Submitted by
Joe Mama
a Cross Country Rider
from Columbus, OH
Date Reviewed: January 27, 2002
Strengths: Colors
Weaknesses: Customer service
Bottom Line:
Customer service is terrible. Had the notorious creaking spyder in my first pair. Wrote the company and received a reply offering an upgrade to the forged crankset for $69 for solid colors. Took them up on their offer and sent them my old cranks back. Over six months and many phone inquires later, I received the new cranks. However, they refused to honor the price they offered me in their original letter. I faxed them their letter with their price circled, yet they still refused to honor it. After credit card disputes, many faxes, phone calls to employees who never seem to last more than a month, I still could not resolve the issue. Finally gave up and won't recommend these jokers to my arch nemesis.
Bike Setup: steel kona with wheels, handlebars, etc...
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Submitted by
Rick
a Cross Country Rider
from Canyon Country, Ca. USA
Date Reviewed: June 1, 2001
Strengths: Haven't broken the cold forged ones yet. They look trick.
Weaknesses: I broke a set of the original CNC cranks. None found with the cold forged set.
Bottom Line:
After breaking a pair of the CNC cranks, I was offered a new set of the cold forged style for $65.00. I went for it and have had no real problems. No creaking, no flex, no shifting problems, correct BB length is necessary. For everyone who is having problems using the park BB tool, open your eyes. The problem is not with the tool threading into the crank arms, it's with the center part of the tool not being long enough to push aginst the BB spindle. Put one or two small washers inside the hole up aginst the spindle before installing the park tool and the problem is solved. I will agree with several reviewers about the lack of competent customer service. It took them about two months after I sent them the broken cranks to get me the new ones. 3 chillies for crappy service.
Submitted by
matt happe
a Cross Country Rider
from Tahoe
Date Reviewed: May 31, 2001
Strengths: light way too light
Weaknesses: crappy alu,weak design,terrible cust service
Bottom Line:
After three pair I have given up. I have broken 3 driveside arms, the last one failed comletely putting my foot with pedal in the dirt. It seems that someone should sue Kooka. There is no Cust service.Check out this site as I am not alone. http://www.spamracing.com/kooka.html
Strengths: Minimal Flex (150 lb. Rider) even during drops, airs and hammering. Natural aluminum color wears well.
Bottom Line:
Got first pair of Kookas off of a nice bike I bought used. Rode them and raced them hard for one year. Then they broke during a city ride. Paid $150 for lifetime warranty cranks since the former model had no warranty. Now these ones are busted. Should have scored Race Face and gotten no hassle. Customer Service SUCKS.
Bike Setup: KHS Steel Frame, Syncros, Mavic, Blackspire, XTR, Titec, Sun Ringle, Salsa etc. Strong.
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Submitted by
Conrad Smith
a Cross Country Rider
from Mahia Hawkes Bay New Zealand
Date Reviewed: February 21, 2001
Strengths: Price of $100NZ dollars on sale, and the colour of silver arms and gold spider. These are strong when you take the time to clean the threads of every bolt.Result no creaking etc. I have gone to a coda 29 tooth along with a 42 outer to run a two by nine crank. Great on a lite bike.
Weaknesses: These puppies can be easily scratched, other wise no hassles just ride. A bit heavy now with the new products around.
Bottom Line:
A great product that I found for a BARGIN price. Catch a ride before you buy though as some do creak. I have seen a few welded spiders to arms to stop this, a drastic measure. But I am considering the new Middleburn RS7 Duo cranks 523g's complete. So 5 chills for value on sale or 4 at retail. Three as the new products around pass them over.
Bike Setup: Sunn Exact ti 2000 model frame with custom everything.
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Submitted by
Joshua Bennett
a Racer
from Alameda, CA USA
Date Reviewed: February 6, 2001
Strengths: Light weight, Nice Looking
Weaknesses: Broke! Ok this is the third pair I've broken. This pair lasted about two years. These were on my SS. New company that took over Kooka, says pony up with $125 plus shipping for another pair. Thanks for sticking behind your product. Now looking for another company for cranks.
Bottom Line:
Can't wait to run into these clowns at an event. If you don't stand behind your product you will lose a lot of customers. There is a reason that more and more of us go with Chris King headsets and hubs. Have a nice (hopefully short) life Kooka!
Strengths: These things are way light and look sweet. I thought they were creaking once... then I lubed the bottom bracket. No more creak, NOT the Kooka's fault.
Weaknesses: The black anodized finish has been wearing off, but they've been raced for at least 3 seasons now- whaddya expect?
Bottom Line:
Despite what I've been reading about creak and such, I've never experienced such problems. In fact, I don't ever really think about my cranks, except when complimented: as it should be. I've raced or ridden on these constantly for about a year, and they were raced for at least two years before I got my hands on them, so I'm pretty sure they're durable. This chainsuck/skipping issue I've never experienced. They look sexy and shift solid. I'd buy them again; you should if you ride cross country and like to climb like a rocket on light gear. I'd reconsider if you're heavier and tend to break stuff though: I'm only 160lbs. 5 flamin chillies.
Similar Products Used: STX, Sugina, Dura-Ace, Ultegra, some bmx gear.
Bike Setup: Kooka cranks, GT Zaskar, Total-Air Judy fork, SRAM 9.0 and XTR front, SPOX.
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Submitted by
Ryan Noks
a Weekend Warrior
from University Place, WA
Date Reviewed: December 7, 2000
Strengths: Light, strong, great looks, excellent company to work with, great warranty
Weaknesses: Anodization rubs off after time
Bottom Line:
I've owned 2 different sets of these (on 2 different bikes), and still love them. I've been unable to break these things, they have survived some big trials drops. THey have cool color options, and the company is great.
Weaknesses: Wimpy threads on cranks failed while removing cranks with a Park crank puller forcing me to remove left crank with a rubber mallot. Requires a non standard lenght BB and a lot of tweeking in order to shift properly, causes chain suck when shifting down to the little ring (Yes the lower limit is set to prevent this). Anodized aluminum rubs off on shoe after little usage removing color. Chain rings wobble and rub front der on big ring. The aluminum bolts used used to bolt crank arms to chain rings are too soft and also stripped out and failed both on the allen wrench side and threads. I also once had ALL of these bolts sheer under tension while climbing. I thought that the chain broke.
Bottom Line:
I wanted to upgrade the stock cranks on my racing rig and the LBS made me a 'good deal' on these. Appearantly they had been in the display case for a while. Hmmmm. Anyway, They looked realy good and are extremely light. I had problems with chain suck from day one and all the problems mentioned above. I will say in thier defense that after countless hours of tweeaking, a new front der and BB they work now except for the wobble that causes rubbling on the big ring. Bottom line: these are flashy looking junk. They are good for a 'free ride' bike but will not hold up to racing or hard riding.
Submitted by
Happy Rider
a Cross Country Rider
from Portland, OR
Date Reviewed: November 7, 2000
Strengths: Light, stiff, and strong. Got mine cheap as a take-off part :-)
Weaknesses: mine were take offs from a GT Monster, and are anodized horrid colors to match that "bike"
Bottom Line:
The Kooka performs very well, NO middle ring slip, NO broken arms, NO bent ANYTHING. I purchased it for a stiff ride and got that without extra wieght (actually much lighter than most), and got 44T out of the deal too. I usually don't write into MTBR, but half the reviews for this product look as though they were written by the short bus web-team. Do these pepole even own the product? I read one where the reviewer said they were going to replace the kooka with a five arm crank! Last time i looked the kooka IS five arm.
These cranks rule. I have the old style, which require a longer BB and were rumored to creak incessantly, but they have worked perfectly. No creaks, no flex. My crankarms are silver, so I've had no trouble with the finish. The rings seem light, but have been strong enough to withstand a few encounters with logs. Chainring alignment is still perfect despite the large loads on the bolt on spider. Since these are about as stiff as the XTR's, look way cooler, and are cheaper, I give them 5 flamin' chilis.
The bottom line is I'm 200+ lbs and these cranks were on my last Ti bike that I broke and now over 1yr on my dual sled and still kicking ass. There may have been a problem with some of these cranks but I think mine are ok, hell over 5 yrs and 2 bikes later, yea I like them just fine.
Bike Setup: Santa Cruz,Z1,avid arch rival 50. sun-ringle rpm wheels.
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Submitted by
william busbee
a Cross Country Rider
from Columbia S.C.
Date Reviewed: September 2, 2000
Strengths: looks great, durable, very light
Weaknesses: too light?
Bottom Line:
Kooka has made a great crank here, and you get what you pay for. On my first pair i cracked the non-drive side crank within a few weeks of purchase. My local bike shop returned the damaged cranks and i was soon givin a new pair of slightly beefed up Kooka's (the first pair was among the first around) So that was 5 years ago. for the past 5 years i have only been burdened with the occasional compliments on them, while i wouldn't recommend them for use with a titanium spindle bottom bracket (not without using a thin plastic film as a bushing between the two metals) they have held well.
Submitted by
Tim South
a Cross Country Rider
from Middletown OH
Date Reviewed: July 26, 2000
Strengths: Light, they look good
Weaknesses: Poorly designed
Bottom Line:
The non-drive side crank arm literally snapped off! At first I thought my chain broke, that was until I noticed I was walking around with a crank arm attached to my foot. The machining around the taper area of the crank seems excessive and does not leave much cross sectional area. This is where they broke. These are the pre-bonnie cranks (1997 vintage), so they only had a one year warranty. Kooka was willing to give me a crash replacement price through my local bike shop, for get this, $125 plus shipping. Nearly the cost of a new set of cranks at the normal price! So, don't buy these cranks. Save your money and get XTR.
