Fovno Crank sets

[RobinRLS]

Ah yes I agree with the color on the gxp versions, but unless I'm mistaken, the DUB version only exists in black, right?  That's why I find its limited interest, but for others the colors are indeed nice!

[Akerman]

I got myself the cheaper FOVNO Ghost crankset. Looks very good for the price, except for some small optical flaws.

Schumo, how's the Ghost crank holding up on your CF-052? Great color BTW.
I have a Ghost crank coming in soon...
Thanks, Philipp

[Schumo]

So far really good!
But I'm unsure about the torque spec written on it.
It says 50nm, and I torqued it down to 40nm, which didn't feel good. And I had to loosen it a bit again, because the crank would hardly turn then.

[carbonazza]

...because the crank would hardly turn then...

That is a half good option. It may develop some play if not tightened enough.
Did you put some spacers between the frame and the crank ?

[Schumo]

I proceeded as in the instructions pictured, wave spring washer and spacer on the left side, O-Rings on both sides.

[Akerman]

Interesting, thanks... so your bottom bracket width is 96.5 mm as in their description, and it still clamps the bearing?
As carbonazza said, I would also try to find a solution where the full 50 Nm can be applied. Same torque as on SRAM GXP cranks.
Did you try without the 3 mm spacer or with a thinner one?
Make sure the bolt thread and the spline on the axle are well greased before tightening.
But good to hear the crank is fine otherwise!

[Schumo]

Nope, didn't try anything else.

Aaaaand I broke the crank bolt today. But not the one on the drive side which I couldn't torque down properly. The one on the other side, which says "This Place do not disassemble". I didn't touch that bolt before.



While riding I felt that the left crank arm came loose, so I stopped and retightened the bolt, which was tightish again, but the crank was still a bit loose. Took me two more tries until I realised that I had to push my bike home. 

The thread in the axle is luckily fine. I'll double check after work, but it seems to be a M14x1 thread. I found some crank bolts on Ebay from France which will probably work. M15 seems to be a lot easier to find. 

[Akerman]

Bummer... thanks for reporting the issues! Hope the new bolt fits and the crank will be OK then...

so I guess the "do not disassemble" bolt will be the first thing to disassemble when my crankset arrives. Let's see, generally the design should be absolutely fine in case those bolts are tightened properly...

[carbonazza]

The same is written on SRAM's cranks.
But they don't break.
I wonder what is so important they write this down.

[Schumo]

I checked the BB today, and it's 99.2mm wide. Fovno manual says 96.5mm ±1.5.
I think I'll be fine if I machine the spacer a bit.

[cst_jpr]

I removed the "do not disassemble" bolt on non drive side, it was not screwed on that tight, threads look ok, reassembled with some thread-locker in place instead of the grease they used. I can't remove the drive side cap, unsure what tool that is. Did not torque to ~55Nm either, surely that would strip it?

Put spacer on both sides to fit road bike frame, drive side had to machine one.

Fit of chainring was really bad, but its probably fault of chainring, I don't have an "official" sram part to compare to.

[Akerman]

Did the same on my Fovno Ghost crank, the "do not disassemble" bolt wasn't very tight either, with 47 Nm it went 3/4 turn further in. Afterwards no issues with BB width 96.7 mm, rotates nicely.

[Schumo]

Another thing I noticed, is that the chainring-spider-combo by Fovno has an offset of ~4.5mm. My guess is that they want to make it fit for Boost and non-Boost frames, which isn't perfect for either.
I went ahead and ordered a 34T chainring (36T like I had wouldn't fit wit the frame sitting 1.5mm inboard) off AliX.

The first one I got from BDSnail slipped through QC and had no Narrow-Wide teeth, but instead "left-wide" and "right-wide" teeth. It throwed the chain instantly off, but I got the money back through AliX.


I ordered one from VXM then, and I mounted it today and readjusted the rear derrailleur. Feels better now, but I couldn't test it in real conditions yet because the weather sucks here right now.

[cst_jpr]

These are 70g lighter (516g) than the Fovnos but look a bit too wild for me, and no direct mount: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001817612297.html

Also I suspect Fovno was inspired by the Hope Rx crankset (second photo), some serious similarities but at the same time the shape is very different.

[Gingerman69]

Just had the Fovno crank arm bolt on the non drive side shear whilst riding  - did anyone find the actual size or a good link for a replacement bolt please - otherwise its a new chainset i need ?

Seems to be the crank bolts are made of cheese !

thanks