Worldwide shipping: $55+ duty/taxes not included
USA shipping: $12, Free after $600
lead time: 2 weeks, all cranks are built to order
In a hurry? Contact us for expedited service costs
At A Glance
The 2XR Crankset name comes from “two times radius” and is the brainchild of framebuilder Matt Appleman. Frustrated by cranks that didn’t fit people or bikes well, Appleman designed these with a rider-first approach.
Versatile and modular, these cranks offer up new fit options for a wide array of people and a full fleet of bikes.
Made in USA: designed, CNC machined and finished in Minnesota out of high strength aluminum.
- 100mm and 135-175mm crank lengths: why is crank length so important?
- 30mm spindles fit almost all road, gravel, mountain/enduro/downhill, and fat bikes: find your type of bike
- No proprietary tools or chainrings: technical specs
- Colors with a sprinkle of more color
Why Crank Length Matters
The Key to a Better Bike
No other component controls so much of the riders motion. Your whole lower body constantly churning with every pedal stroke.
In search of optimizing fit, comfort and efficiency, Appleman’s approach to crank length challenges the archaic sizes commonly found.
After years of knee pain, Matt Appleman found short cranks vital to bike fit and has encouraged all his custom frame customers to ride appropriately sized bike cranks (short or regular length) for the absolute best bike possible.
Want to know more? Read our Rider’s Guide to Crank Length
CRANK LENGTH Calculator
What crank length is right for you? It’s complicated, but as a very rough rule of thumb, use 20% of your inseam to find your crank length
Like getting nerdy with crank length? Find better ways to determine crank length.
Short Cranks for the Win and Comfort
- more aerodynamic position
- reduced pedal strike
- more comfortable
- better frame geometry
- less toe overlap
- less knee, hip and back pain
What Cranks Do I need for My Bike?
We’re happy to help figure out what cranks you’ll need for your bike!
Ultimately, it is your responsibility so please take a look at the 2XR Crank Specs to verify fit with your bike.
The colors
Like what you see? Explore the Crank Gallery
FAQ’s
All pedal based power meters! Pedal based power meters are super versatile and you can swap them between bikes very easily. Road and SPD/Mountain versions are available from Favero, Garmin, SRM, and Wahoo (Speedplay). Spider based power meters would have limited the design and versatility of the 2XR Cranks.
All the cranks are painted using a high performing, specialty, water-based polyurethane and the best, most finely ground pigments around.
It’s really good stuff and has much lower toxicity, health, and energy impact than other paints or anodizing. See the crank gallery here.
If you’re a heel-rubber, all coatings (ano, Cerakote, or this coating) will wear through eventually.
No doubt these cranks aren’t cheap. Superior design? Good materials? Highly durable? Future-Proof? and Made in USA? It isn’t cheap to tick all of these boxes.
Want to support American manufacturing? This is your chance.
After the parts are machined by a local machine shop, I do all the finish work. Corner rounding, painting, lasering, shipping (not to mention answering all your emails and phone calls). It’s a lot time and work, but the end product speaks for itself.
You’ll have a crankset that you can put on your future bikes thanks to the highly modular design and supreme durability.
The modularity of these cranks shines with the use of swappable spiders and chainrings 🙂
Spiders: All spiders have 2 mounting positions allowing 1x or 2x chainrings (144×5 is 1x only).
1X Direct Mount Chainrings: For super clean 1x Direct Mount chainrings, Appleman offers a few different sizes. These chainrings replace the need for a spider.
*Only Appleman specific direct mount chainrings are compatible, no 3 bolt or 8 bolt compatibility.
**3x chainrings: we do not offer a solution for triples… wish we could do it all.
Absolutely! For those with leg length discrepancies (try shimming first) or limited range of motion on one side (specifically the bottom of the pedal stroke), the 2XR crankset can be built with any combination of available lengths.
For example: 135mm on the Right? 165mm on the left? No problem. To order, configure the 2XR Crankset with the shortest length selected and leave a note with left/right lengths on the checkout page.
I wish we could do it all, but the 2XR Cranks only come with a 30mm spindle. 30mm spindles and bottom brackets are non-proprietary and fit all frames and bottom brackets except Trek’s old BB90/95 standard
Technical SpeciFications
- Material: 2024 Aluminum (high fatigue, high strength, high toughness)
- Crank Arms: 100mm, 135mm, 145mm, 155mm, 160mm, 165mm, 170mm, 175mm
- Spindles: 30mm spindle, 5 different widths for road, adventure/gravel, mountain, mid-fat, and fat bikes
- Spiders: Standard spiders for 4 and 5 bolt chainrings (mountain 104×4, road = 110×5, 110×4 Shimano)
- Chainrings: Compatibility with many 1x and 2x chainrings. Appleman now makes a direct mount 1x Chainring 🙂
- Colors: black, silver, pink, orange, gold, turquoise, purple, olive, sand, midnight blue, Crank Gallery Here
- BB/Frame Standards: BSA (English threaded), ITA, PF30, BB86, BB92 BB30 T47, 386EVO, BBRight, + more (note: BB90/BB95 not compatible)
- Warranty: 5 years
- Exceeds ISO 4210 crank fatigue tested to both “racing” and “mountain” test setups. Tested by independent lab.
- EFBE Tri-Test (ASTM Category 5, Gravity/Downhill use): PASSED 🙂
- The Outer Bearing Width of the BB must match the crank: see Specification Table below
Rider and Mechanic friendly Design
- No proprietary tools or chainrings
- All 2XR parts are interchangeable
- Only 5mm allen wrench for install (torque wrench recommended)
- Trailside friendly adjustment
- Low torque specs (5-10Nm)
- Travel bike friendly (quick + no heavy tools)
- Swap crank arms + pedals between different bikes easily
