Era SL Crankset

What Our Gearhead® Experts Are Saying:

"What makes the Era SL technically compelling is how Race Face handled the durability problem that carbon cranks usually have. Rather than reinforcing the entire arm — which adds weight — they identified the specific contact zones where shoe strike and pedal articulation actually remove material, and placed the stainless steel wear plate precisely there. It's a targeted solution that protects what needs protecting without penalizing the weight number everywhere else. The four arm length options are also worth calling out; most cranksets at this price offer two lengths at best, and getting crank length genuinely right for a rider's anatomy and riding style has a measurable effect on pedaling efficiency and knee comfort."

Carbon cranksets face a consistent durability challenge: the material that makes them light is also susceptible to scuffing and surface damage at the points where shoes and pedal hardware make contact during normal riding. Most manufacturers address this either by reinforcing the entire arm — adding weight — or by accepting surface damage as an inevitable cosmetic consequence. Race Face took a more precise approach with the Era SL Crankset, engineering a minimized stainless steel wear plate positioned specifically at the high-contact zones where shoe strike and modern clipless pedal articulation generate the most surface wear. The result is a crankset that protects what actually needs protecting without a blanket weight penalty across the full arm.

At 354g, the Era SL Crankset is the lightest mainstream crankset available — a benchmark achieved through carbon fiber arm construction paired with a 7000-series aluminum alloy 30mm spindle. The spindle diameter and 136mm length cover the broad range of modern bottom bracket standards in use across XC and trail builds, and the 170mm Q-factor, including pedal washers, sits within the range most trail riders find natural for pedaling efficiency and knee tracking. Two chainline options — 52mm with a direct mount ring, 55mm with a DMW ring — extend compatibility across single-ring drivetrain configurations.

Four crank arm lengths — 160mm, 165mm, 170mm, and 175mm — address what is often an underspecified variable in trail builds. Crank length affects knee flexion angle at the top of the pedal stroke, cadence comfort, and pedal clearance on technical terrain. Riders who prefer a high-cadence spin, smaller riders optimizing for knee health, or anyone building around a specific pedaling style can select the arm length that genuinely fits rather than accepting a default. The Era SL ships with crank boots, pedal washers, and spindle spacers included; chainrings and bottom brackets are sold separately to allow full drivetrain compatibility across the range of configurations the crankset supports.