Shimano

XTR FC-M9020-3 3x Trail Crankset

When temperatures dip into the mid-50s, we rarely ride without knee warmers. Given this level of protection from the chill, it seems silly to subject our knees to mechanical abuse with insufficient gearing up front. Shimano's XTR FC-M9020-3 3x Trail Crankset brings a dose of knee-saving granny gear to handle the most demanding grades or bail us out when we've already bonked but we're still miles from the trailhead.

As usual, Shimano's crank arms forgo carbon in favor of HollowTech II aluminum. They're cold-forged and feature reinforcement so they stand up to the impacts and torsional forces of enduro riding that would leave the lighter Race model whimpering on the side of the trail. Like the Race model, the M9020 Trail crankset's chainring teeth are made from titanium, and shift paths between the rings are computer-optimized to produce the seamless, feathery shifting we've all grown to associate with Shimano's XTR group.

The Trail crank's spider is the same found on all the new M9000-series XTR cranksets, and so it can accommodate any M9000 combination of gearing in the series. As the title suggests, this particular crankset comes with the knee-saving grace of a triple.