I like to play rough with my bikes. That’s what I have them for. I want to smash around and have a good time. Whatever it takes got get my thrill. That’s my #1 priority on the bike.
I also like to take care of my bikes and have them set up well. This often conflicts with my main goal. To set up my bikes correctly I often need to use carbon fiber SRAM cranks. I’d prefer aluminum but this isn’t a choice I get for proper setup. Then I go and smash down rock gardens and grind my cranks into powder.
Certianly, cranks boots are available but they can’t be used with several types of very popular flat pedals, like Race Face Atlas or Spank Spikes. Still, most of the abuse takes place at the top of the cranks when muscling through real rocks.
Over time, my cranks have started to look like hell.
To address this, and to figure out an improved way of protecting my cranks, I ordered up some Monstaliner. It’s a two-part truck bed liner material that can be mixed in small quantities in many different colors. If it works, I may be using it on other parts and colors on frames.
With 10.3 grams of ML90 on my foil, I calculated that I needed to add 1.3 grams of catalyst to have my mix right.
After application and drying the cranks look pretty good. It takes about 48 hours for the material to get properly hard.
Hopefully this will turn into an excellent solution for this and many other high wear parts.
