Back in 2005 Shimano started a revolution when they introduced the Saint MTB component group.  Saint components were not designed to be extremely light, rather they were engineered for strength and reliability.  This of course, is where they get their name - the Saint crank set is said to be the strongest and stiffest in the industry.  Soon after its release, BMX racers started using the Saint crank set for racing and found that they worked very well for this application.  Of course, the Saint crank set can accommodate one, two, or three chain rings, and it is compatible with 68, 73, and 83mm bottom bracket shells.

:: 2009 Shimano Saint cranks are 100 grams lighter and 200 percent  stiffer - click to enlarge ::

Shimano soon saw that the Saint crank set was gaining momentum (no pun intended) in the BMX race scene, so they introduced the 68mm BB shell-specific DXR crank set, which is a direct descendant of the Saint unit.  The DXR has had unprecedented success, gaining the Saint virtues of strength and stiffness, leaving previous BMX mainstays such as Profile and Redline in the dust, literally.  Many BMX racers still run the Saint cranks, I suppose because they prefer the black finish to the DXR’s polished look.

This year, Shimano introduced a new Saint crank set, which was redesigned completely.  The spindle design remains exactly the same, however Shimano claims the new Saint crank set is 100 grams lighter and 200 percent stiffer. 200 percent.  I have not personally tested the 2009 Saint cranks yet, but I have a few sets here for evaluation and I’ll say that when I picked them up it became immediately clear to me that these are much lighter than the 2008 Saint or DXR cranks.  The arms are a different shape - more chiseled in appearance and slightly narrower.  The “Saint” logo is represented in appealing brushed aluminum, and the gold bolts and bottom bracket bearings look great.  Another point of interest is the left side bearing cup has longer threads now, which means running double spacers on a 68mm BB shell will not compromise strength at all.  Very nice.

:: Shimano DXR cranks are the BMX-specific version of the Saint - click to enlarge ::

The bad?  So far, all I can see is that the 2009 Saint cranks are available up to only 175mm - no 180mm this year.  Guys like me with longer legs may have an issue with this in a BMX application, but for MTB this is of no concern since I run 175s on my mountain bike.  The real problem for BMX racers is that currerntly there’s a huge shortage of DXR cranks, and the price has gone up substantially, so the Saint crankset may be a welcome return for BMX racers, at least for now until the DXR crankset gets the same redesign.