Senior Vagabond

Looking at a new Specialized Roubaix Sport and as normal they have changed out the crank from the rest of the 105 groupset. I have no experience or knowledge of Proaxis or the Alba crank and BB. So my question is, is this a step down from 105 in order for Specialized to save a few bucks, or is it as reliable and same performance level as a 105 crank and BB? I am coming from 12 year old Ultegra 6600 group. Thanks for any feedback.

fietsbob

What do you know about it from your research?
https://road.cc/content/review/21912...-4832-chainset

https://praxiscycles.com/product/alba-m30/

https://praxiscycles.com/cranks/

https://fairwheelbikes.com/praxis-al...ount-crankset/

etc..

Iride01 

It's more that they just got a better deal on cranksets from them as opposed to another. And if you are looking a anything but the top tier S-works Roubaix or any model from any bike manufacturer, then you should expect such. Even at the very top tier you'll sometimes see incomplete groups.

It's not likely to be a big issue. They wouldn't use it if they felt it didn't provide the performance they want for that tier level bike.

dsbrantjr

It is common in many industries to make running changes in the middle of a model year, sometimes because of product improvements, but more often because of price or availability considerations. Most spec sheets state this. A reputable company is not going to put in substandard parts, because this would cause them warranty and customer complaint hassles.

cpach

It's chosen in part because it's available in a 48x32 gearing. Praxis makes extremely nice chainrings so the shifting is on par with Shimano, and in general the manufacturing quality is excellent. It's about 80g heavier for the crank w/ rings. The BB design is more similar to SRAM GXP and is thus meaningfully worse because it transfers all nonradial load to the NDS bearing, but that said it will probably work fine and I wouldn't worry about it.

Chris_W

I heard that Praxis was started by a couple of ex-Specialized employees, which is partly why Specialized uses them a lot. The 48-32 chainring option used to be a big selling point, but now Shimano makes their GRX cranks in 48-31 and 46-30. Shimano chainrings always shift the best IME.

Praxis BBs need special tools to change. The Praxis axle and bearing preload setup is basically an oversized (28/30mm) version of SRAM's GXP (22/24mm); SRAM's GXP system is not very well respected by independent engineers: search for videos by Hambini on YouTube.

My wife has a bike with a Praxis crank. It's working fine, but I'm waiting for a good excuse/opportunity to put a proper Shimano crank on there. Fortunately, I know the local shop that has the BB tool that I'd need.

Racing Dan

Praxis chain rings are expensive compared to 105 and the small one is not available separately (to my knowledge), but older gen, 5 arm, Shimano rings may fit? Praxis rings work just fine, but so does the Shimano and I MUCH prefer Hollow tech II over any other system, - soo easy maintain and no weird spacers or wave washers. For those reasons, and not the rings per se , I do think its a slight downgrade compared to Shimano. Id even take a Tiagra crank over Alba if it came to that. I like the 48/32 combo tho. Wish Shimano had that. - Imo, just get the bike if you like it. Its no deal breaker.

sdmc530

I have it on my specialized and they are fine. I have swapped it to the 48/32 super compact rings and they are awesome for me. The 50/34 were trouble free too. They have a good product but you have to use their BB with their stuff so a swap will require a new BB.

Its good as is though, nice and quite too.

Ferrouscious 

Praxis makes the best-shifting aftermarket chainrings. I've never had any problems with Alba cranks.

Cyclist0108

I probably should be ashamed to admit that the gearing on the Praxis Alba crank is insufficiently low for me to climb Alba. (I can do it on my 46/30T).

sdmc530

LMAO!!! this made my day!!

cpach

It's a nice riding out there though? I have amazing riding around me now, but I'm nostalgic for riding in Santa Cruz. Oh well, get to reminisce when I visit the inlaws.

It used to be nice being able to ride a few blocks to Praxis' office for parts when I needed them.

Cyclist0108

Yeah, riding in Bonny Doon is pretty nice, especially in these times of pandemic. But the hills get more challenging as I age. Twice I have been grinding up Alba and someone has flown by saying hello to me by name, and is then gone before I can even see who it was.

smashndash

I hate to be a stick in the mud, but my 2017 allez sprint came with a praxis alba. 52/36. The shifting was incredibly bad. I literally could not get into the big ring if I was in the harder/smaller half of my cassette.

It was a new bike at the time so I went back and forth with my LBS for a solid 3 months. Got real... personal... with the head mechanic. I blew a gasket when he threw his hands up and told me I should have spent a bit more to get a Shimano crank.

I bought a Shimano crankset (online, mainly to spite that shop) and my shifting has been (nearly) flawless since.

My experience is obviously very different from most others’ so... don’t know what to tell you. I wish it didn’t happen but it did.

EDIT: I’d also skip the Praxis bottom brackets. I had two over the course of less than two years. One for my alba and one for my shimano replacement. Both got rough bearings in short order. My Hambini BB has been flawless, though.

sdmc530

wow...sorry for all that terrible run around. This is not the normal for praxis, their stuff is actually good. BB's are solid usually too.