SRAM GX Eagle DUB Alloy crank is SRAM’s massively popular, best quality and priciest aluminium crank. It was completely overhauled last year and uses the brand’s relatively new DUB axle diameter and bottom bracket standard. The redesigned crank uses a (fraction under) 29mm axle held in place by an 8mm self-extracting bolt and is cross-compatible over a wide range of axle and bottom bracket spacing options.

Read more: Best mountain bike cranks, single ring chainsets for all riders

The resulting arms feel solid both in the telling time/pedalling axis, and also torsionally. This means they don’t flex perceptibly under the kinds of loads that twist crank tips with the extra leverage of wide, flat pedals, and also feel stiffer than the more expensive and lighter X01 carbon cranks here.

When DUB first launched, a few SRAM cranks had an issue with the alloy cap (with DUB written on it) working loose and getting lost while riding, meaning the self-extracting bolt had nothing to push against to pull the arm of the axle. SRAM issued a rolling fix for this and it’s no longer an issue.

That bugbear aside, GX Eagle cranks just work silently, to the point it’s hard to say that much about them. They never creak or come loose (in fact they can sometimes be really hard to remove), come in at a reasonable weight and benefit from the smoothest chainring tooth profile in the game.

Talking of SRAM’s X-Sync chainring, the GX level one is aluminium to save weight, but is stamped rather than forged and machined like the top-level (stiffer) chainring on the X01 carbon cranks here. It still uses the brand’s sophisticated tooth profile, though, that translates to smoother pedalling in our experience.

The finish of the SRAM GX Eagle DUB Alloy crank is good and there’s a really solid drive under power here.