Thm Carbones - New Crank at Eurobike????

[Shallowhal]

5 bolt circle. Soooo 2013!

Seriously, looks great, but with so much weight behind the new 4 bolt 'standard' (Shimano, Campagnolo and FSA), won't 5 bolt look quickly outdated, and (if the performance and weight hype is to be believed) seriously outclassed in performance terms?

If 4 bolt is so brilliant, why did it take so long for companies to adopt it for road bikes. Zipps Vuma Quad came and went, despite being a really good crankset. Mtb cranks have been using it for years but road cranks didn't. I suspect because 4 bolts with smaller rings is great, but with larger rings requires more stiffness in the material to avoid any shifting issues (Zipps Vuma Quad reputedly had quite flex chainrings). No doubt 4 bolt will become more standard as the market leaders are pushing it but I suspect in reality it's no better and possibly even worse than five bolt.

Personally, I don't even like the aesthetics of the current crop of 4 bolt cranksets.

[kij]

So does the new crank sit above or below the M3?

[solarider]

It looks looks like the new top end crank, ahead of the M3 and the original, which now seems to have been renamed the 'Classic'.

Zipp didn't have the market share (in terms of making something radical stick) or engineering expertise (in terms of making it function well) to make 4 arm work at the time (think Mavic Zap - years ahead of Di2, but it took Shimano to secure mainstream acceptance of electronic shifting). For a start, they used very lightweight traditional rings, and an evenly spaced 4 bolt pattern, leaving the heaviest pat of the pedal stroke relatively unsupported. The current crop use more substantial rings and an asymmetric bolt pattern which should be inherently less flexible.

But the main point is that with Shimano dominating the market as they do, and only now offering 4 arm down to 105, the new standard will prevail. Sure FSA and Campagnolo have a tiny market share, but even so, 4 arm does look like the future. I am not arguing for it or against it from a performance perspective (I run Campagnolo and haven't tried it yet), but I am making the point that the industry seems to be moving on.

Mainstream high end chainsets are so good and pretty light these days that the likes of the Clavicula are looking a bit unnecessary. I ran one for a while and it is quite a delicate flower, requiring a return visit to the factory after a while for a check up, and it does have a very high Q Factor. I just don't think that such a high maintenance piece of kit is worth it now at such a high price when the standard kit is so good.

[Kayrehn]

+1 on the point about the quality of chainsets from the Big 3, but then the buyers of Clavicula cranks looks beyond mere functionality. They'll buy it for its looks, weight and price (the more expensive the better). It's the cranks most people will throw onto a boutique Titanium frame and not on a mainstream bike frame that's ready to be raced. I'll say five-bolt crankarms design is more in line with the product's image rather than a more modern looking 4-bolt design.

[Wingnut]

Solarider took the words out of my mouth...ZIPP aren't a market leader in cranksets...

[Shallowhal]

In terms of volume I'm sure that Thm aren't either but imo they still make the best looking and lightest cranksets available. As we're talking about Thm I'm not sure why being a market leader is relevant? Possibly market leader in the weight weenies world?

[Shallowhal]

Zipp didn't have the market share (in terms of making something radical stick) or engineering expertise (in terms of making it function well) to make 4 arm work at the time (think Mavic Zap - years ahead of Di2, but it took Shimano to secure mainstream acceptance of electronic shifting). For a start, they used very lightweight traditional rings, and an evenly spaced 4 bolt pattern, leaving the heaviest pat of the pedal stroke relatively unsupported. The current crop use more substantial rings and an asymmetric bolt pattern which should be inherently less flexible.

But the main point is that with Shimano dominating the market as they do, and only now offering 4 arm down to 105, the new standard will prevail. Sure FSA and Campagnolo have a tiny market share, but even so, 4 arm does look like the future. I am not arguing for it or against it from a performance perspective (I run Campagnolo and haven't tried it yet), but I am making the point that the industry seems to be moving on. .

I take your point but there was nothing wrong with the Zipp crankset, just the rings. The even spacing must be less relevant than you think, as I mentioned before, mtb cranks have been doing that for years, admittedly with smaller chainrings. Also, Shimano were already using substantial chainrings with the 7900, so they haven't really changed the chainring design with the 9000, just the bolt positioning. On the basis that there as nothing wrong with the 7900 as a mainstream crankset I don't see the reasoning behind the 4 bolt pattern other than a novelty to sell to the masses.

I agree that the 4 bolt will become the new 'standard' purely because of major multi nationals pushing it. Slightly concerning though. Reminds me of a line in the film Armageddon that says something like "it's not a choice, it's a lack of options".

[kij]

I've just ordered a M3 is that a bad idea?

[elfuinha]

New pictures on THM FACEBOOK

[mythical]

Couldn't post 'em, elfuinha? Personally, I'm mostly curious about the weight.

[djconnel]

Weenie crankset market pretty much saturated with SRAM Red which was remarkably light with aftermarket rings, with Specialized S-Works virtually as good. But these are very nice looking cranks.

[jimborello]

Come on guys, really?? I was about to pull the trigger on an M3, now I will have to wait.

[tomtom]

Why not the M3? It's more versatile and cheaper, isn't it?

[madcow]

If you ordered the M3 you probably will want to keep things on order. This is not a new version of the M3, this is a new flagship model that comes in above the Clavicula classic. Can't release details until next week though.

[rmerka]

That 4-bolt design on the Shimano cranks does bring a nice benefit, the elimination of the concept of standard vs. compact. That's a plus to me.

On that new THM crank, very sexy! Hope they keep the graphics to a minimum.