Lengths: 170, 175, 180mm / BB: X-type / Rings: 22/32/44 / Total weight: 832g / Contact: www.silverfish-uk.com

The Race Face Deus XC is the only crank in this category to be fully CNC machined. In fact, it starts life in Canada
as the same blank of aluminium as the all-mountain Atlas crank — where the Deus just has more metal trimmed off to get the weight down. Race Face’s flagship XC crank also gets a full complement of alloy chainring bolts and an aluminium one key release bolt to trim off the excess fat.
Race Face also produces the BB axle differently on the Deus cranks to make further weight reductions. The end result of all the extra sculpting is the third lightest crank in this test and a 120g weight saving over the equivalent length Atlas crank.
But XC cranks aren’t just about gram counting as the arms need to be stiff for optimum power delivery when you drop the hammer and this is where we feel that the Deus XC suffers. On and off the bike we’re convinced that the crank arms on the Deus XC are more prone to twisting under power than the three other cranks in this test. Light and desirable but the Deus XC crank isn’t the stiffest here.

MBR rating: 8/10