Submitted by
Ecogeek
a Cross Country Rider
from Calgary
Date Reviewed: October 13, 2009
Strengths: Cheap. Strong. ISIS is a solid BB system. Look good in either colour.
Weaknesses: ISIS is a heavy system.
Bottom Line:
I've got two sets of the Blaze. One silver, one black. Looks are irrelevant to me, only price/performance, but if you care, the blaze looks good. I like the silver better - despite almost always preferring black in everything else - inc my frames/forks/grips/helmet/levers/DLs/gloves/shorts/shades etc etc. So the silver must be nice. Doesn't show up scratches like the black either. Anyway, vanity aside, let's get to the meat and potatos.
I weigh 180lbs. I live in the Rockies and ride AM with fast rough rocky downhills. These cranks have had no problems at all in 3 seasons. Make sure you tighten them fully and there is no lateral movement of your chainrings if you use a decent BB for your application. I put my 3yo set of Blazes from the hardtail onto a project beater using the Giga Pipe SL BB. I liked them enough for the time I've had them, that at sub $50, I got a new set for the hardtail. I run that on a Giga Pipe DH BB and the combo is v solid for AM riding even with my 180lbs on rocky trails - on a hardtail.
No problems. Trushift works well. Teeth are a decent finish. 7075 T6 ring is reasonably durable. If you shift under heavy load (you shouldn't) you may want to file the odd tooth/pin burr each season to keep things perfect.
I can't give these 5* overall as systems like the Stylo are much lighter for not that much more total system price. Stylos w GXP BB can be had for $140 delivered versus $100 delivered for Blaze + BB. However, these are great, smooth shifting, solid cranks for those on a budget. Def 5* value. If you see any flex, it's not the crankset's fault. It's just not tightened properly. You need to pull your cranks, grease the interface and your bolts and tighten properly. Don't strip the bolts, but don't be shy either. USe a long wrench. You'll feel it when the cranks are seated as there will suddenly be a big change in the force required to turn the bolt. It'll suddenly stop turning, but you must grease the treads and faces of the bolts. I've not had any issue w Truvativ products so far. I have four sets of cranks, five BBs (2 Powerspline, 2 ISIS and 1 GXP), a seatpost, a stem. Like this brand (owned by SRAM) and the Blaze is one of the reasons why.
Favorite Trail: Any in swinley forest , bracknell forest or Esher shore
Duration Product Used: 3 months
Price Paid:
$1000000.00
Purchased At: Came on bike, so don
Similar Products Used: urm, hussefelts, a race face crank.
Bike Setup: Norco wolverine, 07 (bought new in 09), blaze crank arms, hussefelt, chainrings/bash guard, sun ringle x25 rims, kenda kinetic tyres, marzocchi forks. quando hubs.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
robeygar
a Cross Country Rider
from Springfield, Canada
Date Reviewed: April 12, 2009
Strengths: Solid crank,no bent rings so far, light.
Weaknesses: none.
Bottom Line:
The Crank itself is flawless. I used to have the flow but it wasnt compatible with a sealed BB so I bought this one. The only downfall is the stupid BB that truvativ supplied is rubbing against the crank arm causing resistance and a bad squeak. Ill have to take it in soon.
Bike Setup: '05 Iron Horse MKIII - Comp. (drivetrain: x.7 & x.9, crank bros. candy pedals.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
lowflier03
a Cross Country Rider
from Yokohama, Japan
Date Reviewed: September 2, 2008
Strengths: Cheap, came with bike.
Weaknesses: Very weak, not durable.
Bottom Line:
These cranks came on my bike and within the first month of use had already bent. I weigh about 160lbs and do a mix of decent climbing and light freeriding. In the first 2 weeks the middle chainring had already bent and I could see the cranks flex on climbs. Now the cranks themselves are bent. Only use these if they come on your bike and you dont plan on doing any real climbing.
Submitted by
DJ
a Cross Country Rider
from Queen Creek, AZ
Date Reviewed: May 11, 2008
Strengths: cheap looks OK crank arms are pretty strong
Weaknesses: anodizing rubs off bent my middle ring badly and the outside ring became a rock ring
Bottom Line:
used these cranks for a year and a half now, ive had to replace my rings with FSA's because of what i mentioned above. these cranks are being moved to my singlespeed as i am now getting XTR's and they will continue to be thrashed even more dirtjumping. a great crankset for starting out
Weaknesses: a little heavy and the paint wears off from rubbing after a season
Bottom Line:
the bottom line is these crank arms and the chainrings it comes with are bye far the toughest components on my bike, i say that because i'm not bye the longest stretch of the imagination nice to my bike, i've bent my 30.0mm thompson seat post, i'm on my second pair of axiom handlebars, original ones snapped, broke a shimmano xt rear dérailleur in half, lost my 9th gear 12 tooth sram out in ames nowell state park, dont ask me how but it just snapped and fell off, and i have gone through 3 sets of pedals due to braking (not bending) them on rocks, all that was the summer of 2007 , and through it all my Truvativ Blaze crank arms and cainrings are still holding strong, and to all the people giving them a negative review read the owners manual before installing them, and make sure your BB isn't thrashed, give me a pm in the forum and i'll show you some pics and a video that will change your mind my s/n is splattered, and as far as bending NO F#%$&^% WAY
Submitted by
ProteIne
a Weekend Warrior
from Ukraine, Kiev
Date Reviewed: March 31, 2008
Strengths: only about its lightness.
Weaknesses: Using them for 4-5 month caused their bending. my weight is about 156 pounds and I install them propertly, tight it well. But acurate street riding without any drops at all causes it bend. Note that Truvativ positioning them as AM crankset
Bottom Line:
cheap but not strong system. If you by it tighten it as hard as you can.
Strengths: it hasn't broken yet, which is good. that's about it
Weaknesses: -really noisy, don't know what it is and it can never seem to be fixed( i don't know if it's the BB or what, which is a truvativ powerspline) -not really smooth feeling
Bottom Line:
It isn't a particularily good crankset, but i guess it's pretty good for being fairly cheap. I haven't broken mine yet (got it in '05), even though i've used it for everything from crosscountry to some light downhill stuff. It's been pretty good though considering that on the 2005 truvativ website, it was under the "comfort" section... If you don't ride to hard i would reccoment it, but if you ride more than light trails save up for something better, because it will start to get very annoying.
Bike Setup: '05 hardrock pro, truvativ blaze, '06 fox vanilla RLC
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
jeff dakins
a
from pembroke ontario canada
Date Reviewed: April 25, 2007
Strengths: havent had any problems yet i ride alot of drops and jumps and it came on my bike with a bashguard instead of the horrible 3rd chainring
Weaknesses: the only one problem i have is the crank is jamed on so tight i cant get it off
Bottom Line:
i wouldnt buy this crank, id go with a hozfeller, the only reason is i havnt changed it because i have a raceface ride xc sittin around n im waitin 4 the blaze to brake, just what kind of freerider wants anything that says xc on it
Similar Products Used: truvative husselfelt howitser combo this crank is almost the same except it has external berrings
Bike Setup: 05 Norco bigfoot with all stock exept for sun s type rims, race face diablous crank and lizard skin lock on grips
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Jason
a Downhiller
from San Luis Obispo
Date Reviewed: February 22, 2007
Weaknesses: i have this crank for a week and already don't like it. aside from the fact that I think I have now broken it, when I first started using is, it wasn't stiff emough for me to pedal hard up hills. It bends so much that my chain rups on my deraileur.
Bottom Line:
Choose something stiffer and lighter.Its worth the money for someone starting out
