Garbaruk Enduro Crank

Garbaruk has been around since the mid 2000s, when brothers Valerii and Yurii Garbaruk officially went into carbon manufacturing, making frames, handlebars, and seatposts out of a small garage in Ukraine. Valerii and Yurii were involved in all kinds of two-wheeled racing, whether MTB XC or in the Ukrainian motorcycle Superbike league, and they had a habit of making their own parts already, so that next step seemed logical. The company acquired its first CNC machine in 2014, and then moved all its facilities to Poland in 2019. Garbaruk is now mainly focused on making aluminum MTB drivetrain products and related accessories, and earlier this year they expanded their product line with an enduro-ready crankset. We’ been putting it to the test for a few months now - keep reading to find out how we’ve been getting along.

Garbaruk Enduro Crank Highlights

• Crankarm Length: 165/170/175 mm
• Crankarm Color: Black/Blue/Gold/Green/Orange/Red/Silver/Violet
• Lockring/Bolts Color: Black/Blue/Gold/Green/Orange/Red/Silver/Violet
• Made from: CNC milled 7075-T651 aluminum alloy
• Chainline: 52 mm
• Q-Factor: 170 mm
• Spindle Length: 136.5 mm standard (130 and 140 options available)
• Spindle/Axle diameter: 30 mm or 29 mm (DUB)
• Compatible with Garbaruk chainrings
• Weight: 466 grams (165 mm crankarm, 30 mm spindle, verified)
• System weight with 32T chainring: 520 grams
• MSRP: $450 USD

Initial Impressions

Garbaruk is most known in the mountain bike world for their cassettes, but they have been making road and XC cranks for a couple of years now with reportedly good results. The new Enduro crank is built using the same construction technique, with a design that has been beefed up for heavy-duty use. Each crank arm is made of two CNC milled pieces, the main section is hollowed out and then covered up with a thinner plate. The two sections are bonded and heat-treated, and there are 8 small bolts used on each crank arm for further reinforcement. The crank arms will pass all Garbaruk’s strength testing without these reinforcement bolts (that is actually how the XC and road cranks are built), but the bolts are there for peace of mind and a little extra bling. This construction technique produces a crank arm that not only looks the part, but is seriously light as well – at 466 grams for the 165 mm version it is not far from the lightest carbon enduro/DH cranks out there, and Garbaruk is so confident in their design that they rate it for all riding disciplines with no rider weight limit imposed.

The Garbaruk Enduro crank is available in a wide variety of colors and color combinations. There are 8 colors available for the crank arms, the same 8 for the self-extractor lockring and the small reinforcement bolts. You can mix and match to your heart’s content, which can obviously help bling out your ride if you so wish. The finish is excellent and the colors are rich and uniform. We opted for a little purple ano which matched up nicely with some other parts on our test bike. You can specify a classic 30 mm spindle or a SRAM DUB-compatible 28.99 mm version – there are several different lengths to choose from as well.

You’ll also need a Garbaruk chainring to complete your crankset – they are of course available in the aforementioned 8 colors, and you can also pick a round or an oval version, with anything from 28 to 36 teeth. The chainring is compatible with 9-, 10-, 11-, and 12-speed drivetrains, including SRAM T-Type Transmission. The teeth are extra tall, and feature a narrow-wide profile to further help with chain retention. The 3-mm offset corresponds to a regular Boost chainline (52 mm). The design is machined to the max, and our 32T sample weighed in at a scant 54 grams (which helped keep the overall system weight with our 165 mm cranks to an impressively low 520 grams). The crank arm to chainring interface is based on Cannondale’s Hollowgram design, so there won’t be too many other options for the chainring to use with the Garbaruk crank.

On The Trail

Installing the Garbaruk crank was easy. The chain ring lockring looks funky, but actually fits a standard BB tool which increases the chances of you already owning one. For the rest, you’ll need a size 12 allen to tighten up the spindle (this is a rather less common allen size), and a 2 mm allen to secure the bearing preload ring after you’ve snugged it up to the BB. We mated our new crankset to a SRAM GX mechanical drivetrain, and it’s been plain sailing since day one. Silent and smooth pedaling, no dropped chains to report (we have been testing both with and without a chainguide). The tooth profile of the chainring works great, it engages the chain without much resistance and seems to do a good job with clearing out dirt as well.

Once out on the trail, the Garbaruk crank did everything we asked of it. It is quiet and plenty stiff, always providing for good power transfer and a solid feeling under your feet. We’ve had it running on our big bike for about three and a half months by now, and we’ve not had to pay any extra attention to it which is always a good sign. Nothing has come loose, and nothing has started to make any unwanted sounds. So far, it's set and forget!

Things That Could Be Improved

We have not been able to find much wrong with the Garbaruk Enduro crank, certainly not on the product side. Talking about the price, it is placed in the “pricey but not crazy” category of cranks. You can get slightly heavier cranks for less money with some carbon offerings from SRAM for example, or comparable weights and the same money with a carbon Race Face Era. A carbon crank from Hope is about the same weight as well, but a couple of hundred dollars more. Of course, you can also go crazy with an EEwing from Cane Creek or a titanium 5DEV crank if you want to, at more than double the cost of the Garbaruk. For a very light and strong aluminum crank with a certain “boutique” flair to it, we think the Garbaruk is still pretty good value though.

Slightly less convincing are Garbaruk’s warranty terms, at just one year covering defects in materials and workmanship they are just providing the bare minimum. The aforementioned Race Face Era comes with a lifetime no-questions-asked warranty that covers crash damage as well. With that said, Garbaruk has stated to us that they have yet to see any crank failures two years into making them, so that bodes well for the long run.

Long Term Durability

We have not seen any signs of premature wear or defects of any kind after riding the Garbaruk Enduro cranks on a long-travel bike for 3 and a half months, at this time all signs point to more good times ahead. The anodization is coming off some of the teeth of the chainring, but that's par for the course with anodized drivetrain components like these in our experience, and not something to worry about.

What’s The Bottom Line?

There are a lot of options to choose from when picking a crank, and if we’re being honest, a lot of them do a good job at turning your chain over and holding your pedals in place as you ride. You have an almost infinite range of weight/price combinations out there, starting at a hundred bucks or so. The Garbaruk Enduro crank lands right in the hot spot of the high-end enthusiast market, where several competitors have cranks at roughly the same price and weight – most of which are made of carbon. Garbaruk stands out for pushing the envelop of aluminum crank design however, both in functional and aesthetic terms. We’ve been more than pleased with the performance of our test sample so far, and we certainly think it looks good on our bike. With an incredible amount of personalization available in terms of color accents, this is definitely one to consider if you’re after a little extra bling.

More information at: www.garbaruk.com.

About The Reviewer

Johan Hjord - Age: 51 // Years Riding MTB: 19 // Weight: 190-pounds (87-kg) // Height: 6'0" (1.84m)

Johan loves bikes, which strangely doesn’t make him any better at riding them. After many years spent practicing falling off cliffs with his snowboard, he took up mountain biking in 2005. Ever since, he’s mostly been riding bikes with too much suspension travel to cover up his many flaws as a rider. His 200-pound body weight coupled with unique skill for poor line choice and clumsy landings make him an expert on durability - if parts survive Johan, they’re pretty much okay for anybody. Johan rides flat pedals with a riding style that he describes as "none" (when in actuality he rips!). Having found most trail features to be not to his liking, Johan uses much of his spare time building his own. Johan’s other accomplishments include surviving this far and helping keep the Vital Media Machine’s stoke dial firmly on 11.

Photos by Johan Hjord and Nils Hjord