Crank Brothers showed off new products and changes that touched virtually every component group they offered, and they introduced a few new ones, too. In fact, they said there’s only one product within the line that’s been there in its current form for more than a year.
Shown above, the handlebars grow wider for Cobalt, Iodine, Opium and Sage, with tweaks to their backsweep on the wider bars to make them more ergonomic. They now stretch out as far as 780mm, and anything at 720mm or wider gets a 9º sweep. Iodine gets out to 720mm, and Cobalt goes out to 780mm in carbon and alloy with 29er riders in mind. Opium gets a 780mm in 15mm and 30mm rises, and Sage 2 freeride bar gets the same changes as Opium.
There’s also a new Level 1 (entry level) cockpit group in both Cobalt (XC) and Iodine (Trail), which are black color matched for a cohesive look.
Jump past the break for all sorts of updates and new goodies…
The locking foam grips, at just 65g/pair and $25, are an easy way to upgrade and lighten up, and they come in the new Red color that’s available for the Level 3 Eggbeater, Candy, and Cobalt seatpost, too:
New Iodine all-mountain saddle with replaceable, repairable rails that can be upgraded if you start with an entry level saddle, going from hollow chromoly to hollow K:ium rails like in partner company Fizik’s saddles…and they’re made in Italy, too, with Italian leather and cordura scuff guards. The Iodine 11 (top) comes in at 239g for $170 and the Iodine 3 (bottom two) are 283g and $110 with the Chromoly rails. They also have a new seatbag that keeps the strap adjustment on the inside for a nice clean look, and the strap around the seatpost stretches through a loop so there’s no velcro to catch/scratch your Spandex.
New premium mini tools with detented tool openings that have everything you’ll need on the top model, including a socket for suspension forks. The detents really seem to hold the tool you need firmly, which should eliminate that annoying problem of constantly having to reposition it every time you turn the bolt. The Pixl is the smaller model and gets pretty much everything the larger Pico does sans. The Pico+, above, comes with the sockets, and the regular Pico doesn’t. Otherwise they’re the same. Weights/prices are 135g/$60 (pixl), 166g/$65 (pico) and 181g/$70 (pico+). Honestly, for $10 more, the Pico+ simply makes the most sense considering what all you get.
Crank Brothers also expanded their product range to soft goods. Designer Chad drew on his experience at Patagonia to create a line of backpacks and hydration packs. The Descender hydration pack (not shown) has body armor straps and a proprietary bladder with slide-open top. Ascender is a smaller hydration pack option (also not shown).
Alley Messenger and Gutter backpack (above) are designed to hold a 17″ laptop in a padded sleeve, and the Gutter has a side zip access to that compartment for easy computer removal.
The Baseline is a ballistic nylon gear bag with ventilated pockets and compartments designed for riding gear. All products above the 1 level have a five year warranty. All products shown here should be up on their website now with full specs and pricing.
