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Cane Creek eeWings cranks go Raven black, plus new 165mm arm length & more colors!

Written by Tyler Benedict
Cane Creek eeWings Raven ti cranks, gloss black titanium modular crankset
18 Comments
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Cane Creek’s eeWings Raven cranks give a new look to their titanium crank arms, painting them a deep gloss black to better match many frames. The automotive finish adds a whopping 3g (yes, they measured it), giving it a fresh look with no weight penalty.

There’s also a new 165mm arm length option for the original brushed, bare titanium finish, helping shorter riders (or those who just want more ground clearance) a serious upgrade option. Those will retail for $999. Now back to black…

Cane Creek eeWings Raven, titanium cranks in gloss black – details

Cane Creek eeWings Raven ti cranks, gloss black titanium modular crankset

The cranks are the same as before, just with a new finish option. They say it’s a premium multi-layer paint, but like any paint can chip. So, it ships with a clear protective film if you want to keep it safe. You may ask yourself who want want to cover up that beautiful titanium with black paint, but Cane Creek says many riders were looking for a more-subdued look to blend in with the carbon & alloy bikes, while retaining the ti performance, lightweight & durability.

Ravens available in 170 & 175mm lengths for mountain bikes, plus 170mm for all-road. Both versions retail for $1,049. (Other sizes are available in the brushed titanium and ti-dye finishes, but Raven is limited to these sizes listed.)

Road weight should be around 398g / MTB at 403g without spider or BB. They’re made with butted 3/2.5 titanium arms, CNC’d 6/4 titanium spindle/ Hirth joint, and a stainless steel crank bolt. Road Q-factor is 160mm/MTB is 176mm, 30mm spindle only. Chainrings are available separately, compatible with SRAM 3-bolt direct mount.

The Preloader now comes in more colors & 165mm MTB crankarms, too

Cane Creek eeWings Raven ti cranks, gloss black titanium modular crankset colored preloader rings

Need to add a little color back? The Cane Creek Preloader is now also available in anodized orange, red, green, blue & black. Swap them out for $29 each. (It also works with SRAM & RaceFace cranks too!)

And while the black Raven arms come in just two lengths, the standard eeWings Mountain cranks are now available in shorter 165mm arm lengths too, in the original brushed ti finish for the regular $999 pricetag.

All items are available now and ship from Cane Creek retailers and direct. Unrelated, they just launched a new podcast called (wait for it) the Cane Creek Podcast.

CaneCreek.com
Tyler Benedict
11,281 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com, where he’s been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel and ride in new places.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler also loves the Vanlife & family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part and off-grid adventure.

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c36c36
c36c36
4 years ago

Has stiffness ever been measured on this crankset? mechanically there is no way Titanium has a better STW ratio than Aluminium or Carbon, curious if the construction compensate a bit of this or not.

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Greg
Greg
4 years ago
Reply to  c36c36

Stiffness to weight of titanium, steel, aluminum are right next to each other. Aluminum is much less dense so you need more of it. In this case there’s only so much room, so titanium is a good material for this area. To make it out of aluminum and keep the same stiffness, the arms and spindle would have to be even bigger.
All that said, even the most basic modern cranks are more than stiff enough. People buy this one because it’s cool, it looks awesome, etc., and because of its impact resistance vs carbon arms.

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c36c36
c36c36
4 years ago
Reply to  Greg

Greg,
You are right on the specific stiffness (stiffness over matrial density). it is the “same” among main metals in traction but not in flexion or torsion (E/density^2 or E/density^3), then Aluminium is 9.7 versus 5.6 for ti… that’s a massive 70% difference in flexion.
Now you have a point, in reduced space aluminium may not be able to have enough thickness to compensate… but with large 30mm axles that’s not a problem here (that was for the traditional square axles, you had not enough space to design a aluminium axle stiff and resistant enough.
regards

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sonny166
sonny166
4 years ago

wet paint: the world’s most durable surface, perfect for a heel-rub prone component. well, behind powdercoat. or pvd. or uncoated titanium.

also…why no silver/polished option on the preload ring?

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ben
ben
4 years ago
Reply to  sonny166

I think when you have enough cash to buy this crank, it’s no problem to buy a fresh new pair when the first scratches show…

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JNH
JNH
4 years ago
Reply to  sonny166

I would hope anyone with enough cash to buy these has enough sense to put a length of helicopter tape on each arm. As a habitual user of Shimano cranks they all get some tape to avoid that silver heel patch that comes free with all black Shimano cranks.

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Shafty
Shafty
4 years ago
Reply to  sonny166

If you read the article, you’d see they ship with protective tape. The 3m stuff is plenty durable for this application. Some people don’t have heel rub issues either.

Also, this is exactly the finish I’ve been waiting for. Using White Industries R30 right now, but want something lighter.

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paolo
paolo
4 years ago

Too expensive, for uncertain gain.
what about the total weight, including the chainring and the mounting bolts?

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Tom
Tom
4 years ago

beautiful piece, and likely well engineered by now. But no way I would take this thing into the woods where I ride – one ride, and the whole crank would be scratched to hell. Much prefer a carbon crank with a boot on it, so I don’t have to think about it.

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Ol' Shel'
Ol' Shel'
4 years ago

I dislike these cranks for one big reason:

I can’t afford them.

I think most critics are in the same boat.

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c36c36
c36c36
4 years ago

Simple table for Specific Stiffness (traction / flex / tortion) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_modulus

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Dominic
Dominic
4 years ago

It’s all about volume here. Cranks are severely space restricted. The other major advantages are that Ti is much better at point loads than aluminium or carbon, and carbon so much so that almost all carbon cranks use significant chunks of aluminium. Ti is better than Alu here because it means longer lasting teeth on the spindle to crank interface, and longer lasting bearing surfaces, and longer lasting pedal threads- assuming anti seize is used. And no bonds to fail. Properly done welds are far more reliable than bonds between two dissimilar materials.

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Dominic
Dominic
4 years ago

OH ya! I was gonna post about the preloader. I just installed the one that I got for my Race Face cranks and the larger stainless bolt was worth the upcharge. If i was running radial bearings I might not care, but since I’m using angular contact being able to tighten the lockring properly means I can keep my adjustment rather than see it migrate constantly, or suffer an overtightened 1.5mm allen head. I also like that the RF crank has a built in thread, while SRAM uses this chintzy little plastic sleeve, as if the plastic preload adjuster wasn’t an insult enough.

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Joe
Joe
4 years ago

I don’t get the whining about scratches – if this crank can be taken from current bike to the next bike, to the next bike, then it’s worth all the pennies – some people like myself are not looking anymore for the prettiest, but for the most durable, most sustainable solution. And if it’s built to last for many years, I might even consider giving it a fresh coat every build or so… If a product is genuinely useful for many years, what else can someone wish for?

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sonny166
sonny166
4 years ago
Reply to  Joe

a powdercoated version that doesn’t need a fresh coat every time. or a pvd coated version that doesn’t need a fresh coat every time. in general, a finish that doesn’t require protective tape. those are some options to wish for on a $1049 crank.

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paul barrett
paul barrett
4 years ago
Reply to  sonny166

Truth!!

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Dominic
Dominic
4 years ago
Reply to  sonny166

Powder coat will come off a crank too. PVD sounds like a great idea though.

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Jazz
Jazz
4 years ago

You should not have waited…just get them and send them out for a custom Laser etch graphic or a custom paint job or just a custom anodizing with either a graphics or just color.

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