I used a first gen for about 6 months; it got replaced by a White Industries VBC. Setting up the front derailleur was a real pain (super tight crankarm clearances), and the stock chainrings had quite a bit of runout. They also wore very quickly. Replacing the stock rings with TA rings helped the runout problem, but it was not a cheap switch. I seem to recall a stripping issue with the stock chainring bolts, but I may be misremembering.
Looking at the VO website, they claim to have addressed most of these issues. I love my 44/28 (it lets me run a lightweight Dura-Ace 9sp 12-25 in the rear), and the White crank was the best option at the time. If the Rene Herse crank had been available, I probably would have bought that instead. The White was about $160 dollars more than the Grand Cru, but after all the frustrations I had with getting the VO crank set up properly, I considered it money well spent. If you do decide to get a 2nd gen Grand Cru crank, let us know how it goes! Michael -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
