…and we’re back. After posting it a bit too early on Tuesday, here’s the official post with some cleaned up photos and more tech info. Cannondale’s set the benchmark again for mass production lightweight cranksets.
Their new SiSL2 cranksets are 100% CNC machined in a clamshell design that’s bonded together. Each half of the crank arm is machined as a single piece, then they’re bonded together to create a hollow, extremely light crank arm. For the SiSL2, they’ve machined out even more material than ever to save precious grams.
The spindle has additional machining, too. For both parts, the shaping and location of material removal during machining, as well as where to leave more metal, was tweaked, which resulted in increased stiffness. The result is a crankset that claims to be both lighter and stiffer.
The eye-catching new Spidering is 3D forged then machined into a one piece double chainset. Their forging process pushes all the grains outward from the center for improved stiffness. By eliminating the bolts, Murray Washburn, global director of product marketing, says there’s no deflection during shifting.
The design was inspired by race car’s wheels, which often use many thin arms. What’s surprising is that they were able to incorporate a full set of ramps and pins into the very thin spiders. Washburn says the profiling and pin placement is very similar to regular chainrings and that shifting performance is close to Dura-Ace (though he did acknowledge that Shimano’s top rings remain the benchmark).
Washburn says the combination of the SiSL2 crankarms/spindle and the Spiderings provide incredible power transfer. They’re available in standard 53/39 and a 50/34 compact with either 10 or 11 speed tooth profiles and chainline. The one-piece chainring combo is a separate piece from the crankarms, so you’ll be able to swap between standard and compact without replacing the rings crankarms.
Claimed weight for the Spidering, SiSL2 crankarms, bolts and spindle is 484g for the compact 172.5.
This crankset combo will come on the new Women’s EVO, with a new 165mm length on the 44cm frames, and on the top three men’s 2013 SuperSix EVO road bike models. They’re likely to make it available aftermarket, but not immediately.
There’s also a new Si 3D Forged Hollow Cranks. It’s a one piece crank, not a clamshell design like their SL models. Washburn says they’ve invested a lot in forging technology over the past couple years to develop their OPI (One Piece Integration) Lefty legs and stems. This tech is now used on these new cranksets, which will let them put their crank arms on more bikes while using chainrings from FSA and others. Weight is 609g for this crankset with FSA compact chainrings (excluding BB). Spider and arms are separate, so you’ll be able to switch between standard and compact rings simply by swapping the spider.
