These cheap carbon cranksets are failing...

These cheap Racework carbon cranksets from AliExpress have been failing, but what’s the problem, and is there an alternative?

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Lightweight carbon cranksets are generally VERY expensive, but earlier this year a Chinese company called Racework produced their N1 crankset. It’s a lightweight carbon crankset, at a REALLY great price, and I bought one from their store on AliExpress as soon as I could.

I fitted it to my Chinese carbon road bike, but after 1000 miles, problems started to show. The steel inserts used to help lift the chain onto the big chainring started falling out, and reports of the carbon arms cracking were coming to light.

In this episode, I'll cover these issues, show you if Racework have addressed them, and also provide a fantastic alternative from a brand called RIRO.

RIRO Carbon crankset:

Timestamps:
00:00 – Start
00:23 – Carbon crank arms cracking
02:52 – Racework chainring isues
06:36 – Siroko sponsor
07:50 – Riro carbon crankset
10:52 – Considerations & caveats

Intro roll:

Instagram:

Email:

Please note:
I am not a professionally trained bike mechanic. There can be risks associated with using products that are unbranded, untested, or come from sources where the provenance is unknown. Please talk to a qualified bike mechanic if you are in any doubt.

In essence, be careful, do your research, and cycle safe!!!

[tanguiflyer]

I'm the guy from Paris that posted these pictures on WW ! The seller did end up sending me a replacement crank arm ! However, the axle then failed ... The knurling on the end of the axle got destroyed due to the too low pinching forces leading to play in the non drive side crank arm. I should have known better with such a cheap crankset. In the end I got a Praxis crankset that worked flawlessly since ! Btw I of course used a torque wrench to tighten everything, and the arm cracked at 4 N.m

[jimbrittain]

Luke, you continue to do a real service to those of us who are trying to keep cycling affordable. Thank you for your integrity, and your humility and humor. Here's to health and happiness to you and your family.

[Hambini]

That 24mm axle at 11:57 looks like it's cast. A forged aluminium axle wouldn't need to be that thick. Torsional failures of these things are usually cup and cone fractures (that's not a pun on bearings), that failure looks like damage at a crystalline level.

[bbarber]

Bontrager said it best; light, strong, cheap. Pick 2

[leslierogneschumacher]

As someone who has a RaceWork crankset that broke the same described in this video, and was only able to get a replacement (old design) ND arm after literally weeks of negotiation with an honestly totally clueless RaceWork rep (and I say this as someone who worked as a CSR for years), one thing that is additionally better about the Riro is that even the revised RaceWork's ND crankarm isn't sculpted to account for your heel. I've never seen a crankset that has one arm with a heel cutout and one without one. It's a RaceWork exclusive apparently. I'd just steer clear of them in general, both for design and customer support reasons.

[James_R_]

It's so great having someone willing and able to try out the thing that us less fortunate people usually have to try blind because we can't afford the brand name products. It definitely lowers the bar of entry to the sport! I expect to be buying a whole setup soon and this type of content is extremely helpful. Thank you!

[DerrickThomasDTTV]

I knew it! That crankset has been sitting in my Aliexpress cart for months. Undecided if I want to buy because some parts on your bike just shouldn’t be carbon. Your crankset receives a lot of power and focus consistently. Why would you want that carbon? This video this the deciding factor. Deleted from my cart. Great video thanks!

[kidsafe]

I can't imagine getting only 5000 miles out of a road chainring. I got 35000 miles out of a SRAM Red 22 large chainring while rotating four immersion waxed chains.

[DoctorWho_]

When is some TraceVelo merch going to hit the market? Love the show. Hope the new baby is healthy and happy!

[impaledface]

Thank you for the testing. I am going to stay old school and run what I got, but it is neat to learn about how these fail.

[suhdud]

6:07 - not every day that you come across a Bianchi with putty chainrings.

[Bikey_McBeardface]

Those RIRO chainrings look really nice, a lot of Ali-ex aluminium stuff tend to be media blasted probably to make anodizing prep easier (but maybe to hide less than stellar machining/tool marks too). I highly recommend PassQuest and STONE chainrings form Ali' they aren't super cheap or mega light but quality wise I'd put them up there with brands I've used in the past like Wolftooth, Garbaruk and Blackspire.

[zopEnglandzip]

T7075 printed on components should ring alarm bells.

The 7075 is the alloy and the t number should follow after, this designates the heat treat, duration and temps drastically altering properties.

[ysarn]

Interesting comment about the axle material at the end, which is one of the most important points. Aluminium axles are used in cranks, but generally on 30mm spindles, like BB30, so the larger tube diameter means that aluminium is alright for this. Now that you have pointed out that this crankset has a 24mm aluminium axle I would be very wary using it. The same strength to weight/density considerations are the reason historically you have small diameter steel tubes on bike frames and larger diameter but thinner walled aluminium frames, jokingly called "Coke can tubing" on some early aluminium mountain bikes.

[ramsden]

Best sponsor! The Siroko clothing is amazing! Fits well and looks unreal!

[holdmycuppa]

I appreciate the work you put into testing and presenting. As you may be aware, there are moments where you tend to go quiet at the end of sentence or as you state a key word or phrase. Ciao.

[MrBillboeing]

Thanks to be the tester for all of us !

[mtbboy]

4:16 Interesting, I'm wondering if that's why 5Dev cranks snap too, despite bein much beefier, they have 4 holes, with slightly egg shaped crank.

[davidgarza]

I'd heard about the pinch bolt issue, but not the chainring issue. Will definitely steer clear of that style chainring. Thanks Luke.

[yspegel]

As some one who has fallen in a quite ugly way breaking my chain once and as i put out a well above average sprint wattage, I prefer to go for more tested cranks/chain (most certain not the breaking shimano cranks) and alu steer