Shimano

Ultegra FC-6750 Crankset - Compact

The second most talked about component of the new Shimano Ultegra 6700 group is the crankset. The hollow outer chain ring is a bold step away from the mainstream for Shimano, so bold it will be interesting to see if the design remains exclusively with Shimano or if others are going to do their own take on the piece.

As you probably know by now, the big deal with the hollow outer chain ring is its stiffness. Rather than build up the spider or add ribs to the chain ring, they used the magic of geometry—two thin plates fixed together are stronger than a thicker single plate. This is why there's no chain ring bolt coming through the crankset. It is threaded from the inside to a bolt on the inside of the big ring. Shimano says a by-product of this new design is that they've reduced the likelihood of the chain catching the big ring when riding in the small ring and smallest cog; this will only matter when you're cross-chaining in your 34 or 39x11.

The Ultegra 6700 crankset comes in two basic flavors, standard and compact. Compact is known by the number FC-6750. The standard, 130mm bolt circle diameter version comes with a 39/53 combination. The compact, 110mm bolt circle diameter version comes with a 34/50 chain ring combination. The crankset, in both versions can be had with either 170m 172.5, or 175mm crankarms.