Actofive teased this new modular alloy Signature Crankset back in January when they released their in-house machined Signature Chainrings. Developed as a light but tough aluminum crank for everything from gravel to enduro, they adapt technology from Actofive’s beautifully machined P-Train high-pivot all-mountain bike. Available to order in a limited edition series, act now to give your bike a made-in-Germany upgrade…
Actofive Signature hollow alloy Crankset
The signature of Actofive Cycles’ Signature Crankset is its fine CNC-machined look, made entirely in-house in Dresden, Germany. Using the same basic concept as their trail to enduro P-Train all-mountain bike, each crank arm is CNC-machined in two pieces, then anodized, then bonded together to create a light & strong hollow structure.
Founder, owner, and chief engineer of Actofive, Simon Metzner says the 2-piece hollow construction gives him precise control on every tiny bit of high-strength aluminum in the cranks. The hollow design allows for very thin shells while efficiently transferring forces within the structure, plus precise nesting of the two elements for a strong bond, and reinforcement just where it’s needed.
“I’ve been dreaming of my own crankset featuring fine CNC aesthetics for a long time, but creating a product is always challenging because you’re constantly juggling function, strength, weight, design, and manufacturing costs.” But now that the Signature Crankset is out of the mill and onto the bike, Metzner is sold on the final product – a strong, lightweight crankset with a classic machined look.
Tech details
The Actofive Signature Crankset is completely Made in Germany, with about 2 hours of machining time per pair of crank arms as more than 4kg of aluminum gets whittled down to the thin shells. Of course, all those aluminum shavings are collected in the process and responsibly recycled to eventually become a new stock of aluminum again.
Each inner & outer half of each crank arm is anodized silver or black before final assembly, so riders can pick either all silver, all black, or a mixed Two Face look with silver outer shells over black inner shells.
Chainrings direct-mount to the crankset with SRAM’s standard 3-bolt DM splined interface. And crank arms attach to SRAM’s 8-lobed bottom bracket spindles, with an integrated crank puller design. The crankset also includes a bearing preload ring on the non-driveside, available in black or blue ano.
Actofive has verified the all-mountain strength & safety of their new crankset with trusted German test lab EFBE and their Tri-Test of fatigue, maximum load, and overload tests.
Total crankset weight is claimed to be just 475g, without a chainring (likely adding around 45-55g extra for a MTB setup).
Actofive Signature Crankset – Pricing, options & availability
Actofive is making the cranks available in 165mm or 170mm lengths only for now, as they “love fast turns, lean angles, and a low center of gravity”. Two different SRAM 29mm DUB bottom bracket spindles are offered – a 168mm Q-factor for 73mm MTB bottom brackets or a 163mm Q-factor for 68mm road/gravel bottom brackets.
All crankset options officially retail for 690€ including VAT, but without chainrings. Actofive Signature Chainrings are available now for 119€ in 3o or 32T & Boost or non-boost offset.
But… through the end of August, Actofive is offering a 10% off deal on the first full production run of cranksets, dropping the price down to 621€.
As for availability, the first limited series of 50 cranksets will be available in November 2022, then will be produced in batches to meet demand.
BTW, the P-Train now is available in this wild purple ano too…
