The Origin 8 2X9 cranks are mounted to my Dos Niner, as shown and are mated with a 12-34 SRAM cassette. The bike was ridden on a combination of fast cross country type trail, single track, gravel/broken rock strewn climbs, and fire road climbs.

Shifting performance was excellent after my slightly worn chain got happy with the new teeth on the chain wheels. As long as your front derailluer is adjusted properly, I can not see any reason why your shifting wouldn’t be at least as good with these cranks. If you were to use a brand new cassette and chain, it should be trouble free from the get go. By the way, I adjusted out the low gear setting on my X-9 trigger shifter and I had excellent results with this.

On rolling single track, I found that the 44T ring was the way to go. I could use the entire cassette out back, and shifting performance was normal. The interesting thing I happened to find was that I could attack the hill in the big ring, then shift down to the 29 tooth ring and find myself either in, or a click or two at most from the perfect gear to finish off the climb with. Get over the top, shift once with the left thumb, and I was in a hammering gear for the down hill. It is easy to see why a racer might like the 2 X 9, or new 2 X 10 drive train option.

The 29 tooth chainwheel was sufficiently low enough to mimic granny ring climbs for short steeps, and medium length fire roads were done quite nicely here too. However; if your climbs start out steep, and last for anything longer than a football field, you may be wishing for some lower gears. (Unless you are in really great shape!)

As this crank set is sold, it may not work quite as nicely as it did for myself. The gearing is specific to a more rolling, shorter climb sort of terrain, to my mind. If Origin 8 would offer options, or aftermarket rings that matched the look of the originals, one could tailor the gearing to their locality. For instance, it might make more sense for a Rocky Mountain rider to go with a 37 X 22, as an example. Or perhaps a 34T X 22T set up.

The cranks do work well as they are, and shifting has been normal. I will continue to flog these and report back later with how they do in the long run.

Twenty Nine Inches - 29er Bike Reviews, Rumors and News

The Cyclist has just received a brand new addition to the Origin 8 component line in the form of a new crank set offering. The crank set is a 2 X 9 specific design. 2 X 9 is becoming a way that many mountain bikers can get nearly the same gear range without using a small inner, or “granny” ring. (Apologies to our own Grannygear- We would like to keep you around!) At any rate, the drive train set up with a 2 X 9 will have better chain line, easier front shifting, and more usable combinations. Some like 2 X 9 for the possibility of a narrower pedal stance; however, the benefits of narrow pedal stance, or “Q factor”, are in debate.

The Origin 8 2X9 crank set with 44T and 29T rings

What the new crank does have are CNC machined aluminum rings on the 104/64 BCD pattern. There are profiles and pick up pins on the outer ring that aid in shifting. This set is also ISIS bottom bracket compatible. The arm length is 175mm. The set is anodized in black with laser etched graphics and CNC’ed highlights on the chain rings.

Laser etched graphics

Twenty Nine Inches - 29er Bike Reviews, Rumors and News