Weight Weenies

I received this email indicating that we may finally see the EE Cycle Work crank. I was wondering if this was a scam or if others received the same information?

Dear Customer,

Pacenti Cycle Design is pleased to announce that we are taking over production of the long awaited EE crank.

We are currently working on pre-production samples for testing and finalization of the design. Once the cranks are tested and proven, we will be launching the cranks for sale to the public. If all goes according to plan we should be able to make delivery of the first batch of cranks in mid-February.

We are currently taking reservations for the first 100 sets of cranks. Please email us if you would like more information and include the desired crank length and chainring combination you would like us to reserve for you (34/50 or 39/53). If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Sincerely,

Kirk A. Pacenti
Pacenti Cycle Design
946 Business Park Dr.
Chattanooga, Tn. 37419
423-413-9314

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Sounds quite familiar although nothing about dosh

I received the same email.

Kirk Pacenti is a nice guy, he started the bikelugs website, and currently has a line of mountain bike rims and tires. I'd be pretty confident in the cranks finally coming out if he has taken over production, which it seems he has.

Well, I went ahead and put myself in line to get one of the first ones off the line...we will see how it goes. Kirk said mid February.

The crank seems to be the same as described in updates provided by Fairwheel bikes several times and will utilize a non-standard BCD so the crank will be coming with the rings.

If this crank matches the quality and functionality of the EE brakes, I'm sure it will be a good stuff.
Although I'm impressed by their non standard thinking in their brakes. But when comes to the cranks, I think, majority of us would prefer to have standard all over the place.

it's ridiculous to not have standardized mounting points, i.e., having proprietary rings just shut me out of buying one.

if i wanted proprietary rings, i'd buy any number of proven oem designs. the point of ee, to me, is to have options. mix-n-match.

DamoRider wrote:Well, I went ahead and put myself in line to get one of the first ones off the line...we will see how it goes. Kirk said mid February.

The crank seems to be the same as described in updates provided by Fairwheel bikes several times and will utilize a non-standard BCD so the crank will be coming with the rings.

So we probably will not see it till fall at the earliest.

I believe the whole point of changing the BCD is to improve the stiffness of the arm/ring set-up. I am all for someone trying something different how do you think BB30 BB90 came about; those things were laughed at and now have become standard.

I am definitely willing to try these because the brakes are some of the best.

DamoRider wrote:I believe the whole point of changing the BCD is to improve the stiffness of the arm/ring set-up. I am all for someone trying something different how do you think BB30 BB90 came about; those things were laughed at and now have become standard.

I am definitely willing to try these because the brakes are some of the best.

for full disclosure, i am a happy user of eebrakes. love the product and love the man behind the company.

to make the comparison to bb30 is not quite right: bb30 was put out into the wild by cannondale. cannondale has a bit more clout than eecycleworks. this is no disrespect to what craig @ eecycleworks has built.

we ae seeing more and more BCDs pop up, and it is problematic. on the MTB side, each new crank seems to offer one. (e.g., want to run 26/39 rings for a specialized 2x10 crank? that's one BCD. want to run 24/38? that's another.) it's appearing on the road with da90xx, but that has shimano's backing. we know that in time other companies are likely to pop up that will offer after-market chainring alternatives for the big guys.

investing in a new BCD (even if superior) is less certain. if i were making that investment, i would assume that that particular manufacturer is the only one who will ever make compatible rings and factor ring replacement into my cost assumptions. what if supply dries up or the manufacturer decide to raise prices? one cannot assume other companies will jump in to service a small market. it is nice if it happens.

Brakes are extremely light but I don't think the same can be said for the cranks. Is stiffer better for cranks? I doubt I'd notice a difference.

Stiffness translates to power transfer hence the stiffer the better; I'm a bigger guy compared to your average cyclist and prefer the stiffest crank I can find. People loved the Dura Ace 7800 crank and it wasn't because of its weight --- shifting and stiffness

See the Fairwheel Bikes crank shootout. The production model of the EE crank should be even better than the one tested.

http://fairwheelbikes.com/cycling-blog/ ... est-4.html

The crank was spec'd with Praxis rings, why would you want to change?

DamoRider wrote:Stiffness translates to power transfer hence the stiffer the better;

Not to throw too big of a wrench in the logic, but there is significant doubt about power loss through flex and further, when it comes to the crank, what is the amount of "return" as it acts as a spring by returning.

Damon is kind of hiding the cards in this topic, but it gives some interesting things to ponder. But even if Damon thinks it to be the case, Cervelo has still been chasing better stiffness numbers, they just know their value. The thread is about frames, but it seems highly applicable to comments like this.

http://forums.cervelo.com/forums/t/8383.aspx

Interesting read - I'm glad I already believed in the aero advantage over stiffness - might need to look at replacing my SLC SL with something more aero!

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