To Zee or not to Zee

DCR00

Evening all

Just speccing out Tracey

Bit i'm stuck on is cranks

I need something beefy that will take trips to Antur and other aggressive riding, so was going for either e13 or Saint

But what's thrown a bit of a spanner in the works is Shimano Zee. Brand new cranks from the Germans are only £80. Now i can get that for Saint, but 2nd hand and prob lots of heel rub...

Anyone use Zee cranks ? thoughts ?

The Rookie

Have you considered something like the SLX Double and bash as a starting point, they are more robustly bit (thicker axle for example) than the stock SLX yet lighter than the full on Zee/Saint setups and maybe better suited for Tracey as she won't be getting the full rough treatment ;-)

rockmonkeysc

Zee cranks are basically re badged deores without granny ring tabs. They are very strong though.
unless you are being a tart you would be better off saving some money and getting deores.

DCR00

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Zee cranks are basically re badged deores without granny ring tabs. They are very strong though.
unless you are being a tart you would be better off saving some money and getting deores.

interesting, didnt know that

i guess there is some tartyness going on, what with it being a decent frame, but that said im happily using Deore brakes on it (cause they are awesome)

i do like the new XT cranks, but i worry that they wont be up for a trip to Antur or similar. Last time i was there i mashed my pedal off a rock as a tried to cut the corner. The pedal axle was toast, but the cranks were fine (FSA Moto X). I cant see XT cranks surviving something like that.

rockmonkeysc

Not cheap but Truvativ Descendants are the best DH cranks I have had. Very light for their strength.

pesky_jones

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Zee cranks are basically re badged slx . They are very strong though.

This is what I thought about zee

rockmonkeysc

Im positive its deore, not SLX. They look near identical to my deores

DCR00

if i was to use a Saint M810 but with a Renthal SR4, i would be fine with 10 speed wouldnt i ?

CRC have them for £140, which isnt that bad

pesky_jones

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Im positive its deore, not SLX. They look near identical to my deores

Fair play. Even though SLX and ZEE pretty much cost exactly the same on their compenenets, and deore is considerably cheaper then both? It's just me and my buddies always though ZEE was renamed SLX - everything seemed to point to it.

lawman

I think the shifter and mech in the zee group are just modded SLX, so the mech has a short cage, but the cranks are definitely modified deore cranks minus the granny tabs and a ticker axle and better pedal insert threads.

I'm tempted by the Zoe's as my current XT's on the HT are 170mm and really I'd like 175's, the zee's look spot on tbh and reasonably cheap too, Merlin have them with BB for £85

dusk

Don't know about current version but previous slx double with bash cranks are worth a punt, as said above they're stronger than the triple and hollowtech too. I had a set on my dh bike and they stood up just fine

rockmonkeysc

I have seen a few broken SLX cranks. Deore's are definitely stronger and cheaper.

DCR00

going for Saint M810

ilovedirt

I've had my SLXs for about four years now and they've not put a foot wrong. They've been on various do-it-all bikes and have taken a proper hammering. A few uplift days, lots of push-up downhill, loads of XC/AM ragging, even the alps a couple of weeks back. Still going strong (though I think they're a bit bent somewhere, but it's fine, haha). I know what my next cranks will be.

As for the deore/zee thing - the zee cranks look similar but as lawman said, they have a stronger axle, pedal inserts, no granny ring tabs. Probably wouldn't trust deore cranks for downhill myself...

The Rookie

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I have seen a few broken SLX cranks. Deore's are definitely stronger and cheaper.

Broken where and were they triple or Double and Bash? Deore is also heavier which as this is not a full on DH bike is a factor.....