So I've got a dream build coming, it will be my new race bike for the remainder of this season and onward.

I run a single ring front, so shifting and front der quality are of no concern here. I've got a budget of around $400 which should enable me to buy the 2012 Sram Red crank set or the Rotor 3D crank arms. I've been on Sram for three seasons, but was considering trying something different.

Any input?

BB30 or regular?

Regular.

Tough call. If you said BB30 I'd have said Force 130 BCD hands down. Light and stiff and medium price, especially in the States. And you can get 'em in 177.5 :-D

For a normal 24mm crank why not look for a nice cheap pair of 7800s? Ain't nuttin wrong with them, SRM still use the crank arms for their power meters. So you could argue that a pair of 7800s, a groupset which debuted in 2003, just won the 2012 Tour.

If your bike frame is an Orbea or BH or Cervelo (who don't make production frames) then I could see it from a country-connection POV but otherwise, not sure given the cost of them.

And the fact you'd need a coathanger to scrape all the dried mud out of the long drill holes in the arms.

But they DO look nice, no question of that.

looking at the rotor cranks, i think they're nice and maybe also good, light and stiff cranks...but in cross you may hit the crankarms with your ankles when you slip off pedals, and all these sharp edges on the rotor cranks:oh my god!
the regular sram cranks don't have the same nice clearance as the bb30's, but at least the lines are more "fluent" and don't look like a knife.
can't go wrong with the 7800 cranks, after a season they will still look nicer than any alloy (black anodised) or carbon (clear coated) crank.

Thanks very good points re. the hard edges of the arms and the mud build-up. Thanks for the advice/input.