After a front derailleur limit-screw adjustment, we were out on the road. Since the cranks only come in one spindle length, the existing bearings had to be removed and replaced with the included cups, which widened the BB30’s 68mm shell to a standard 86mm width. We replaced a pair of SRAM Red BB30 cranks for our Lightnings. Our test model came without chainrings, so we mounted a pair of 53/39 Praxis Works forged rings, which brought the total crank with chainring weight to 517 grams. The cranks also come sans chainrings for $700, or in three different chainring options: Extralight for $990, TA for $880 and Lightning 7075 for $780. Different-length left and right arms are also available for those with leg-length discrepancies. And that’s only the beginning of the options a removable aluminum spider comes in either compact (110 BCD) or standard (130 BCD) gearing, in addition to 12 crank lengths ranging from 160mm to 190mm. Using one spindle length, Lightning makes numerous different bottom bracket cups to accommodate just about every frame out there, including 68mm, BB30, OSBB, BBRight, 386EVO, BB86 and BB91. Options galore ensures that Lightning has a crank for you. The Lightning crank’s low weight is a big selling feature, but by no means is it their only one. The spindle uses a similar design to Campy’s Ultra Torque cranks, which have half of the spindle attached to each arm and use a single oversize titanium bolt to integrate both halves together in the spindle’s center. Company owner Brummer wasn’t willing to divulge many specifics of the actual production of their cranks, but regardless of the exact methods of creation, they end up being some of the lightest production cranks available due to their hollow-carbon arms bonded to an aluminum 30mm-diameter spindle. The small manufacturer designed and built the cranks, which Specialized later bought the patent to, and now Lightning has a licensing deal with the ‘Big S.’ Although the cranks have undergone a few small changes since their initial development a dozen years ago, they, like the originals, are made right in Lightning’s own facility in Lompoc, California. No, Lightning didn’t rip off Specialized’s design. If the Lightning crank looks vaguely familiar, it’s because of its close resemblance to the Specialized FACT crank. In 2000, Brummer teamed up with an aerospace engineer, and together they created a crank well ahead of its time in a market that was made up of mainly aluminum crankarms with square-taper bottom brackets. ‘The cranks must’ve weighed more than the frames I was making, so I thought I could do better than what was available at the time,’ he explained. Since the are located at the very front of a recumbent, their weight is much more noticeable than on a regular bicycle. Tim Brummer was a custom recumbent fabricator, and one day he was musing over the weight of the cranks on a recumbent he had just finished. Inspiration for product development can come from many unlikely sources, which was definitely the case with the Lightning cranks.