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Anyone using the Easton EC90 SL cranks with 2x "Cinch" system?

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Anyone using the Easton EC90 SL cranks with 2x "Cinch" system?

Old 07-07-19, 09:33 AM
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TimothyH
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Anyone using the Easton EC90 SL cranks with 2x "Cinch" system?

Is anyone using the Easton EC90 SL cranks with 46/30 2x rings?

AKA the "Cinch" system.

Good? Bad? Feedback?

If you use it with a PF30 frame, what bottom bracket do you use?


-Tim-
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Old 07-07-19, 12:20 PM
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Originally Posted by TimothyH
Is anyone using the Easton EC90 SL cranks with 46/30 2x rings?

AKA the "Cinch" system.

Good? Bad? Feedback?

If you use it with a PF30 frame, what bottom bracket do you use?


-Tim-
Don't have that specific crank... But have the FSA equivalent...

A) With this style of crank it is vitally important to thread prep and torque to spec. Unlike Hollowtech, there's no pinch bolts for safety. If it isn't tight, that arm is coming off.

B) Cinch systems are very elegant... So long as you have the locking tool. Reading, it looks like Easton (unlike FSA) uses a standard 16 notch bb tool. My FSA has fine machine thread so can be rather easily cross threaded, ymmv.

$500 or so for a 620gram crank isn't bad... It is lighter than Hollowtech.
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Old 07-07-19, 05:29 PM
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Not using their rings, but I do have the RaceFace 'cinch' spider with that Easton crank. Zero issues with a threaded bb (Wheels Mfg).
Went this route as I'm using a smaller 2x (40/26) than what Easton has.
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Old 07-07-19, 06:03 PM
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Thank you @Marcus_Ti.


Originally Posted by tangerineowl
Not using their rings, but I do have the RaceFace 'cinch' spider with that Easton crank. Zero issues with a threaded bb (Wheels Mfg).
Went this route as I'm using a smaller 2x (40/26) than what Easton has.
Do you mind telling me what bottom bracket shell your frame has and which Wheels MFG bottom bracket you have specifically?

I was thinking of the Wheels Mfg thread together bottom bracket for PF30 shells and 30 mm cranks in either Angular Contact or ABEC-3. I'm pretty sure these these will work.


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Old 07-07-19, 06:32 PM
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^
Standard BSA 68mm.

BB30, ABEC-5.
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Old 07-07-19, 10:42 PM
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I am using the ec90sl 1x on my stigmata. Pf30 with the wheels manufacturing thread together bb and the Easton spacer kit for pf30. I have had no problems with the crank or bb in roughly 2k miles so far using multiple chainring sizes.
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Old 07-08-19, 02:18 PM
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Originally Posted by TimothyH
Is anyone using the Easton EC90 SL cranks with 46/30 2x rings?

AKA the "Cinch" system.

Good? Bad? Feedback?

If you use it with a PF30 frame, what bottom bracket do you use?


-Tim-
I have an Easton EC90 SL 2x crank and installed the 46-30 Easton shifting rings. My BB is BSA 73 and I run SRAM Red eTap 2x11.

The Good: 46-30 is a nice combo for gravel riding. I rarely spin out the 46 on gravel, and 30 is nice for steeper climbs. The 46-30 tends to keep the chain in the middle section of the rear cassette.

The So-So: The 16 tooth gap is a big jump between rings. I usually need to shift 2 cogs in the rear cassette to make smooth pedaling transitions between the 46 and 30.

The Bad: For some reason, after I installed the 46-30, my drive side crank arm is very close (too close) to the SRAM eTap derailleur. The difference between the crank arm brushing the derailleur, or not being able to shift from the 30 to the 46 is about 1 to 2mm. I can adjust it so that the crank arm "just" clears the derailleur, but after 30-40 mile of dirty/gritty gravel, it starts missing shifts from the 30 to the 46. I talked with the Easton rep at Dirty Kanza and he said it was a struggle to get the Easton cranks to work well with SRAM eTap, as well as AXS. He said there was a spacer that could resolve the problem and to email him for more information. I emailed him twice and never heard back (I also tried contacting Easton support last year with issues related to the Cinch power meter and never back then either). So I am giving up on Easton.

After looking at several option, I am choosing the most expensive... Later this year, I am going to swap out the Sram Red eTap 2x11 for a SRAM AXS 1x12 mullet build (Force eTap AXS 1x in the front and Eagle X01 AXS 10-50 in the back). I'll move the eTap to my road bike.

Last edited by DoJoMN; 07-08-19 at 03:22 PM.
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Old 07-10-19, 07:47 PM
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@DoJoMN, that's really great info. Thanks for typing that up.

I'm running Shimano Di2 so there should be no issues with clearance. The bike currently has Absolute Black 46/30 oval rings and the same struggles with shift performance others have mentioned prompted the query.

The Easton parts came today. 535 grams for 46/30 rings, spider, crank arms and pedal washers.







-Tim-

Last edited by TimothyH; 07-11-19 at 05:54 AM.
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Old 07-17-19, 06:55 PM
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Originally Posted by prophet99
I am using the ec90sl 1x on my stigmata. Pf30 with the wheels manufacturing thread together bb and the Easton spacer kit for pf30. I have had no problems with the crank or bb in roughly 2k miles so far using multiple chainring sizes.
@prophet99

How do you have the spacers set up? Which spacers are you using where?

Some go between the bottom bracket shell and bottom bracket outboard cups?

I'm a little confused as to how to set up the spacers.


-Tim-
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Old 07-27-19, 07:54 PM
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Originally Posted by TimothyH
@prophet99

How do you have the spacers set up? Which spacers are you using where?

Some go between the bottom bracket shell and bottom bracket outboard cups?

I'm a little confused as to how to set up the spacers.


-Tim-
Sorry about the delay Tim, I was out of town for a while.

I used the Easton 30mm spacer kit.

They are set up one thick one thin on the ds and one thick on nds.

First install the bb. The spacers are outside of the bearings just taking up the space on the spindle.

I hope this helps.
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Old 07-28-19, 01:39 AM
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Originally Posted by DoJoMN
For some reason, after I installed the 46-30, my drive side crank arm is very close (too close) to the SRAM eTap derailleur. The difference between the crank arm brushing the derailleur, or not being able to shift from the 30 to the 46 is about 1 to 2mm.
Sounds like the crank arm isn't sufficiently far outboard of the chainring. The weird thing is, that's something you'd normally expect on a crankset that's aiming for a narrow Q-factor, but these EC90 cranks claim 149mm, which is wider than most road doubles.

If the problem can be fixed by a spacer, it would probably have to go on the Cinch splines, between the ring assembly and the crank arm.
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Old 07-28-19, 05:52 AM
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Originally Posted by HTupolev
Sounds like the crank arm isn't sufficiently far outboard of the chainring. The weird thing is, that's something you'd normally expect on a crankset that's aiming for a narrow Q-factor, but these EC90 cranks claim 149mm, which is wider than most road doubles.

If the problem can be fixed by a spacer, it would probably have to go on the Cinch splines, between the ring assembly and the crank arm.
This was an etap "feature" people noticed with various non-SRAM cranks. Seen it reported with Cannondale cranks, some Shimano HT2 cranks in certain years etc.
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Old 07-28-19, 08:13 AM
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For posterity....

The frame has a Niner RLT 9 RDO with a 68 mm wide PF30 bottom bracket shell using a Wheels Mfg pf30-out-30mm "Thread together" bottom bracket.

The installation instructions for the cranks are written in hyroglyphics and are an exercise in inductive reasoning. It was able to be determined however, that the width of bottom bracket shell, bottom bracket, seals and spacers needs to be 92.6 mm +/- 1.0 mm. A caliper measured my shell + bottom bracket + seals at 87.3 mm so I needed about 5 mm spacers.

Initial setup was symmetrical, the same 2.5 mm spacers on each side. The front derailleur was not able to shift into the big ring with this setup. The rings were not sufficiently outboard and the drive side crank arm was noticeably closer to the chainstay than was the non-drive side arm.

I finally settled on 4.5 mm spacers on the drive side and a 0.5 mm spacer on the non-drive side which moved the rings 2 mm further outboard. Shifting is great but the front derailleur is close to its adjustment limit. I might take it apart again and put all the spacers on the drive side just for piece of mind.


-Tim-
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Old 07-30-19, 06:22 PM
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Originally Posted by HTupolev
Sounds like the crank arm isn't sufficiently far outboard of the chainring. The weird thing is, that's something you'd normally expect on a crankset that's aiming for a narrow Q-factor, but these EC90 cranks claim 149mm, which is wider than most road doubles.

If the problem can be fixed by a spacer, it would probably have to go on the Cinch splines, between the ring assembly and the crank arm.
Yes - the spacer would need to be between rings and the crank arm. It sounded like there was a specific spacer for this. Since I never heard back from Easton, I gave up. I’m replacing it with a SRAM AXS build, with all SRAM components. Hopefully everything will be compatible 😀
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