Submitted by
Wasmachineman NL
a Cross Country Rider
from The Netherlands
Date Reviewed: February 4, 2012
Strengths: Doesn't flex, BB is more silent than a square taper, Looks pretty cool
Weaknesses: Corrosion on crank arms, It would look nicer if they added a tougher coat of varnish.
Bottom Line:
I have to admit that this crank is good,but the paint is sh*t, Lots of corrosion on the crank arms, Other than that, its a great crank, it doesn't flex as Specialized's Strongarm 1, TL;DR: The crank is good, but the paint and finish is weak, Nothing to complain about though.
Submitted by
bondek
a Cross Country Rider
from Denver, CO, USA
Date Reviewed: July 6, 2011
Strengths: Durable and reliable, Keeps on crankin.
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
This crank came on my original 2006 Stumpjumper FSR and when that frame cracked I transferred this crank onto the new bike frame.
I ride hard and go through components and only buy heavy duty parts. From my original 2006 stumpjumper the only original parts are my seat post, handle bars and the crank. (I'm on number 4 for the bottom bracket) Somehow this crank has held up for over 12,000 miles of hard riding.
Strengths: Strong rings, smooth shifts, take abuse and still pretty light.
Warrantee!!
Weaknesses: after 2 years the chrome on the rings was peeling off
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.
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.
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.
Similar Products Used: Truvativ crappies, Diablous, FSA MegaExo
Bike Setup: 06 Trek Session 77, Travis Single Intrinsic, Manitou Revox, Transition Bikes components
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
mnh
a Cross Country Rider
from San Jose, CA
Date Reviewed: June 12, 2007
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.
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.
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
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Pablo
a Weekend Warrior
from Quito-Ecuador
Date Reviewed: May 5, 2007
Strengths: Very stiff
Weaknesses: In two years I changed the second ring once
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?
Bike Setup: Jamis Dakar comp fox float, XT shifters and rear derailleur, manitou black elite, XTR rims, monkey lite handlebar.
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Nicolas Le Clerc
a Weekend Warrior
from Singapore
Date Reviewed: April 11, 2007
Strengths: Stiff, dependable Affordable
Weaknesses: Not the lightest
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.
Similar Products Used: Truvativ Stylo carbon, Crank Bros Cobalt
Bike Setup: Turner 5 Spot, Pike 454 air u-turn
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Submitted by
Russell
a Downhiller
from Boise
Date Reviewed: January 19, 2007
Strengths: Cheap, Strong, light. Simple.
Weaknesses: Chainrings are way soft. You need a bash and should buy new chainrings.
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.
Submitted by
jSatch
a Cross Country Rider
from SoCal
Date Reviewed: October 12, 2006
Strengths: smooth shifts strong rings stiff bb
Weaknesses: they don't pedal for me
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
Similar Products Used: the bendy junk they stocked on the XC bike
Bike Setup: two wheels
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Submitted by
Patrick Warner
a Weekend Warrior
from Needham, MA
Date Reviewed: August 18, 2006
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.
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.
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
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Submitted by
Foho
a Cross Country Rider
from Bay Area, California
Date Reviewed: November 15, 2005
Strengths: Light weight, Stiff
Weaknesses: Two piece spider/crank arm combination
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.
Submitted by
jay li
a Weekend Warrior
from san jose, ca, usa
Date Reviewed: July 8, 2005
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.
Bottom Line:
A great value and good performer. So good that I bought another one for my custom built Giant NRS.