Considering Carbon Cranks

ctp046

I recently picked up my first cyclocross bike. My plan is to 1x it, but the cranks have a silly 120 BCD which makes finding a NW chainring that would work is tough (I'm in Canada so don't want to have to have stuff shipped across the border, duty here is ridiculous). It came with FSA omegas which seem to be pretty entry level so I'll probably get something a little higher quality.

I'm looking at used cranks with a more reasonable BCD. It looks like there are some good deals on carbon sets (also some good deals on aluminum sets as well). I'm wondering if I should consider carbon or if it's going to be a pain to look after. This bike is my only road frame so it will work as a commuter, training bike for CX and CX race bike. I'm wondering if I'm better off going aluminum so I don't have to worry about the cranks.

My question is if carbon takes more care to look after. Am I going to have to be paranoid about making sure they don't rub on stuff when I'm locking it up after commuting. Will have to look into protecting them when transporting the bike (I have a hitch mount bike rack and we have lots of gravel roads here). Am I going to have to make sure I don't put the bike down on the pavement if I'm taking it places (I have a 9 year old so when we're unloading bikes sometimes it's just more convenient to put them on the ground then to try and stand them up somewhere). I guess overall do I have to be more worried about abrasion than with aluminum? Or can I treat them both similar?

fenix

I have them on my road bike. It just came with them. I'd probably not pay extra for them.

Personally I'd be more wary of clouting a crank on a rock whilst out and about.

Don't think I've ever placed my bike on the concrete - always something to lean it against less abrasive - but it'd usually be a pedal it'd be resting on anyway ?

I can't see CF has any advantages over alloy for a crank really.

trek_dan

No difference in robustness in my experience. However if this is a high end SRAM versus high end Shimano debate for off road use I find Shimano bottom brackets to be much longer lasting.

grenw

I have carbon cranks (SRAM X0) on my mountain bike. A few thousand miles and a few chunks taken out of them by rocks and they are still going strong.

Also only had to change the GXP BB once during that time.

tgotb

One of my bikes is on its 4th year with carbon cranks. The graphics are pretty scuffed, which isn't something I really care about, but apart from that they're fine.

In terms of advantages - carbon cranks tend to be lighter for the same stiffness. Whether they're worthwhile for you depends on how much you're prepared to pay to save weight, which is a purely personal decision. Reduced weight can't be a bad thing, particularly when you're carrying the bike, flicking it over hurdles etc, but is no substitute for pushing harder on the pedals.