What are External Bearing Cranks on Mountain Bikes?

Video Transcript

"It appears that the mountain bike industry is moving towards external-bearing, two-piece cranks. So these cranks are better because you've got larger bearings that are wider spaced, so they're stiffer and see less weird, tortional loads and wearing. Because you've got a significantly larger spindle, which this big hollow pipe can be a lot stronger than something smaller. It can also be a lot lighter. And it's a real solid connection. You still have a spleen connection that's very similar to what we just saw with the ISIS standard, but it's just on one end so it's less stuff to mangle and break. So what we're seeing is a move away from internal bearings to these larger bearings on the outside because the demands that people are putting on bikes and the demands that people have for lightweight stuff - this is to say larger things, either to be stronger or to be over-sized with thinner walls - to be lighter. The next step, we'll show you how to install and remove the cranks."