Well I was less than happy with the performance out of my FSA SLK cranks, heavy, and the shifting was really just terrible when it was off the stand. So I twisted my own arm and ordered the Pulsions (Like I should have to begin with). I have wanted them since I first saw them, awesome cranks. First off I started with the AC Splint Ring BB, the weight is great and I thought I would give it a try, quality was nice however that play is noted but I don't feel it while riding. Weight was damn close to the promised 140g.
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/2223/sl74dd.jpg

Next were the cranks themselves, boy are these babys awesome looking. Just so mean looking, my favorite cranks without a DOUBT. My scale only tops out at 300g's so... either way they are lighter, I saved at LEAST 200 grams over my previous setup. The cranks went on great and look even better!
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/2267/sl58ra.jpg
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/5880/sl62ts.jpg
http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/373/sl12cl.jpg

I also bought some Power Cordz, wow these DO NOT WORK EVEN FOR SHIFTING! I spent an hour trying to push these through the Nokon housing and then when I was finally only about 4 inches from the end when I realized these will never be smooth and I don't want chunky shifting. Any tips would ne greatly appreciated as I would love to be able to actually use these. Savings were a lot less than 60 grams though.
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/8628/sl47ap.jpg

Final weight, not too bad considering this is a full deal bike, cages, Polar 720 with cadence, the whole shibang. Next upgrade will be Zipp bars, and new seatpost. The ultimate goal is to get this bike to some form of 13 lbs. with the K's still on. Hope you all like it!
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/5699/sl30rp.jpg

K

I also love the look of the Pulsions.... Holding off on new cranks till the testers get to the new Zero Gravity cranks. Hopefully Juan will confrim they are as great as the brakes.... Would also consider the Zipps if only they would produce a compact.....

Pulsions are great. I love mine. Your bike is coming together nicely. Let us know what works with the Nokon cables. I'm a little confused on what I need to order for them. I thought they came with a cable set included. Is that not the case or are you just trying to go even lighter?

They come with cables, nice ones at that. I was just trying to save some more weight with no luck. Really frustruating when something should work and doesn't

K

I'm going to be putting on my Power Cordz very soon although I'm going to be using the QBP carbon housing. I'll post how it goes. PM RichW over at weight weenies, he's using the same cable and housing set up on his new Scott although there was a problem with his replacement frame so I don't know when he will complete the build. A posting at WW might give you some tips to make it work since it seems as though several have the same set up working.

Do you have a lighter set of wheels to race and fast train on?

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11463

You may find your Power Cordz answer here.

I have the Stronglight too, the CT2 version. Wonderful crankset, good shifting.

If you have tight bends in your housing you will have to use the Nokon cables, as others will have too much friction. I have an Aztec cable for the front brake with Nokon housing, works fine, but anything longer than that won't work. When my Nokon shift cable broke (after 3 months) in the tight bend from the Dura Ace lever to under the bar tape, it was impossible to replace it with a standard Shimano cable. Now I have rear shifting with standard Shimano, the rest is Nokon.

I find standard cables to fit fine in my Nokons, in fact none of these are Nokon cables.

K

Your Scott looks awsome with those cranks. I feel like Scott should have put carbon cranks on the CR1 from the factory. My new cranks are definitely not Pulsions but I do like them alot. I like the look of my bike much better with the carbon cranks. Here's mine:

http://kevinmcdade.servebeer.com/Scott%20CR1/Scott%20CR1/Carbon%20Crank1.JPG

IUBike- Can you post a pic of your cranks parallel to your chain stay? I want to see if yours is as close as mine. My 175mm Pulsions are only about 3-4mm from my chainstays with a 108mm BB. Are yours that close?

BTW those Truvativ are very nicely made cranks, we have a CR1 with a set of them and they look great.

K

You too? Oh my god I can push the crank arm and hit the chain stay if I want!!! I almost pissed myself when I noticed it. I was really worried but the more I though about it I realized it would be impossible to hit it, as even in a sprint the your pedal stroke would be pulling the arm away from the stay technically, I don't know if you understand what I mean but I think they are safe. Scary though isn't it?

K

IUBike- Can you post a pic of your cranks parallel to your chain stay? I want to see if yours is as close as mine. My 175mm Pulsions are only about 3-4mm from my chainstays with a 108mm BB. Are yours that close?

Mine are that close too, but I am not worried about flexing that crankset 3-4 mm.

You too? Oh my god I can push the crank arm and hit the chain stay if I want!!! I almost pissed myself when I noticed it. I was really worried but the more I though about it I realized it would be impossible to hit it, as even in a sprint the your pedal stroke would be pulling the arm away from the stay technically, I don't know if you understand what I mean but I think they are safe. Scary though isn't it?

K

I know exactly what you mean. I don't think the crank is under that much load when it passes by the chainstay, especially not in that direction. It just looks really close and I wanted to make sure I installed everything properly. I have pounded them pretty hard and it doesn't cause any problems. It just freaks me out sometimes. :eek:

I'm just glad I'm not the only one. I even measured the distance between the crankarms and they are completely to specs.

Yup, the forces simply are not there when actually riding the bike, only when we are all pushing on the arms in the stand :D . I am still ticked about the cables, I may take you up on that QBP housing as I would love to save that 40-60 grams :).

K

clgtiPulsions

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"I also love the look of the Pulsions.... Holding off on new cranks till the testers get to the new Zero Gravity cranks. Hopefully Juan will confrim they are as great as the brakes.... Would also consider the Zipps if only they would produce a compact.....de1:"


Yeah, if money were no object, it would be a tough decision.
Zipps are advertising 440g and they look BEAUTIFUL!! made in the USA too. I just an not sure I can swing $900 for a set of cranks and BB. I'll have to wait a couple more months.

Then ZG is shooting for 620g with BB. That's on par with Zipps weight with a nice ISIS BB.
I wonder what the price is going to be with those?
ZG is upgrading the brakes again with a better clamp for the cable and more clerance for tire changes.

Then there are those stellar Pulsions at 460g and probably the most affordable.

Geeze, I hate having all these cool choices! :mad:

I am considering these same choices and would like to go with Zipp, but wished it came in compact...

I can't get over how high they mount that FD with the ZG crank. I heard it is better to mount a little higher than normal, but that seems excessive.
My top choice are the Pulsions right now. Just trying to decide if i want to pull off these SLKs.

I am considering these same choices and would like to go with Zipp, but wished it came in compact...

I can't get over how high they mount that FD with the ZG crank. I heard it is better to mount a little higher than normal, but that seems excessive.
My top choice are the Pulsions right now. Just trying to decide if i want to pull off these SLKs.

That, I believe was just assembled for the bike show and was not put through its paces. Someone prolly just didn't think to lower the FD. Herbert from Lightspeed frequents the Weight Weenie forum, so you can go over there, search and find out the details of what you see in the piccie.

That, I believe was just assembled for the bike show and was not put through its paces. Someone prolly just didn't think to lower the FD. Herbert from Lightspeed frequents the Weight Weenie forum, so you can go over there, search and find out the details of what you see in the piccie.

- From that pic, it looks like a Braze-On Der. and in my experiance Compact & Braze-On don't go together well regardless of Compact or Reg. Der.
My SLK's with a standard Clamp-On DA10 Der. shift perfectly, every time.
- They are a little portly and that's the only reason they will depart my bike when the Zero G's become available. ;)

In comparison the SLK's are just not there in the quality department. The box looks pretty, the weave is nice, but the the little things were not up to snuff. The plastic bearing races (stupid idea from all the companies going external if you ask me) are very delicate, and per FSA the safest way to install them without destroying the race is to install the driveside cup and the crank set and then thread in the non drive cup. This is a pain, and means you can't use the nice BB tool but instead the crappy DA style wrench. In the end it is no faster to install then ISIS. When it comes to the rings, they are nice, but crap compared to Campy, Shimano or the Stronglight. On the STAND I broke the tips off many of the teeth just setting up the FD... not cool. So far the stronglight teeth are flawless, this may seem stupid, but when setting up the FD to be super close to the rings and you get a row of 10 broken tip teeth as soon as you pedal the taller teeth rip chunks for you carbon Record FD :mad: . Go for the ZG's I love their brakes, but we are looking at a while for the cranks to come out and the weight will still be more than Pulsions. As for stiffness... everyone has their opinion, but within reason I don't feel any difference between anything I have ridden! My vote, PULSIONS!

K

In comparison the SLK's are just not there in the quality department. The box looks pretty, the weave is nice, but the the little things were not up to snuff. The plastic bearing races (stupid idea from all the companies going external if you ask me) are very delicate, and per FSA the safest way to install them without destroying the race is to install the driveside cup and the crank set and then thread in the non drive cup. This is a pain, and means you can't use the nice BB tool but instead the crappy DA style wrench. In the end it is no faster to install then ISIS. When it comes to the rings, they are nice, but crap compared to Campy, Shimano or the Stronglight. On the STAND I broke the tips off many of the teeth just setting up the FD... not cool. So far the stronglight teeth are flawless, this may seem stupid, but when setting up the FD to be super close to the rings and you get a row of 10 broken tip teeth as soon as you pedal the taller teeth rip chunks for you carbon Record FD :mad: . Go for the ZG's I love their brakes, but we are looking at a while for the cranks to come out and the weight will still be more than Pulsions. As for stiffness... everyone has their opinion, but within reason I don't feel any difference between anything I have ridden! My vote, PULSIONS!

K

hi, Ive ben admiring your your bike and the progression it took. I am now building my own CR1 dream bike. its been 3 weeks ( I got the frame off Mavic Neutral support) since i have started some prep work on the frame (it came in the Mavic yellow paint), started piecing out campy record parts. I would like to work for those Pulsions....can you give me some leads on how you got them. I'll wait for the prices to go down (if they ever do) but I do work on a very tight budget. thanks

e

hi, Ive ben admiring your your bike and the progression it took. I am now building my own CR1 dream bike. its been 3 weeks ( I got the frame off Mavic Neutral support) since i have started some prep work on the frame (it came in the Mavic yellow paint), started piecing out campy record parts. I would like to work for those Pulsions....can you give me some leads on how you got them. I'll wait for the prices to go down (if they ever do) but I do work on a very tight budget. thanks

e

I bought my CT2 cranks, and the best price, is off Ebay. Sometimes you can luck out and snag them cheap.

hi, Ive ben admiring your your bike and the progression it took. I am now building my own CR1 dream bike. its been 3 weeks ( I got the frame off Mavic Neutral support) since i have started some prep work on the frame (it came in the Mavic yellow paint), started piecing out campy record parts. I would like to work for those Pulsions....can you give me some leads on how you got them. I'll wait for the prices to go down (if they ever do) but I do work on a very tight budget. thanks

e
I got my Pusions CT2 from bike24.net, about 320 euro in early 2005. They are up to 380 euro now. Don't expect the price to come down soon. Totalcycling has them too (the regular version, not CT2), for $463. Your best bet for a lower price is indeed Ebay.