Why Customized Gearing?
We received another shipment of chainrings, and now we have all Rene Herse cranks, in all configurations, back in stock. That includes 15 different crankarms, 26 different chainrings, custom chainring and crank bolts, pedal washers and more. Why do we go through all the trouble to offer so many combinations—and then custom-assemble them to order?
The answer is simple: Once you’ve ridden with customized gearing, it’s hard to go back to stock chainring sizes. Both of us (Natsuko and Jan) have our own preferences for different rides and adventures.
Jan: In last year’s Unbound XL (above, splattered with mud), I ran a 36-tooth one-by. Combined with a 10-44 cassette on the rear, I had all the gears I needed, but none that I didn’t use. For a course with longer climbs, like the Dark Divide 300, I’d swap in a 34-tooth ring.
If I had a 40-tooth chainring—the smallest most of the big makers offer for gravel cranks—I’d need a 10-52 cassette to get the same low gear. At the other end of the cassette, I’d end up with huge gears that I’d never use—not even during the early stages of the race, when I was responding to the attacks of the pros who eventually would go on to win the race. Throughout the gear range, I’d have larger steps than I’d want.
On my rando bike, I run a double, and I find it even more important to get my gearing ‘just right.’ For Paris-Brest-Paris, I put on a 48×33. The 48-tooth was my main gear, allowing me to climb many hills without a front shift that would interrupt my rhythm. In essence, I’m using this setup as a ‘one-by plus granny’—which gives me a wider spread of gears than I’d get with just one chainring on the front. And yet I don’t constantly shift on the front, as I would with most ‘stock’ chainring combos.
When I’m riding in the Cascade Mountains, where the climbs are longer and steeper than in PBP, I put on a 44×28. The swap is super-easy—I don’t even need to remove cranks or pedals. I simply unbolt the chainrings and put on the new set, and I’m ready to go.
Natsuko: I run a 42×24 on my cyclotouring bike. I’m not a strong rider, but I still need a gear to pedal on slight downhills—that’s the 42-tooth for me. On uphills, I like the ultra-small 24-tooth. It allows me to run a road cassette on the rear, with small steps between gears. Thanks to the Downshift Technology of our latest chainrings, there’s no risk of dropping the chain—even though there is a huge 18-tooth step from the 42 to the 24. It’s one example why I run high-performance components on my bike, even though I don’t care about riding fast: I want my bike to be a seamless extension of my body.
Computer-optimized chainrings, Downshift Technology, ultra-hard 7075 aluminum—it’s important to us that we’re not giving up shifting performance in exchange for customized gearing. We aren’t making ’boutique’ parts for casual riding, but components for the toughest events and most demanding conditions.
Our double chainrings are 12-speed compatible, and our one-by rings work with Campagnolo Ekar 13-speed drivetrains. (Our cranks also work with drivetrains that have fewer rear cogs.) We’ve spent a lot of effort on optimizing the shifting performance of our chainrings. Many customers have told us: You won’t find better-shifting chainrings anywhere, from any maker.
To match those superlative chainrings, our crankarms are net-shape forged. What that means: We use individual forging dies for each length, rather than machining extra-long forging blanks to the correct length. That way, the grain structure does not get interrupted, which makes our cranks stronger than other cranks from small makers: Ours are the only ones that pass the EN ‘Racing Bike’ test.
Thanks to the superior strength of net-shape forging, we can make the arms slender and lightweight—lighter than any other square-taper crank on the market today. Depending on the chainring configuration, Rene Herse doubles weigh less than 500 g (including chainrings and bolts)—that’s less than the arms alone (without chainrings) of a popular CNC-machined crankset.
Despite their ultralight weight, we have so much confidence in our cranks that we back them up with a 10-year warranty. That’s more than twice as long as any other brand, including the big makers.
Despite all this cutting-edge technology, we value back- and forward compatibility: Even the earliest cranks we made 14 years ago can be converted to 12-speed or one-by chainrings. In fact, you can run all our cranks as singles, doubles or even triples by simply swapping out the chainrings and chainring bolts. Above you see a crank with our special chainring spacers for converting a double to a single crank—the spacers take the place of the inner chainring.
If you’re buying a one-by now, but aren’t sure whether you might want to run a double in the future, we’ve got you covered. And if you’ve got a double Rene Herse crank, you can just buy a chainring and a set of these spacers to run a one-by. (We also offer dedicated one-by/single-speed arms for the ultimate in light weight and elegance.)
You may have heard the big tech news of 2024: Top racers are switching to shorter 165 mm cranks. The pros don’t have to worry about the cost of new cranksets, but for most of us, paying that much to lose just a few millimeters in crankarm length can seem prohibitive. Fortunately, we’re offering our crankarms separately, at reasonable cost—also useful if you need a spare arm for some reason.
We don’t believe in planned obsolescence, and we don’t want to sell you anything you don’t need. But forward and backward compatibility won’t do much good if parts aren’t available. We’re committed to supporting our cranks long-term. In fact, 14 years after we first introduced them, you can still get chainrings for the very first cranks we’ve made. Try that with 2011 cranks from the big makers!
Now all models and chainrings—including our tandem cranks—are in stock again, so you can configure the perfect cranks for your terrain and riding style.
More Information:
- Rene Herse cranks
- How Downshift Technology works
- Why we like square-taper cranks
- How to make a steel bike that’s lighter than carbon
