The middle ground between XC speed and trail bike capability is that sweet, dusty spot where downcountry lives. You already know the gear compromise game all too well, and when it comes to saving grams, you don’t really want to compromise durability. You want light. You want stiff. You want something that isn’t going to grenade itself or leave you wondering if everything is alright the first time you tag a rock. Race Face just put all those desires in a tidy package and called it the Era SL.
Although Race Face is calling these “the lightest mainstream crankset on the market,” we all know that isn’t totally true or false. Other brands have lighter options, but they are much more boutique and don’t always come with such a robust lifetime warranty.
Race Face ERA SL Details
Race Face
- MSRP: $576.99 USD
- Weight: Crankset and spindle: 354g | 422g with 32t chainring, DMW ring, and hardware
- Construction: Carbon fiber + stainless steel wear plate
- Spindle: 30mm, 7000-series Aluminum
- Included: Crank boots, pedal washers, spindle spacers (chain rings + bottom brackets sold separately)
- Available at Raceface.com
The Era SL is Race Face’s lighter, more XC-oriented version of the standard Era crankset, available for eMTB and gravity use, but it’s heavier. To create the Era SL, Race Face has shaved weight through an integrated spindle design and stripped-down hardware. The result is a claimed 422 grams with a 32T chainring installed. Thats a 78-gram reduction over the already-respectable standard Era. For context, that’s also 175 grams lighter than XTR cranks in the same configuration, and 53 grams lighter than SRAM’s XX SL option.
The construction story is solid, too. Race Face reworked the carbon layup to shed bulk wherever possible, bonded the 30mm-diameter 7000-series aluminum alloy spindle directly to the non-drive-side arm, and kept the stainless steel wear plate to protect against the inevitable scuffing that comes from pedaling your bike, which we all do. It’s a smart combination to go light where it doesn’t hurt, keep protection where it does.
Race Face
The Era SL comes in four lengths (160, 165, 170, and 175mm) with two chainline options (52mm with DM ring / 55mm with DMW ring) and three colorways, kind of… The Black, Kashmoney, and Stealth decal packages are subtle because paint/decals add weight, and these are shooting for all the gram savings. The 160mm option in particular is a nod to where the industry is heading, and frankly, where a lot of riders’ knees have been begging them to go for years.
Race Face
Then there’s the warranty situation, which Race Face doesn’t mess around with. The Era SL carries the brand’s Lifetime Warranty, and yes, crashes are included in that. That’s not a small thing when you’re talking about lightweight carbon cranks. The Era line already built a reputation for being tougher than most, and the SL carries that same promise into a lighter package.
The Era SL runs $576.99 USD and is available now through RaceFace.com and local dealers. It’s not a bargain-bin purchase, but if you’re building a rig that needs to be fast on the climb and functional everywhere else, this is the kind of component that pulls its weight… or rather, refuses to add any unnecessary grams.
Race Face