You are reading a single comment by @Glws and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
Glws-
Yeah nah, one less fastener, but mainly, Shimano put the arms where the load is; big gaps at tdc and bdc, and even figured one opposing pair should be beefier than the other. It's optimised AF compared to any five arm spider.
Shimano's cranks balance lateral rigidity of the big ring against weight in the design criteria, everyone knows the best front shifting is on a Shimano crank...
Kimmo
Folks who say this sort of thing don't get it, I reckon.
Five is arbitrary. Four is optimised. Therefore four looks better. If it works better, it looks better. Include all the current optimisations and you have a 6kg beast that's distilled joy to ride.
Witness the fitness.