Praxis Levatime ii experiences

[Nohands83]

Has anyone got first had experience of the new versions of the Praxis rings? Specifically the shifting with DI2.
I've used the previous Buzz version; it was okay but nowhere near Shimano. According to Praxis v2, it is much better, but they would say that!
FYI I'm currently on Ultegra 11 speed and want to reduce my front gearing (it's a gravel bike), Shimano 46/36 won't get me as low as I want and I don't want a GRX crank.

[JMeinholdt]

I had the Levatime II rings in 48/32 with a 105 mechanical groupset on my old 3T Exploro. It was nothing but problems for me, including inside chain drops that jammed so hard I had to remove the crankset to free it without additional paint damage.

I switched to one of their wave style 1x rings later because I had their beautiful carbon crank arms I wanted to keep and continued to have trouble with chain drops in 1x configuration. Only when I switched to a Wolf Tooth chainring did it stop.

Later on the same bike I switched to a full AXS 2x set up and had 0 issues with chain drops so I know it's not the bike.

I cannot recommend Praxis chainrings at all. Their crankarms are a work of art, but the chainrings are garbage.

[Mr.Gib]

Lots of experience with Praxis though not the exact combination of your inquiry. Ultegra Di2 on old Buzz rings worked flawlessly for two seasons of grimy road spray on my winter bike. Worn out now and shifting just starting the hesitate - will replace with same. No drops unless I accidentally pedal backwards in big-big combo. Even bench tested this bike with an 11-40 cassette and nothing weird happened to the front shifting. Three other bikes in the house with Praxis, two with Buzz 48-32, and one with Leva-Time II 50-34, all on Sram Red mechanical - all shift well, chain drops are very rare - once or twice a year. The bike with Leva-Time II is particularely crisp without chain drops. All drivetrains are 11 speed.

[Nohands83]

Thanks for the replies.

My experiences have been pretty mixed with them as well. The cranks do look great though and are a decent weight.

Interesting you mention a 11-40 cassette as that was my other option, as I do have a GRX rear derailleur and have read it can work...

Suspect the only way I'm going to find out for sure with either option is an expensive experiment!

[jeanjacques]

Why not a grx spider on a Sram crank to have the 30 or 31 inner ring ?

[satanas]

FWIW, an 11-40 cassette should be fine with any Shimano 11 speed GS RD, including Ultegra RX (which I had), GRX, and even R8000GS/R7000GS. 11-42 seems to be used quite often with the GRX RD, and even 11-46 seems to work for a few people, both with 2x.

[Mr.Gib]

FWIW, an 11-40 cassette should be fine with any Shimano 11 speed GS RD, including Ultegra RX (which I had), GRX, and even R8000GS/R7000GS. 11-42 seems to be used quite often with the GRX RD, and even 11-46 seems to work for a few people, both with 2x.

Not a guarantee - depends on the bike. Big cassettes will likely work on the majority, but there are some where shifting does suffer. You can end up with one cog in the middle of the cassette that will require a double shift and then you have to shift back one cog to get it. I have had two bikes that handle the 11-40 flawlessly, and one that required jumping through a variety of flaming hoops to get it to work acceptably. Interestingly the bike with the problem is UDH with GRX. The only solution was to use an RX400 RD with jockey wheels from the RX810. The RX810 on its own produced sub par shifting. However, the same RX810 was perfect with 11-40 on an old cross bike.

[jwiegand]

Had the Zayante Carbon with Levatime II and Ultegra Di2 11s in 2022. Shifting was perfect and the quality and weight of Praxis is perfect. I wish they made AXS compatible chainrings

[satanas]

Another potential option for the OP are Stone chainrings from Aliexpress; I haven't used them but some here have been happy. There are options in 4 and 5 bolt 110 BCD from 46x32 (chainline offset 2mm inboard on this size onky), then 48x33 up to 54x40 with a normal chainline. I'll most likely eventually get a set of 5 bolt 48x33 to fit some Hollowgram cranks I have.