedel secured on a tree and put all my weight to get these things wicked tight it might last about 20 minutes tops.
This product leaves me baffled at how a company could possibly have put these things on the market. It's definitely the worst designed bike part I've ever come across. | | Similar Products Used: | Truvativ FiveD ( which also sucked but surprising less than the more expensive Shytlo) | | Bike Setup: | Santa Cruz Heckler, DHX 5.0, Fox F140 RLC, Sram X9 | | Bottom Line: | A true disappointment. This product is the worst, most annoying bike part I've ever encountered. I want Truvativ to give me my time back that I've spent trying to fix these things on the trail instead of being able to actually ride my bike. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Foho
a Cross Country Rider
from Bay Area, California
Date Reviewed: November 15, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | XC trails anywhere | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$50.00 | | Purchased At: | Used | | Strengths: | Light weight, Stiff | | Weaknesses: | Two piece spider/crank arm combination | | Similar Products Used: | Race Face Evolve | | Bike Setup: | Blur - mixed group | | Bottom Line: | I bought this crankset used and have been basically happy with it. The crank is relatively lightweight and stiff.
The one exception is the spider attachment design. The drive-side crank arm is not one-piece. It consists of three pieces - the spider, crank arm, and a spanner nut. The spider registers against the crank arm with some tabs, which keep the spider from slipping with respect to the crank arm. A thin spanner nut keeps the spider and the crank arm tightly together. If this nut were to loosen up (as it will with use and time), the crank will spice up your ride with very melodious and utterly intolerable squeaking and creaking. The chain rings, spider, and crank arm will all slip with respect to each other - with every pedal stroke - causing an amazing symphony of noise. The way to overcome this of course is to tighten up the spanner nut providing you have a special spanner wrench. The problem is that even if you have a special wrench, the very few threads on the nut can be stripped very easily rendering the crank useless.
This loosening and stripping of the spanner nut of course happened to my crankset (probably something to do with the crankset being used) and I ended up spending a good part of an afternoon making parts and chasing threads. The final cure was to reverse the nut and use one-ton epoxy to mate all the pieces back together. It now works well and quietly too.
The newer version of this crankset is one piece and the above problems do not apply. Inspect the crankset carefully to be sure.
I would give it five chilis for a one-piece version but for this one, unfortunately three chilis will have to do. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
jay li
a Weekend Warrior
from san jose, ca, usa
Date Reviewed: July 8, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | fremont older | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$99.00 | | Purchased At: | cambria bike | | Strengths: | Price is low. Shifts better than original Suntour crank that came with the bike. With over 500 miles on fire trails, single track and a few crashes I have not bent the chainrings. Lighter than original Suntour. | | Weaknesses: | For the price I see none. | | Similar Products Used: | Suntour | | Bike Setup: | 2001 GT Agressor 1. Original frame. Everything else upgraded. | | Bottom Line: | A great value and good performer. So good that I bought another one for my custom built Giant NRS. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
gary
a Cross Country Rider
from sacramento, ca usa
Date Reviewed: July 6, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | Shifted well and chainrings were durable | | Weaknesses: | Snapped drive-side crank like a twig. | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale MTB XC | | Bottom Line: | I thought I had bent my pedal spindle until the crank snapped when I came over a rise. Customer service has been completely unresponsive. Come on SRAM/Truvativ at least give me some kind of word. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Earthfoote
a Racer
from Oklahoma City, OK
Date Reviewed: April 17, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | anywhere the wheels can roll..... | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$159.00 | | Purchased At: | Webcyclery | | Strengths: | Light, strong, good styling, nice rings | | Weaknesses: | Cheap anodizing for the finish, TruVativ customer service (or lack of) | | Similar Products Used: | Various Shimano, Kooka, Raceface and Campy | | Bike Setup: | Trek Fuel 95 custom build from frameset, Grip Shift Rocket 9-spd, XT cassette, eggbeaters, SC-69 chain | | Bottom Line: | Great crank, but for non-crank reasons, I'm not sure I'd buy it again.
I have no complaints about the product itself, other than the oh-so-fragile finish. Shoe-rub will rub off the finish fast, let alone normal trail dust...and not just on the ends of the arm, either. They looked pretty rough not long after I installed them.....only got worse over the last year, but hey, that's a sign of a happy mountain biker!
They shift very well, crisp. The rings seem to be pretty durable, too. Lightweight and handles my 185# aggressive riding just fine. At the prices they're moving these cranksets for now ($99 online) it'd be worth your while to get a set and maybe a couple bb's cheap.
I'm not happy with either the ISIS bb durability, or with TruVativ's apparent "new generation" of customer service since SRAM bought them. They do NOT return emails or phone follow-ups, and don't make it easy to contact a person in the first place. When I got them on the phone, they weren't exactly bending over backwards to be friendly or offer assistance. Big difference from just a short time ago. Shops I've talked to aren't all that pleased with the service they get either. Oh well.....I guess now it's cool to imitate the Big S instead of working so hard to improve upon them. lol Woe to the end-user.
I froze a GigaPipe Team-SL bottom bracket (purchased with the cranks) within 3 months of pretty easy non-race riding, no wet stuff. Seems to be the norm for ISIS to die early, though, so I wasn't surprised. TruVativ now requires dealer involvement, which takes time and is an extra hassle....but ok, the whole bike industry is going that direction. Well, in a slow fashion, they replaced my "performance" bb with the cheaper SLLT version. I called them direct to inquire why and they just said they wanted to get me riding as soon as possible, they didn't have any Team-SLs and weren't expecting any. Nice gesture, I suppose, but they didn't ask and weren't willing to do anything about it when I said that wasn't acceptable to me. So hey, TruVativ, why not just let me wait for the next batch to arrive from overseas? How about offering refund me the purchase price since you can't deliver on the warranty replacement of the same product, or maybe step me up to the next higher quality like other companies would do? How about refunding me the retail difference between the two? I could use that $15 to put toward a better company! lol :)
I'm much happier with the FSA bb that I'm using for the time being....seems smoother and hasn't developed play like the TruVativ did early on. I'll put the TruVativ replacement in when the FSA wears out. Probably stick to RaceFace bb's in the future unless a better design comes on the market (unlikely).
But the Stylo cranks are great!! Good stuff.
| | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tom
a Cross Country Rider
from San Jose, CA
Date Reviewed: April 15, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$109.00 | | Purchased At: | Jenson | | Strengths: | Light weight, self-extracting bolts, finish | | Weaknesses: | I think the Race Face chain rings shift a little smoother | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano, Race Face, Specialized | | Bike Setup: | Klein Attitude XV, XTR, Truvativ cranks, American Classic BB | | Bottom Line: | This is a great value; Truvatic Stylo's mated to an American Classic bottom bracket gets you an efficient crank set that weighs ~775 grams for a couple hundred less than XTR or carbon cranksets. On the downside, I've found that my shifts are not as crisp as I had with Race Face chainrings. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Graham Beyers
a Cross Country Rider
from South Africa
Date Reviewed: April 14, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$160.00 | | Purchased At: | Flying Ball Bicycle Company | | Strengths: | Weight and Chain rings and price. | | Weaknesses: | Bottom bracket lasted only 2 rides before bearings seized solid. There are no BB spares available for GXP cranksets at any stores. The bearings/cups are not compatible with any other products (Race Face/Shimano) | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano XT | | Bike Setup: | Yeti ASR 575 - Full Shimano XT Gruppo | | Bottom Line: | Will never buy a Truvativ product again, based on availibilty of spares and response from the technical helpdesk. Have sent numerous requests to the service e-mail address and still waiting for a response. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Andro Galero
a Weekend Warrior
from Butuan City, Philippines
Date Reviewed: February 22, 2005 | | Favorite Trail: | Malalag Trail | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$70.00 | | Purchased At: | Genuine Cycle | | Strengths: | -light
-cheap
-faster shifting | | Weaknesses: | -none so far | | Similar Products Used: | shimano xt | | Bike Setup: | sram x.o shifters and sram 9.0 front derailleur | | Bottom Line: | better than my previuos cranks | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Andrew
a Weekend Warrior
from Warrenton, VA, USA
Date Reviewed: November 11, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$109.00 | | Purchased At: | Green Fish | | Strengths: | Cranks seem plenty strong for normal trail riding/XC racing, and have no problem handling my 200lbs. Shifting is smoother than with the other cranks I've tried recently. | | Weaknesses: | Gloss finish rubs off where my shoes rub against the crank arms. No big deal. | | Similar Products Used: | Truvativ FireX, Race Face Evolve, yadda yadda. | | Bike Setup: | '04 Mtn Cycle San Andreas, Stylo Team cranks, X.0 shifters & rear mech, XT front mech, Rhyno Lite rims, yadda yadda. | | Bottom Line: | Very light, plenty strong, crisp shifting, and nice looking (for a while, at least). WELL worth the money. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mike L
a
from Canada
Date Reviewed: November 2, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$160.00 | | Purchased At: | Jensonusa | | Strengths: | This crank must be the best aluminum crank I had. It is light, yet very strong. I weigh 150 lbs and it doesn't flex at all. The gloss black doesn't go away with wear either. It also shifts very well and doesn't miss a gear. | | Weaknesses: | I can't think of any. | | Bottom Line: | I had this crankset for a couple of years now. Took a few jumps with it (nothing big of course), pedaling up hill or anyways. Never saw flex or felt it flex. It's very strong, let me tell you that. I only weigh 150lbs too, so if you weigh 200+ don't expect to get the same results as I did. But I'm very happy with this crank. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mark
a Cross Country Rider
from Ontario Canada
Date Reviewed: August 29, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | Beyond Bikes | | Strengths: | Super light (lighter than XTR), no creaking like XT, excellent "noiseless" shifting, cheap, very stiff. | | Weaknesses: | Black finish rubs of crank arms quickly. Should have bought polished... | | Similar Products Used: | STX, LX, XT, XTR | | Bike Setup: | Giant AC Air Lite | | Bottom Line: | These smoke my XT crank, which was creaky, shifted crappy, and cost as much or more.... and they weigh in at 612 grams. Not bad for $120.
I think Shimano has stood still in their R&D, while companies like Truvative are blowing by quickly.
I noticed an immediate difference compared to my XT, and my XT had new rings on it.
Buy it, you'll be happy. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
tom
a Cross Country Rider
from frisco, CO
Date Reviewed: July 30, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$110.00 | | Purchased At: | colo. cyclist | | Strengths: | shift well, look good, stiff, ISIS, high value | | Weaknesses: | probably too light for riders into jumping, too wide-like every other crank out there | | Similar Products Used: | XT octalink, many old square-BB cranks | | Bike Setup: | Devinci Moonracer, SRAM drivetrain, UST, Formula discs | | Bottom Line: | I haven't had a single problem with these. The black finish shows dings and scratches, but the rings shift as well as the XTs I had before, and they seem as solid as anything when standing on the cranks. I have to laugh when people claim to feel big stiffness differences in cranks- huh? If you can bend these in a crash you need heavier cranks. Other than that, the pedal-to-pedal distance on every friggin crank that exists is too damn wide. Except maybe Ritcheys. Try a narrower crank sometime, especially if you have knee problems. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
edouble
a Weekend Warrior
from L.I.,NY
Date Reviewed: May 19, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | dupont forest and pisgah,nc | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$109.00 | | Purchased At: | cambria bicycle outfitters | | Strengths: | 180mm arms (im 6ft 2in)isis drive, looks great. | | Weaknesses: | crank bolt kept coming out until i called truvativ and they said to put a couple of washers on the bolt. this solved the problem. | | Similar Products Used: | shimano lx | | Bike Setup: | voodoo bizango,z2bam,salsa sul stem,shaft post,azonic cf-1 riser bar,gripshift,xt derailleurs,koobi prs saddle,bonti valiantw/xtr hubs,time atac's, conti vertical pro's | | Bottom Line: | took my bike to asheville,nc right after putting washers on crank bolt |
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$ 164.99
