The downhill cranks from e*thirteen were designed and developed by their co-company, The Hive, and are constructed from 7050 aluminium which is forged then machined to make these sleek looking beauties.
At their heart sits a heat treated chromoly spindle in either 113 or 123mm lengths depending on your bottom bracket shell width. It’s this 30mm spindle that helps keep things stiff, along with the polygon interface where the non-driveside crank arm attaches.
Fitting the e*thirteens is a fairly straightforward process but you’ll need to read the instructions to get things set up perfectly.They do actually provide the tool for the bottom bracket cup installation and that serves as a reminder that this is a unique bit of kit – well worth bearing in mind on any trips away.
Since installing our 175mm samples we did actually notice a difference in stiffness over the previous crank we were running. These are solid. They’ve really taken a beating so far and both bottom bracket and cranks are still holding up well.
Considering our sample weighed in at around 810g (without bottom bracket) and being on par price-wise with other top end units, these are certainly worth a look should you be in the market for a new downhill crankset.
This article was originally published in Mountain Biking UK magazine.
