Race Face Next SL G4 Cranks

The Little Things

There’s a few small details that make me like the Next SL G4’s even more. First, the bearing preload system – pretty much every crankset out there has some system to keep just a little bit of pressure on the bearing, which keeps things running smooth and eliminates slop. The Next SL G4’s use a threaded ring on the non-drive side; install the cranks, thread the ring out to remove any slop, tighten down the pinch bolt, and go ride. It’s simple, quick, and effective, and it works a lot better than the spacers and wavy washers used by SRAM.

Next up: protective booties. I smash my cranks into rocks fairly often, and the Next SL G4’s include little rubber booties to offer some protection. Race Face isn’t the only company that does this, but I like that the booties are included.

I also like that Race Face makes an effort to not use any proprietary fittings. For example, the 30 mm bottom bracket requires a bigger tool for threaded BB’s – a “normal” bottom bracket tool doesn’t fit around the bearings. But instead of coming up with something new and different, Race Face uses the existing BSA30 tool that a few other companies had already adopted. The same goes for the chainring fitting; it uses a traditional Shimano / ISIS splined bottom bracket tool that any bike shop and most garage mechanics will have in their toolbox.

Finally, The Next SL G4’s are made at Race Face’s facility in Vancouver. It’s becoming more and more rare to find any bike product made in North America, especially a carbon product. That’s not to say that there aren’t some great products coming from Asia and elsewhere, but it does mean that Race Face has a lot more control over everything from the design phase, through the construction process, to the finished crankset.

The Ride

Cranks are one of those parts on the bike where I have a pretty simple set of directives for them: be stiff, be light, and don’t do anything to call attention to yourself.

The Next SL G4’s do exactly that. I never noticed them, they ran perfectly smoothly at all times, and I never had to do any maintenance on them. And my SixC’s, which I’ve had for quite a bit longer, have been the same way.

The biggest issue I’ve had with a Race Face Cinch crankset was that, after some particularly wet riding, my press fit bottom bracket started creaking a little bit. I popped it out, cleaned everything, and then pressed it back in. Creaking solved. But for the record, in most situations, I find creaking to be an issue with the frame, not the bottom bracket. I’ve had frames that creak no matter what bottom bracket I’ve put in them, and others that have endured all kinds of horrendous conditions with a bottom of the line bottom bracket without ever uttering a peep. As much as anything, it’s a bit of luck to get a nice tight fit, which is a big reason why I vastly prefer threaded bottom brackets where issues are much less common.

I’ve previously noted that Race Face chainrings didn’t seem to hold a chain quite as well, and seemed to wear a little quicker than some of the competition. I’m not sure if Race Face tweaked the shape or materials on their rings, but I’ve been having better luck with them lately. I’ve spent pretty much the entire summer on Race Face rings and I’ve only dropped a chain 2 or 3 times, and that’s running them without any sort of guide. That’s about the same dropped chain frequency that I’d expect from any other chainring.

The rings also seem to be wearing reasonably well; after quite a few miles, I haven’t developed any creaking or grinding from the Race Facerings. They seem to be wearing a bit better than the SRAM rings, and maybe about on par with rings from Wolftooth.

Comparisons

SRAM XX1 / X01 – Aside from the pedals ripping out issue I noted above, I’ve had decent luck with SRAM cranks. That said, they can be fussy to set up since they don’t have any bearing preload adjustment, and they weigh a bunch more than the Next SL G4’s. I also find that SRAM chainrings wear out pretty quickly. And, of course, the fixed spindle means that they can’t be adapted to fit different frames.

Shimano XTR / XT – Shimano has been making cranks for roughly forever, and it shows – the XTR’s are a great piece of equipment that works well and is quite stiff. That said, they still weigh a bunch more than the Next SL G4’s, and the fixed spindle can’t be changed to different lengths. I haven’t spent as much time on the Shimano cranks, so while I haven’t had any issues, I don’t have any strong conclusions on their chainring retention or durability.

Bottom Line

If you want the best cranks money can buy, the Next SL G4’s are just that. They’re lighter than the competition, as stiff if not stiffer than the competition, and they’re compatible with a huge range of bikes. And when that new standard comes out, these cranks can handle that too. Some people complain that the bottom brackets are a weak point, but in my experience on three different Race Face cranksets on three different bikes, they’ve held up as well, if not better than any other high end product I’ve ridden.

For bigger bikes where a bit of extra weight isn’t a big deal, I’d still go with the SixC’s for their burliness. But for any cross country or trail bike, I think there is no better option on the market than the Next SL G4’s.