Being one of the lightest options out there, the EE Wings from Cane Creek were the only Titanium crank option on the market for the last few years. Now, 5 Dev is offering Titanium cranks as well making them a competitor to the EE Wings. Lets see how they square off!
These two cranks are built very differently. The Cane Creek EE wings are made with titanium tubing that is welded together much like how a frame is built using butted 3/2.5 titanium arms with CNC 6/4 titanium spindle. These are made overseas and imported into the states for resale. On the other hand, the 5 Dev RGXC uses block of titanium that is CNC’d down to this shape. They then weld a back plate on machine it down to make it look as it is one piece but there is a hollow core for weight savings. The cool thing is that 5 Dev is making their cranks in the USA. In the picture above you can see the cranks profile shape is different between the two. The Cane Creek cranks the spindle is titanium and is welded to the cranks giving it a two piece design, contributing to the over lighter weight. While the 5 Dev uses a three piece design allowing the customer to swap between spindle lengths depending on the bike and build. Shown below is the EE wings coming in at 79 grams lighter than the 5 Dev. Claimed weight on 5 Dev’s website is 446g, where I got 479g. Cane creek does claim 398g for there cranks on there website.
Now here is where the 5 Dev does shine over the EE wings. The 5 Dev is a much narrower Q factor. On my gravel 1×13 build I used the road spindle, which is 118mm wide, which I still had plenty of clearance for the frame and chainring. Q factor on the 5 Dev was 152mm, while the Cane Creek was 165mm, making a 13mm difference between the two. Personally, I do prefer the narrower q factor on the 5 Dev cranks, but most people probably won’t feel the difference between the two.
Lastly, the preload collar is another small thing that we should talk about in this mini review of the cranks. The 5 Dev threads onto the arm on the cranks make it more solid. While the ee wings, because on there construction they glue the preload adaptor onto the spindle. Over the 4 years of owning the EE wings, this preload has only came loose on me once, where I had to clean off the spindle and use super glue to adhere it back into place. Pretty easy process and only happened once. But knowing that preload is built into the arm on the 5 Dev is a little bit nicer.
Both cranks use the Sram 8 bolt design for chainring use, which allows for 1x or 2x set ups. The Cane Creek has a 30mm spindle, while the 5 Dev using the 28mm Dub bottom brackets. Both companies do offer a lifetime warranty on there cranks which gives the buyers some piece of mine when spending this kind of money. The 5 Dev RGXC cranks cost $1,199.99, while the Cane Creek EE Wings come in at $1,249.99.
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