General Discussion Triathlon Talk » FSA SLK Light MegaExo Carbon Crank Review Rss Feed  
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2009-08-26 8:57 AM

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Subject: FSA SLK Light MegaExo Carbon Crank Review

I'll make this short and simple as I have a tendency to ramble on   I bought a Cervelo P2 and thought I was upgrading to the FSA SLK carbon crank.  I checked out the reviews on roadbikereview.com  - http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/drivetrain/cranksets/fsa/PRD_367104_2491crx.aspx#reviews 

Half the reviews said it was a terrible crank and bottom bracket, and complete junk.  The other half said it was fantastic and that the other reviewers must've bought the crank online and improperly installed it themselves.  I usually take online reveiws with a grain of salt for many reasons and decided to side with the positive half of reveiwers.  Needless to say it was a mistake. 

After just 400 miles of biking my bottome bracket was making a grinding sound.  A bad grinding sound.  I took it back to my tri shop and the wrench ended up replacing my bottom bracket.  Amazingly after only 400 miles the bearings were stripping out!!  WTF!  The bike wrench remarked how he'd seen 100's of bb's with 10,000 miles plus on them and he'd never seen one go bad like this.  So he gave me a new FSA BB, he properly torqued all the bolts, he lubed everything, fine-tuned my derailleur and pretty much in total spent 45 minutes making sure everything was in good working order.

That was just two weeks ago.  Now after just another 200 miles or so the damn thing is starting to clang and grind again anytime I stand out of the saddle or push a speed over 20 mph.  I'm glad this crank and bb comes with a manufacturer warranty cause it's absolute junk, from my experience.  I don't expect to pay top dollar for a carbon crank and get something that's going to clank and clunk within  a few months of normal use. 

Just an fyi for any BT'ers looking to buy this crank.  This is my experience with it.  

 



2009-08-26 9:29 AM
in reply to: #2371293

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Resident Curmudgeon
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Subject: RE: FSA SLK Light MegaExo Carbon Crank Review
Good to know. I've got about a thosand miles on my P2 with this crank, no problems so far, but I'll definitely keep an eye on it.
2009-08-26 10:16 AM
in reply to: #2371293

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Member
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Subject: RE: FSA SLK Light MegaExo Carbon Crank Review
did he or you face the BB shell? or check that it was properly faced?
Shimano BBs are compatible with FSA cranks, if it was bad bearings, that would be a good test. If it was BB shell facing, the shimano BB would fail quickly as well. External bearing cranks do require much more precision in shell faces than octalink, ISIS or most square taper BBs, sadly many shops still aren't in the habbit of checking.

FWIW I had about 18k miles on mine before changing the bearings. OTOH, it's entirely possible FSA lowered their bearing specs since I got mine - in an effort to sell ceramics perhaps.
2009-08-26 11:30 AM
in reply to: #2371293

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Master
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Central Indiana
Subject: RE: FSA SLK Light MegaExo Carbon Crank Review
Shop put one of these on my carbon Synapse as a replacement for original Cannondale crank which failed early.  So far I'm very happy with the SLK-light.  Smooth, stiff, light.  But only ~1k miles on it so can't say about longevity.
2009-08-26 2:22 PM
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Champion
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Subject: RE: FSA SLK Light MegaExo Carbon Crank Review
Never had anything but problems with FSA. Never on another bike I own.  Keep your NEO Pro and give me a good ole' 105 any day of the week.
2009-08-26 3:00 PM
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Not a Coach
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Subject: RE: FSA SLK Light MegaExo Carbon Crank Review
FWIW, I have this crankset on my P2C which I bought used.  Bike had ~3000mi on it when I bought it and I've put about another 4000 on it since then.  No issues with the cranks or bb.


2009-08-26 3:08 PM
in reply to: #2372397

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Slower Than You
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Subject: RE: FSA SLK Light MegaExo Carbon Crank Review
Proper installation is crucial with external BBs.

not the same issue, but I had one develop creaking, and it turned out it was my rear dropout (Al/Ti interface) causing the noise. A dab of grease in each side and the creak is no more.

The general consensus is that the bearings in external BBs are not as durable as their predecessors, and mileage varies greatly even in the same quality level.
2009-08-27 6:30 AM
in reply to: #2372416

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Master
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Subject: RE: FSA SLK Light MegaExo Carbon Crank Review
bcart1991 - 2009-08-26 4:08 PM Proper installation is crucial with external BBs.
 The general consensus is that the bearings in external BBs are not as durable as their predecessors, and mileage varies greatly even in the same quality level.


^^^^

I've heard similar short-BB life stories from many brands.
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