Aerozine X-One Crankset – First Look
We check out Aerozine’s X-One crankset, chainring and grips on our Santa Cruz test bike.
Aerozine are one of a number of Taiwanese component manufacturers who are getting involved in the UK market, with a whole range of components. I received the X-One crankset and bottom bracket, a chainring and some grips to help complete the build on my long term Bronson. We’d met the guys from Aerozine at Eurobike and had a good look at the components so we were pretty keen to get them on the bike.
The X-One cranks are in the now pretty much standard two-piece design, with large spines to keep them aligned, and a single bolt on the left arm, combined with a spring washer to keep everything tight and the bearings loaded. The bottom bracket is supplied with all the spacers you could need, and looks to have a decent set of bearings tucked inside them. Fitting was very simple, as you’d expect, with the only minor pitfall being just how tight the BB fitted around the axle of the crank. When we took them off for some photos this had eased a bit, but something we will keep an eye on.
The chainring is a wide-narrow one, we went for 34, but you can have most sizes from 28-38T depending on how steep your hills are, or how hench your legs are… The chainring is SRAM direct mount style, as are the cranks, keeping your options open to switch it up. Can we get over calling chainrings wide-narrow and go back to calling them chainrings yet? As with all the chainrings we’ve been testing recently, it grips the chain like a drunk to his tin of Stella, and we’ve had no issues with it all. All in the set up scores a weight of 715g(cranks and ring), while being a wallet friendly £169.99
The grips were something a little bit different, mixing the standard lock-on collars with a high density cork for the body of the grip. They are super comfy to use, and while I was concerned that I might wear through them quickly, they are going great despite plenty of miss-use and the odd bar-drag. One thing I’ve noticed that they feel a lot warmer on cold night rides than similar thickness rubber grips. They are also lovely to hold onto without gloves, but it’s too damn cold for that at this time of year. At £15.99 they aren’t going to break the bank, and the pimp daddies amongst you can even get them in white.
We’ll be giving this kit some real hammering over the coming months to really push it to the limit. Check back as the Easter bunny is packing his basket for a full review!
