Shimano launches carbon Dura-Ace crankset

[DarrenCT]

Apparently its available in Spring 2008...

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/shimano-launches-carbon-dura-ace-crankset-12255?img=1

[Marcusaurelius]

If it means I'll find more shimano 10 speed dura ace alloy cranksets for sale then I'm all for it of course.

[victoryfactory]

I'm not necessarily into the carbon aspect, but I like that they
have apparently changed that crappy looking solid chainring
design for something a little more open and elegant.

I hope that aspect trickles down to the regular DA.
The current one isn't too bad looking from the drive side, but
looks raw and unattractive to my eye from the non drive side of the bike.

VF

[oldguy00]

Funny, I was thinking it would look a lot better with the larger chainrings like the current DA crank has, but maybe in a black color like some of the FSA cranks..

But as well, I think the carbon crank would only look good on a bike if they also put some carbon on the other DA parts, otherwise it would just look out of place, IMHO.

[iffyjoe]

Great. There goes my egg money.

[samtaylor1]

Such a shame I think the alloy looks so much better.

[Keith A]

I'm with you VF -- I much prefer the chainrings on the carbon cranks!

[Simon Q]

I'm with you VF -- I much prefer the chainrings on the carbon cranks!

Me too. All in the eyes of the beholder but not a lot aesthetically I dig about current DA. They are moving in the right direction.

[zank]

I'm not necessarily into the carbon aspect, but I like that they
have apparently changed that crappy looking solid chainring
design for something a little more open and elegant.

I hope that aspect trickles down to the regular DA.
The current one isn't too bad looking from the drive side, but
looks raw and unattractive to my eye from the non drive side of the bike.

VF

I agree as well. But here's my question. Will there still be regular DA?

[Smiley]

A carbon Ultegra crankset in my view

[toaster]

The recent Dura-Ace crankset has a chainring that looks like a circular saw blade, ugly.

This carbon incarnation is much better looking, IMHO.

[Tony Edwards]

The recent Dura-Ace crankset has a chainring that looks like a circular saw blade, ugly.

This carbon incarnation is much better looking, IMHO.


Yeah, I agree. Actually the whole slightly monstrous, blobby shape of the crank just looks better in carbon than in aluminum IMO - it's not as eye-catching, and by virtue of being carbon, one doesn't expect it to look normal, so its appearance isn't as startling as it is in metal.

[norman neville]

the article says there's a metal core inside, to keep rigidity they say.

hollow carbon would be much lighter though. are campag carbon cranks flexy?

[Grant McLean]

I really shouldn't out this... but most of you know i'm an industry insider with
access to information that only a very few people outside of shimano's inner
circle of the top product development team gets to see. Even then, only a
select few get to see any more than the individual piece of the grouppo that
their part of the team is working on. In order to keep their secrets, shimano
forbids any two members of the product development team to speak to each
other, or their wives, for fear of any one person putting too many pieces of
the puzzle together.

With that said, I bring you these spy photos of the 2010 version of "new"
dura ace were taken in a white room in Tokyo, where I was only allowed a
few minutes to handle the new crank. Fortunately, I smuggled in a spy
camera, yes, risking my uber-inside status to bring you these shots.

As you can clearly see, Shimano has developed a new carbon fiber process
that exaclty mimics the look and stiffness of aluminum! It's an exciting
breakthrough, which will no doubt change the marketplace...

-g

[Elefantino]

There is a guy in San Francisco who is working on a super black-box project of components made of "transparent aluminum."

Don't know where he got the idea.

http://images.wikia.com/memoryalpha/en/images/thumb/4/48/Scotty_uses_a_mouse.jpg/225px-Scotty_uses_a_mouse.jpg

[Bittersweet]

With TA Hegoa rings