Kogel Releases CNC-Machined Crankset Preload Adjuster

Feb 11, 2021 at 13:24
by Alicia Leggett  
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Kogel, known for making high-quality ceramic bearings, has released a CNC-machined crankset preload ring option for SRAM DUB and 30 mm spindles.

The preload ring is equal parts function and fashion, aiming to provide some peace of mind with an aluminum ring and titanium bolt that won’t strip or break while appealing to the color coordinators among us by offering to replace the standard plastic with something anodized and pretty.

Kogel is not the first to recognize that a rider who spent their whole paycheck on a crankset might prefer not to have said crankset accompanied by a plastic ring. Cane Creek snuck a very similar product into the market in 2018 that was somewhat overshadowed by the accompanying eeWings crankset. And although both the Kogel and Cane Creek preload rings are available in five colors, Kogel outdid Cane Creek by just a hair by making the Ti bolt color customizable too. The two companies' offerings retail for essentially the same price.

The Kogel preload ring is available now on kogel.cc for $29.00 USD.

photo


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88 Comments
  • 311 1
 What's wrong with the shitty, cheap almost pre-stripped one that came with my $500 @raceface cranks?
  • 12 3
 This wins today, maybe even tomorrow
  • 16 1
 hahaha i came to the comments to say exactly the same! the RF one is absolute garbage and a complete insult to the price tag.
  • 3 0
 amen
  • 13 4
 Along with the half bonded pedal inserts.
  • 11 14
 @harvUK: the only thing worse than the craptastic preload on the RF cranks, is the rest of the cranks! RF carbon products are a class action lawsuit in the making. Utterly dangerous garbage.
  • 4 3
 @conoat: Happy I'm not on my own in thinking that, they refused the warranty on my Sixc cranks for 'not the intended use'
  • 18 2
 To be fair, a shitty cheap plastic ring will probably outlast a Raceface carbon crank
  • 5 0
 The best part is that the original RaceFace CINCH cranks came with an aluminum preload adjuster. I have two that I'm holding on to. Some MBA obviously thought that making the part out of plastic would save $1 per crankset and their yearly bonus was worth it.
  • 3 0
 @RMWB: I also have two Turbine CINCH cranks with the aluminum preload adjuster and I'm glad I didn't get the plastic one. That freaking small and cheap pinch bold that comes with it is pure garbage and the head is striping just by looking at it but at least you can replace it easily.
  • 2 1
 100% agree, I had a first gen Turbine crank and it come with an Alloy one which was amazing no troubles, then the second gen onward was cheap as shittttttt
  • 6 14
flag BoneDog (Feb 12, 2021 at 6:17) (Below Threshold)
 @sir-hc: only a moron buys carbon cranks.
  • 1 1
 @lRaphl: probably saved them 5$ per crank set. lol
  • 2 0
 @RMWB: that explains my confusion - I have the original as well and didn't know they changed to plastic. that's brutal considering how expensive they are.
  • 11 0
 @BoneDog: I have beat the living bejesus out of Sram XX1 cranks on my enduro bikes for years. YEARS. thousands and thousands of miles, millions of vertical feet. riding in the Sierras, PNW, Whistler, Moab, etc. just treating them like they owe me money....guess what. never failed. I have a pair that have several dime and 1 quarter sized chunk taken out of them. they still work(I literally retired them because they look scary, not because they failed). In that same time period I have snapped 2 SixC cranks, had a replacement crank arm delaminate on it's first ride and snapped 2 SixC handle bars landing drops.

it isn't carbon that's the issue. it's the manufacturer.
  • 2 0
 @BoneDog: Two pairs of XX1 cranks, 6 years old each, no issues, they are beat up and big chunks out of them. 6 months trail riding on a set of Next's and they are toast.
  • 3 4
 @conoat: I have had pedal insert issues on both my SIXC and XO1 cranks, and the shop I wrench at, we still see carbon cranks in for warranty on the regular. I bought a set of turbines and have zero issues. Bonding aluminum insert to carbon crank is the problem. Thus why Shimano sticks to logic!
  • 4 1
 @BoneDog: well then, I guess all those carbon frames with bonded aluminum inserts in al the pivots and BBs are failing left and right too! /s
  • 7 1
 Im just here for the Raceface roast.
  • 1 0
 @sir-hc: Same as both you. Had X01 crank for 6 years, beat the crap out of them. Broke after a case, but not catastophically. Great product. So sad I can't bring myself to throw out side that didn't break hehe
  • 53 0
 Kogel exercises For Valentine’s Day!
  • 28 0
 Adjust it to delay that preload just a few minutes.
  • 2 1
 @nyhc00: You win!
  • 1 0
 Kogel exercises and comes pre-stripped .. the ultimate in Valentine's Day package ..
  • 39 0
 Thank you for acknowledging the nearly identical Cane Creek product while highlighting what sets this apart. I wish every article had that.
  • 15 2
 I bought a cane creek one and found the anodizing to be super bad and looked very cheap. I was suprised! I own many of their headsets and was bummed. I bought the Kogel one and it looks 100% better and am super happy. Honest review by someone who only cares about quality. Cane creek makes lots of good products but in this battle, Kogel wins.
  • 20 0
 Finally a solution to an actual problem.
  • 14 2
 CNC? Sorry I prefer parts made on manual machines.
  • 12 2
 Came here to say the same thing. Why is that still a necessary descriptor in the bike industry? At this point “machined on a Bridgeport by an old salty machinist” would mean more than “CNC”.

Not knocking the product at all, it’s a sweet little add-on.
  • 6 0
 @surfhard987: layman thinks cnc is equal to aerospace technology tolerances bc he read somewhere how great cnc machines are. „Machine is never wrong.” But they dont know that those machines are still programmed by people and it can be designed by shitty engineer.
  • 18 0
 I think "CNC" is used in marketing to differentiate from entirely different processes like MIM / cast / 3D printed, not from manual machining. I supposed they could write, "machined", but why bother when "CNC" is shorter, stands out more visibly in a sentence, and is technically more specific?
  • 3 0
 @ninjatarian: when its mass production cnc is justified. It cheaper when you set machine and than produce 1mln parts it is done just faster than machining by person. So maybe it is CNC made, but we have to remember that there is nothing superior in cnc if it is set to normal tolerances. It is the same part as made by turner just production is cheaper in mass but somehow they are ripping us like for gold. 30$ for 5g of alu and 10min of work looks a lot.
  • 9 0
 On time for Valentine's day.
  • 22 18
 It's hilarious when people bitch about the plastic preload adjuster as though it were inadequate...which happens plenty on PB. The plastic one has never failed me. I could see somebody getting overenthusiastic with torqueing it down and stripping it, but that person lacks mechanical aptitude. All that said, I'm drawn to these shiny fun bits. It's like using a colored stem spacer or clamp-on grip ends. It's totally not required, but it's fun and not that expensive.
  • 8 1
 Yea as someone who bought Race face Next R cranks and sold them to get eeWings I was super happy with getting a pre-load collar made of metal. The Raceface one comes with a wood screw tells you a lot about the confidence they have in it.
  • 7 1
 These bolts are shit and the collars break a ton. Comes from a mechanic at a massive bike shop with much mechanical apptitude... also shiney bits are great!
  • 3 1
 I was going to say that there seems to be a lot of ham-fisted baboons on the PB forum but you worded it so much better...

I've had 3 Turbine cranksets on MTBs plus 2 Easton cranksets with the same system on my commuter and gravel bikes and never had a problem with threading the plastic adjuster. And I'm not a mechanic!

I can be won over by shiny, coloured bike parts though (I remember the 80s) so could potentially see me getting one, or even 2, of these...
  • 2 0
 Maybe unlucky, but my buddies broke in half immediately at the start of a trip after getting hit by a kicked up rock. It proved totally inadequate within minutes.

We put a fat zip tie in it’s place and wound it tight with pliers; it pre-loaded the crankset absolutely perfectly and has yet to be replaced. lol.
  • 2 1
 Totally agree. “ Finally, I can preload the dogshit outta my bearings”
  • 1 1
 @lance-h: I didn't know you were a mechanic.
  • 1 0
 Is this an issue with the SRAM preloaders? I've only used the Race Face ones and haven't had an issue.
  • 3 1
 "This never happened to me, so it must never happen"
  • 14 8
 Just what the dentist ordered
  • 3 0
 Oh best believe I’m getting one to match my red speciale 12 pedals
  • 2 0
 Didn’t even know this was a thing until I read this. I then checked my Race Face Next SL cranks to find it also has play in the crank arm which is now getting sent off for a warranty claim with Canyon. The preload adjuster fell apart as I took them off as well so this might be worth a look. Can’t believe it as I have never had cranks do this in the past. Once this replace them I might look to sell them straight on and go for some XTR’s.
  • 1 0
 I get that these small companies need to find things to make once they invest in CNC machines, but I don't get why Pinkbike does a write up on each. Last week in was colorful ano axles. Next week I'm guessing customized stem caps.
  • 4 0
 JUST replaced a stripped one a month ago...with another plastic one ????
  • 1 0
 Don't worry, it will strip again next time you adjust it. Then you can buy this one.
  • 1 0
 @grldm3: how often do you have to adjust that?
  • 2 0
 @Kptzbik: sometimes things rattle loose... Even if torqued to spec and a threadlocker is used. Almost lost a cleat to the screws rattling loose on my old road bike last year... That was fun and now I double check them before every ride
  • 1 0
 @noone1223: than this was not worth the money they got Razz
  • 2 0
 @Kptzbik: not very often unless it’s over tightened, then the bearings wear out and it comes loose. Plastic one even works fine. Are people not realizing how little preload to use? Basically none
  • 1 0
 Yep, me too. Replaced the Sram preloader and the stupid crank bolt extractor insert that falls out on the trail by itself. Aluminum version next time I break it, I guess.
  • 1 0
 @Kptzbik: for me it's only when I remove the crank for some sort of BB maintenance. It kind of goes hand in hand with some other stuff as a lot of the cranks are spinning inside of terrible rf cinch bb's that in addition to being low quality are undersized because rf wanted to stuff a 30mm crank inside a pf92 frame.
  • 4 0
 I wonder why are green anodized parts kinda rare compared to other colors.
  • 4 0
 As a fan of green it definitely makes it hard
  • 5 1
 My green one came from Cane Creek. Just sayi'n. And I'm not even a dentist.
  • 1 0
 @Taildragger: I didn't see one in this article so you must be a dentist.
  • 4 1
 Green is harder to anodize consistently, there is often a lot of color variation in "green," it is a lot more tricky when anodizing
  • 1 2
 @GregorHayes: anodization engineer.
  • 3 0
 Having a DVO fork (in their signature green of course), means it's hard to find matching parts. So I agree, we need more green anodized parts!
  • 1 0
 Extra weight, green anodizing weights more for some reason. Maybe it's the chloroplasts?
  • 1 0
 I had a green ano headset and it faded to aqua-khaki in a season.......
  • 2 0
 @noone1223: race face is the closest, industry 9 lime is second from what I’ve seen in person so far.
  • 1 0
 @stingmered: it’s green so obviously chlorophyll, duh.
  • 2 0
 @DHhack: Blackspire is almost spot on as well
  • 1 0
 @GregorHayes: Yup. THis is what i9 says as well when I toured their factory.
  • 1 1
 My 4-month-old XX1 Dub cranks have started creaking like crazy. I've checked a bunch of other possible creak sources and I'm pretty sure it's isolated to the crank. I tried adding a little pre-load and that reduces the creak, but if I add too much the adjuster seems to "pop" off the threads.

I just ordered one of these, but maybe I should just bring the crank for warranty. I can already foresee the two-step where the shop is like "well, they won't warranty it because you have an aftermarket part" and then I have to swap the plastic one back in, and then I have to go back to the shop, and then I have to wait a month while they send the replacement.
  • 2 0
 I believe Hope Tech makes their rings from aluminum too. Anyways, pretty stoked to see these!
  • 1 0
 You need their proprietary tool though for the original cranks, not sure about the newer spec though
  • 2 0
 Dentists: Think I'll replace the Cane Creek one on my eeWings with this one
  • 1 0
 These do not look threaded on the inside like they are on SRAM cranks. How does one use it to adjust the preload without it being threaded?
  • 2 0
 Concerned about the extra weight .
  • 1 0
 No orange? How am I supposed to matchy match match with all my other orange bike bling?!
  • 1 0
 Cane Creek offered orange.
  • 1 0
 The problem is the thread on the crank is still plastic though!
  • 2 0
 cool.
  • 1 0
 $29.99 for a retainer weighing grams.

$60.00 for postage to the UK....
  • 1 0
 Missed opportunity to sell it for $28,99...
  • 1 1
 finally something above average...brilliant!
  • 1 0
 its like braces
  • 1 0
 Do they fit Hope cranks
  • 1 0
 Kogel... it's for men...
  • 3 5
 Cane Creek must be so pissed off? How is this even legal?
  • 5 0
 Why wouldn't it be legal? It's an aftermarket part for something not proprietary to Cane Creek. How is it any different from an aftermarket chainring or dropper post lever?
  • 1 0
 @shami: just seems exactly the same as the CC one...and I assumed the CC was original and patented...but maybe it’s not anyway.
  • 1 0
 @gbcarmona: it's hard to patent a threaded ring.
  • 1 0
 @gbcarmona: they would have problems then because their product is essentially the same as SRAM, just not plastic.







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