Why 30mm spindles on cranks?

[Oddjob]

So in the course of hoarding, I've inherited a set of Raceface Turbine cranks. I've been trying to sell them because all the other cranks in my fleet are 24mm spindle but no real interest yet.

So I'm looking at fitting them and look at their weight. It turns out that they are a whole 10 gms lighter than the Raceface Aeffect cranks at 568 gms for 175mm cranks only.

Given that the 30mm Hope bb I have weighs 102gms and a XT m800 bb weighs 82g, the Aeffect cranks are actually lighter than the Turbine cranks in net terms.

Can someone explain to me then what the benefit a 30mm spindle is?

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[The Duckmeister]

Because apparently some gorilla at Cannondale thought 24mm spindles were too flexy.....

Then the other sheep in the various brands' mucketing dens jumped on the bandwagon.

 

[Ultra Lord]

Yeah they should’ve just gone 28.99 like sram.


This industry is shit sometime.

No benefit to us. Just stops people from buying shimano bb’s.

 

[Oddjob]

Because apparently some gorilla at Cannondale thought 24mm spindles were too flexy.....

Then the other sheep in the various brands' mucketing dens jumped on the bandwagon.

There's a special level of hell reserved for Cannondale, Specialized and SRAM.

Has anyone seen any believable reports or testing supporting Cannondale's assertion?

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[Flow-Rider]

It has something to do with spindle material on the raceface cranks, one is alloy (30mm) and the other steel (24m).

 

[SummitFever]

There's nothing wrong with 30mm spindles but there is everything wrong with press fit bottom brackets. If you've got a good ole BSA 68/73mm BB then you can literally run any cranks by using whatever external cups you like. The Cannondale cranks are not really "Cannondale" as they were developed by Magic Motorcycle Company. I know one of the co-founders and they had good reasons for going with a 30mm BB in aluminium. Many sensible engineering decisions went into developing those cranks and the current SISL2s are lighter than carbon fibre without any of the drawbacks.

Interestingly, Raceface adopted the same BB/crank interface (so you can use Cannondale axles with some of their cranks) and Shimano has recently adopted the same/similar manufacturing process to make its high end cranks (machining two halves and then gluing together) but still continue to miss the boat by not making the cranksets modular.

 

[safreek]

Has to be a sound idea if cannondale use it, they are cool as

 

[fatboyonabike]

pressfit BB's are about as good as idea as having a dick stitched to the back of your head!

 

[Oddjob]

There's nothing wrong with 30mm spindles but there is everything wrong with press fit bottom brackets. If you've got a good ole BSA 68/73mm BB then you can literally run any cranks by using whatever external cups you like. The Cannondale cranks are not really "Cannondale" as they were developed by Magic Motorcycle Company. I know one of the co-founders and they had good reasons for going with a 30mm BB in aluminium. Many sensible engineering decisions went into developing those cranks and the current SISL2s are lighter than carbon fibre without any of the drawbacks.

Interestingly, Raceface adopted the same BB/crank interface (so you can use Cannondale axles with some of their cranks) and Shimano has recently adopted the same/similar manufacturing process to make its high end cranks (machining two halves and then gluing together) but still continue to miss the boat by not making the cranksets modular.

What I don't get is why did RF bothered going to 30mm for a 10g weight saving. Is it just marketing?



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[Mr Crudley]

The Cannondale cranks are not really "Cannondale" as they were developed by Magic Motorcycle Company. I know one of the co-founders and they had good reasons for going with a 30mm BB in aluminium. Many sensible engineering decisions went into developing those cranks and the current SISL2s are lighter than carbon fibre without any of the drawbacks.

I've always lusted after the subtle coolness of the Magic Motorcycle cranks. Didn't Cannondale relabel them as Coda cranks from memory.

I have to give the Cannondale of old credit for trying something different in a love it or hate it fashion.

Tell the co-founder that he did awesome work on the Magic Motorcycle cranks

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[The Duckmeister]

Has to be a sound idea if cannondale use it, they are cool as

Well they do produce plenty of sound.....

 

[The Duckmeister]

It has something to do with spindle material on the raceface cranks, one is alloy (30mm) and the other steel (24m).

That's more likely just what RF choose to use, because some 24mm spindles are aluminium.

 

[Flow-Rider]

That's more likely just what RF choose to use, because some 24mm spindles are aluminium.

Yeah but they will come with the consequence of being more flexy.