Ciamillo Gravitas crank, review and poll

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Moderator: robbosmans

What are the 2 most important things for you on a crank ?

-Design + stiffness
15
9%
-Design + weight
24
15%
-Design + price
8
5%
-Stiffness + weight
70
44%
-Stiffness + price
14
9%
-Weight + price
28
18%
 
Total votes: 159

intensereef
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 12:46 am

by intensereef

It's not just wait time. Some people like drama, some don't. Some are willing to put up with drama to get, or to hope to get, something they perceive as cutting edge or unique, and others not. Some learn their own or someone else's lesson, others don't. Some people like, don't mind or are willing to put up with the way Ciamillo does business, and others not.
Well said....and I agree! I'm actually laughing right now cause I deal with this kind of drama every day! Not that I want to, but more of the fact that I feel like I have to get a lot of the custom things I want. I'm not just into "High-End" Cycling stuff but I'm also into Saltwater Reef Tanks. There too, I have to deal with the same. I think that the common denominator here is the "CUSTOM" thing. Custom = wait a long time. It drives me crazy as well. In order to not loose my hair I've gone to therapy and learned some good coping skills. Don't waste your money....., I'll tell ya what works just as well. Drink wine, laugh a lot and ride Ride RIDE!! Cheers mate! :-)

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Anders
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Location: Mårslet, Denmark
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by Anders

When I initially bought the brakes I deliberately did that from a another company who had them in stock knowing the history. This thing is as stock as it gets as we are talking cams here, a small milled piece of aluminium that comes in every Negative G brakes since the introduction of the Shimano 7900 group. It's not a big deal as I have the old ones, bit charging my creditcard immediately before shipping the stuff and then not responding back on several emails that's just not how you should behave. I'll give him a few weeks and then file for a refund.

by Weenie


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mdeth1313
Posts: 2066
Joined: Sat Apr 22, 2006 12:38 am
Location: Dutchess County, NY

by mdeth1313

intensereef wrote:Btw...., I'm sure there are some small in-house companies in the US that are fabricating the kind of stuff that Ted Ciamillo is making, but off hand I can't think of any? AX Lightness = NO, BTP = NO, KCNC = NO, THM = NO. All these are overseas. Just saying! Guess its easy for me not to complain about wait times because I live in the US and I'm trying now, more than ever (due to our economy), to keep my money here in the states and support the small business owners. I'll gladly wait 3 to 4 months to get all the bike bling crap that I don't really need but want, cause it's nice to look at and it makes me feel good......., especially if it's from a good hearted person that has passion for what he does.



Aren't Lightning Cranks made in the US?
Speedplay is the devil!

lewolive
Posts: 160
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 4:10 pm
Location: Gien, France
Contact:

by lewolive

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Here's a slide of pictures ! Sorry if these pictures are very small. I can send you original size by email if you contact me with leaving your email address.

I like the grey one, but the full black is also very nice. We sell less red anodized brakes than in the past, but these red anodized pins are giving a nice touch to the crank.

The original prototype is going to ride again in order to continue the fatigue tests (I have just changed the attaching screws by the new ones).

That series is going back to the factory in order to improve the chainline. Ted has changed this week the chainline and it seems perfect now.
On the prototype I had to add some e-clips to adjust the position of the spider, but it's working great.
Moreover, I don't own a BB30 frame, and the few lucky US riders have a BB30 frame, that is allowing more adjustments than my BBRight.

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HammerTime2
Posts: 5813
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Location: Wherever there's a mountain beckoning to be climbed

by HammerTime2

Is the tube diameter in the 2-tube version the same as the 3-tube version? Is the weight difference between the versions essentially the weight of the 3rd tube (per side)? Are there some additional modifications, currently, or planned, in the 2-tube version in the "receptacle" end where the "missing" 3rd (middle) tube would be in the 3-tube version?

lewolive
Posts: 160
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 4:10 pm
Location: Gien, France
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by lewolive

HammerTime2 wrote:Is the tube diameter in the 2-tube version the same as the 3-tube version? Is the weight difference between the versions essentially the weight of the 3rd tube (per side)? Are there some additional modifications, currently, or planned, in the 2-tube version in the "receptacle" end where the "missing" 3rd (middle) tube would be in the 3-tube version?


As of today, the tubes of each version are the same, but this 2 tube crank is a prototype and the commercial versions should be different:

What is planned for the future:

3 tubes version:

-2 tubes for traction and compression stiffness, these tubes will be the same as the existing tubes
-1 tube (the center tube) for the to torsional stiffness.

2 tubes version:

-2 oversize tubes with the same bases and tops, with high module carbon fiber oriented specifically to work on the calculated directions.

I confirm that the current stiffness of the original 3 tubes prototype is enough to make it stiffer than the Rotor 3D Flow that I'm using at the same time (I'm switching between Rotor and Ciamillo for testing).
So, using some special tubes will allow the use of a lighter carbon tube with less stacked carbon fiber sheets. The current thickness of the carbon fiber tubes is 2mm: internal 10mm, external 14mm.

JensW
Posts: 759
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 9:41 pm
Location: Uppsala, Sweden

by JensW

the two tube version, will it still has a hole for the third tube in the middle on the aluminum parts?

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djconnel
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by djconnel

mdeth1313 wrote:Aren't Lightning Cranks made in the US?


I think Tim @ Lightning does some of the crank in the US, but not all.

I think these cranks are cool.

By torsional stiffness, I assume you mean twisting the pedal about the axis of a given crank arm. I'm surprised a center tube contributes nearly as much as the outer two to this stiffness mode. If I twist pedal with just a center tube, I twist just the center tube, but if I twist it with the outer two, I twist the outer two but additionally they need to bend to accomodate the twist,so the outer two contribute not just with their torsional stiffness but additionally with their bending stiffness. On the other hand, if I take the pedal as mounted on a bike and pull, that will attempt to bend the crank arm along its length. For this mode, it seems like all three tubes contribute equally.

added: I'm not a mechanical engineer so can be a bit slow on this stuff. I just realized after posting if you twist the outer two, you need to bend them but you also need to change the length of the crank arm (to 2nd order, not first). This length change will be inhibited by a middle tube, which would need to be longitudinally compressed for the crank arm to shorten. So it would contribute to 2nd-order torsional stiffness. So with the middle tube, when you twist, you end up with the middle tube in compressive stress, the outer two in tensile, all three in torsional stress, the outer two subject to a bending stress. The compressive and longitudinal stiffnesses of the tubes are obviously considerable, and perhaps there's another way for twisting to occur.

jz4nyc
Posts: 666
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:07 am

by jz4nyc

for some reason, this crank reminds me of these:

Image

one is lighter and tastier. :lol:

lewolive
Posts: 160
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 4:10 pm
Location: Gien, France
Contact:

by lewolive

JensW wrote:the two tube version, will it still has a hole for the third tube in the middle on the aluminum parts?


Well, the 2 tubes version will be the Gravitas SL crank.
It will have a specific base, but the same top aluminum part than the 3 tubes.

There will have 2 versions only for this year: Gravitas and Gravitas SL.
Ted has decided to limit the number of versions, because changing the crank every over 3 months is not fair for customers.
So, the customer who is buying in march a 3 tubes crank will probably not have a different crank than the other customer who will get his crank in december.
A 2014 version will be probably designed, but I remind you that the PTS technology is bringing me a very high level of satisfaction.

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stephen@fibre-lyte
in the industry
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by stephen@fibre-lyte

djconnel wrote:
mdeth1313 wrote:So with the middle tube, when you twist, you end up with the middle tube in compressive stress, the outer two in tensile, all three in torsional stress, the outer two subject to a bending stress.


It depends on how the crank twists, but I'd imagine that the centre tube will most likely have a torsional load but I'm struggling to see how it would end up with a compressive load.

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Liggero
Posts: 955
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 11:49 pm
Location: Netherlands

by Liggero

I love how ugly they are. It proves that you are all about function over form. nice.

Please, don't make them expensive. They seem quite easy to produce. You should make them as cheap as the rotor. that way you will sell lots of them, so mr. ciamillo cat go with the submarine all day long.
Happy Trails !!!

thisisatest
Shop Owner
Posts: 1980
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2009 4:02 am
Location: NoVA/DC

by thisisatest

You ought to hook up a neon tube light bulb in the center of the 2tube one.

lewolive
Posts: 160
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 4:10 pm
Location: Gien, France
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by lewolive

Liggero wrote:I love how ugly they are. It proves that you are all about function over form. nice.

Please, don't make them expensive. They seem quite easy to produce. You should make them as cheap as the rotor. that way you will sell lots of them, so mr. ciamillo cat go with the submarine all day long.



There are 2 majors handicaps to succeed to sell a cheaper product, and it's about costs of production that for example Rotor don't have:

-Very very expensive raw material: on the brakes it was already expensive to buy the titanium bolts (made in USA also, not in China), or even the lobe of the cam (Torlon). On the crank, the problem is that Ted is paying a lot of money for just the high module tubes.
-Impressive number of operations. Some additional operations are necessary after testing the prototype. The final price will not rise. Some of these operations should be done only by a very skilled operator, probably Ted himself.

But, as of today, from my side in Europe, and from the USA, the problem is becoming not to have a reliable product, but to supply the demand, because the paid price is still low compared with the cost of production of the 100 first units, and Ted is not able to produce as many cranks a day as he would like.
This is definitely a handmade process, not and industrial process.

by Weenie


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ms6073
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Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2004 8:24 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

by ms6073

So based on the images above, can we conclude that the tubes will be left exposed and there will not be an 'aero' fairing added to the final product?
- Michael
"People should stop expecting normal from me... seriously, we all know it's never going to happen"

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