looks good

bearings wore out prematurely.

This crank held up pretty good at first. Looks great. When I rode in a little water and mud the bearings started to make noise. Found out that the bearings went bad. I did not ride that much or very hard. Very disappointed. My Shimano XT was replaced only because I wore out the rings. Going back to Shimano. Very weak product to be used for Mountain Biking.

Similar Products Used:

Shimano XT

Stiff crank (after fixing).

I use this crank on my old steel hardtail for road-riding. I have had the same problem that a lot of the other riders in this forum have experienced. After a few hours of riding, the chain ring side would develop play and require retightening. After tightening it so many times that the fastening bolt bottomed out on its threads, I got fed up and used a thick steel washer on the bolt to allow for more contact area on the crank and tightened the heck out of it. So far, so good, but Race Face should test it's products more thoroughly before marketing them. I was able to fix this crank with a simple washer, consumers deserve better than this!

Poor design by Race Face, not enough contact area on the crank side bolt to keep it properly tightened.

Similar Products Used:

Shimano XT, Shimano XTR

Light, Stiff and Ballah Looking.

Uhh...the fact that I waited for the crappy Truvativ Powerspline to break...which it of course.

When I had to replace my ISO Flow I was looking at the Deus from Race Face instead of the Evolve because the Deus was made of 7075 while the old Evolve was 6066. Turns out QBP didnt have the Black Deus so I grudgingly settled on the Evolve because it was 6066. Turns out while I was looking at RF website they upgraded the Aluminum for 09 to 7075 and man...I can't be happier! I figured QBP would charge me more for a new product, but dropping $120 for this was great and 100% worth it! So basically, all the bending and warping problems are all part of the past!

Similar Products Used:

Truvative Powerspline

looks good

Worn spline.

Race Face products look great and their marketing campaigns are impressive. Sadly, this crank just doesn't go the distance. Who should buy it? According to my LBS, no one. They don't want to try to send it in for warranty, claiming that it's too much hassle to get Race Face to make good on their products. I wouldn't have bought it if it hadn't been specd. on the bike. I'll try it again if sponsored with full mechanical support. For now it will be replaced with good 'ole XT.

Similar Products Used:

Shimano, Truvativ

Look good. Chain rings have held up

Weak joint to spindle. Causes major play in drive side crank arm affecting chainline, shifting and poor performance. IMHO this is a design flaw as this has happened to two cranksets on two different bikes

These cranks have gloriously failed not only on my mountain bike but also my commuter.
I believe that these cranks have a design flaw in them with the way the drive side connects to the thru-axle.
Replaced with Shimano XT which has not let me down. Shimano joins the non drive side to the axle using a clamp system on the outside not inside. Much stiffer.
I would not recommend these to anyone that wants a robust crank for regular riding. They will not last.
I was astounded that they also failed on my commuter which received no harsh trail treatment. Way uncool!

Similar Products Used:

Shimano XT

Strong and light and durable - a great value crank!

none

These are great cranks for XC / All mountain and can take a great deal of abuse. I've put a couple thousand kilometres on these (onn pretty rough trails) and they are still in great shape.
... I probably wouldn't suggest them for stuff like hucking though :P

Similar Products Used:

Lots

Cheap, looks OK

Constant chainsuck once the chain is wet
Chainrings are soft and wear out fast, they are also expensive to replace, cost over A$100 where the Shimano is less then half that and last much longer.
Crank arm is soft metal, chips easy when hit by rocks.
Weight.

I haven't had any issues with the bearings or the crank coming loose or creaking, I think it comes down to proper installation. I'm 6'2 so I put enough load on the cranks. however the chainring material is super soft alloy which wears out fast. I only ride weekends and after about 1000Km the rings are worn while the cassette is still good.
Chainsuck in the middle and granny gear since pretty much day 1.
Crank arm damages easy when banged on rocks due to soft metal.

I'm replacing these with Shimano XT as recommended by LBS.

Similar Products Used:

Shimano Deore, XT, Suntour

Can't beat the price. I trashed the crank that came on my Rush about the second day I had it trying to ride up some stairs. Stupid, I know. I ended up getting the RF Evolve because the price was right and I was pretty surprised at how nice they worked. The rings shift well and lasted about 3 years before the no. 2 chain ring bid fair well.

Had to change out the bottom bracket twice but it's more because I ride in the rain a lot and through water pretty often without really thinking about what it does to bearings.

I'm really happy with this crankset. It has performed really well for XC style riding. I really don't do any other types of riding so I can't say if this would work for anyone else. I'm light (135lbs) and I have no problems with flexing on this (or any other for that matter) part.
After I wore out the chainrings I upgraded to some blingin @ss RF Team chain rings as they were cheaper than the Evolve rings! Happy Trails.

Similar Products Used:

LX, FSA Afterburner

cheap, no problems till exposed to any moisture

bearings seize if exposed to any water, CANNOT SERVICE THEM INCLUDING GREASING!

I had to replace my bottom bracket after riding once in lightly muddy conditions. Bike was never hosed off with high pressure and maintained impeccably. Couldn't afford a chris king BB so I bought another evolve xc BB cup.

Similar Products Used:

none

Ummmm...it hasn't disappointed me yet. Seems solid. Ran into a few downed trees with it and the big ring is still straight and true. Wasn't going fast though.

The crank arm bolt kept loosening even after I treated it to some loc-tite. A second dose of blue loc-tite has kept the bolt from backing out.
Only other beef I have with them is that RF decided to stop equipping the evolve xc with the extractor/puller bolt that came on previous year models so now I have to buy a crank puller tool. On the upside RF said in an email response that I can order and use the puller type bolt in place of the regular crank arm bolt if I want.

If you want a good bang for the buck upgrade, these cranks fit the bill. Put them through sand, water, mud, rain and it still works like new! Haven't even had them apart yet for cleaning.

Similar Products Used:

truvativ oe junk