Has anyone got any of the Unite cranks and if so how is the fit and finish?
No help at all, but I love the look of these. Symmetrical without any garish graphics.
Modular so you can change axles and also come in 165mm.
I have some.
First set arrived and finish was a bit poor. CNC edging didn't match on the 2 arms. You had to look closely but still.
They were out of stock of black arms so told me to keep them and they would send another set in a month or so and to just keep the others. Excellent service IMO.
New set arrived and finish is still not great. Front is fine, rear is not as I would expect. Finish seems to have chipped off quite easily on the ones I have used.
I like the look of them with no logos etc... But unfortunately would struggle to recommend them.
Thanks @Matt_SS_xc - yes I'm in agreement about the look etc but it sounds like the finish isn't what should be expected. If I read correctly it is a Ceracote finish? I was considering black but maybe the silver would be a better option? Although it sounds like there needs to be some improvement in QC before I might take it further.
cokie
Free Member
No help at all, but I love the look of these. Symmetrical without any garish graphics.
Modular so you can change axles and also come in 165mm.
165mm cranks will make bikes unrideable in 2023, its all about 155 now
Thats a shame about the finish. I've just got one of their stems and its a nicely made wee thing
I got a set of their pedals at the Bird sale in Consett and I was chatting to a bloke who said the Cerakote stuff they use now instead of anodising was crap a flakes off really easy. Luckily the pedals I got were anodised blue and not Cerakote. Tbh the Cerakote parts they had didn't look very nice to me anyway.
If the fit and finish of the cranks was good and they were anodised they'd be top of my list.
That would probably have been me. Its not a Unite specific thing, Cerakote just isn't that great when it comes to things that get alot of wear in my experience. I noticed that Unite are now machining off the platforms on pedals to remove the cerakote, both looks cool and will resolve the wear issue in the main part. It will be unprotected alloy but I guess constant foot traffic will keep them looking 'polished'.
Waiting on set of silver cranks to be delivered. Probably be after Xmas
Be warned that if you aren't happy with the finish, in my experience you might be out of luck. I sent back some cerakote pink parts with patchy finish, messages ignored for a couple of weeks, when I finally did get a reply it was to say that they were made to order, the finish was to a good standard, "everyone else loves" it and that the returned items would be marked "return to sender" and sent back. Had a bit of to and fro but left it open ended to see what he'd do next, nothing as it turns out so as far as I'm aware I'm £65 out of pocket and don't know if he is returning the parts or not. Shame as I also have an anodised stem and pedals and they are as well made as anything else on the market, really nice kit. IMO going to cerakote was a mistake and I won't be using the company again due to both that and the customer service.
Just to add here I bought a stem from unite that was anodised gold. Really lovely stem. My friend brought one expecting similar but got one of the newer cerakote ones. The colour is much more of a Matt finish and looks nowhere near as good,much more dull. Also feels rough to the touch. Personally I would have sent it back but he kept it.
davosaurusrex
Full Member
Be warned that if you aren’t happy with the finish, in my experience you might be out of luck. I sent back some cerakote pink parts with patchy finish, messages ignored for a couple of weeks, when I finally did get a reply it was to say that they were made to order, the finish was to a good standard, “everyone else loves” it and that the returned items would be marked “return to sender” and sent back. Had a bit of to and fro but left it open ended to see what he’d do next, nothing as it turns out so as far as I’m aware I’m £65 out of pocket and don’t know if he is returning the parts or not. Shame as I also have an anodised stem and pedals and they are as well made as anything else on the market, really nice kit. IMO going to cerakote was a mistake and I won’t be using the company again due to both that and the customer service.
From their website they seem to be doing the coating in house. I don't believe cerakote is easier to do than anything else (e.g. anodising) so that's quite a challenge for a small company, and I'm not surprised if there are some issues. Not sure why you should be out of pocket though, worst case you just get the bank/cc company to get the money for you?
Is there anyone from Unite available on the forum to comment?
I really like the look of the cranks, but if the finish is really poor then its a mon-starter for me. Especially with that crap attitude about 'they are to spec'.
buy some XT ones and be happy - DUB or 30mm isn't a great option.
They have arrived & fitted, a Matt silver look a bit different, am still not sure on them, The drive side came undone a bit, 10mm Allen then outer Allen is 12mm.
No name or markings on them which is a bit different also
Being an owner of their previous anodised stuff I was really disappointed when I saw the switch to cerakote, it looks like a crap Finish and the shades chosen are terrible imho, I bet they've lost more customers than gained.
Bit of a thread resurrection
Has anyone used Unite recently and received what they paid for?
I've ordered an Oval chainring from them, had the confirmation email but radio silence since..they don't answer the phone, or reply to emails/WhatsApps.
It's only been 9 days, but the lack of any communication is odd, I'm reluctant to order something else and just return the unite one if it ever turns up because they don't seem to do returns based on what I've read.
Ordered a bash guard last weekend and it turned up within a couple of days. This thread has just reminded me that I need to fit it!
Has anyone used Unite recently and received what they paid for?
An SRAM oval chain ring arrived this morning, ordered Monday. Any delay is more than likely our local RM so maybe thats the same for you? I waited 10 days for a 48hr guaranteed delivery the other week (different item different vendor).
I emailed them about something Monday morning, no reply yet. They usually reply in a day or two.
They had time to post to their Instagram story earlier today at least.
Good to hear people are receiving things from them - I've finally had the dispatch email this afternoon about an hour after I posted, maybe they've got a backlog or my order got missed.
Hopefully don't have to wait another 10 days for royal mail to deliver, Unite are only about 50 mins from me!
They're now doing 160mm and 155mm too.
They look good new in black, but raw (with clear Cerakote) is too shiny for me. I had their matt "dirty grey silver" pedals but sent them back immediately (to the retailer).
IMO going to cerakote was a mistake and I won’t be using the company again due to both that and the customer service.
Same, and a shame.
I emailed them about something Monday morning, no reply yet. They usually reply in a day or two.
They had time to post to their Instagram story earlier today at least.
They never did reply. It was about how to service their pedals, so had to figure it out myself. They did post out the service kit I bought, no instructions or any tool suggestions in that either. Diligently posting Instagram stories every day though.
They went from making nice stuff at a reasonable price to crap coatings and stupid prices.
bikesandboots
Diligently posting Instagram stories every day though.
Not unite specific but yep... shows you where customer service lies in their hierarchy
POAH
They went from making nice stuff at a reasonable price to crap coatings and stupid prices.
Even ignoring the coatings I always felt like they went from being "probably as good as but significantly cheaper" to "probably as good as but not significantly cheaper"
TBH, not just them...
I ordered a chainring and a bash guard a while back and had an issue with the order. I contacted them via Instagram and he seemed to take it far to personally that there was an issue and then ignored me for a week before a replacement just turned up. Came across like he should probably have someone else doing the customer service. Wouldn't be in a rush to buy from them again.
Yeah, that was my experience. Plenty of other options out there so that you don't have to deal with attitudes and service like that
Incidentally I got my money refunded in the end but had to go through the hassle of raising a dispute via my bank
I saw the thread title and thought, 'Yup, they're all here, this is the place'.
Very good!
I liked the look of their stuff and nearly bought their pedals, but just ended up getting another pair of Burgtecs after seeing some of the finishes and reviews on here. I think if I wanted fancy UK cranks I’d just get Hope.
by some coincidence this appeared on Facebook tonight. I’ve got a stem that I’ve had for a while now. Not sure I’d bother with anything else from them
I'm on the lookout for some new cranks so thought I'd dip into this thread as Unites were on my list - might not bother now...
Glad I didn't go for these now. It's a shame as I quite like Unite.
I emailed them about something Monday morning, no reply yet. They usually reply in a day or two.
They had time to post to their Instagram story earlier today at least
Pet hate of mine.. Cotic do this. I've owned 5 of them and have asked questions and interacted with their Instagram posts/stories and have all be ignored. They still have time to post hundreds of stories and posts though.
I've just looked on Unite co site, ruddy hell some prices have practically doubled since they changed from anodising to crapkote, I paid around £60 for their pedals, only seems like a couple of years ago or maybe 3 at the most. Silly prices now.
I was looking into Unite because they're UK based (Welsh I think) and I like to buy local where I can, but the prices being comparative to Burgtec and Hope plus these reviews has put me right off.
its probably not the same people running their socials tbh
Pet hate of mine.. Cotic do this. I’ve owned 5 of them and have asked questions and interacted with their Instagram posts/stories and have all be ignored. They still have time to post hundreds of stories and posts though.
And yet every time I've email Cotic, they've replied within an hour or two. Even at weekends on a couple of occasions. Their customer is some of the best out there.
Pet hate of mine.. Cotic do this. I’ve owned 5 of them and have asked questions and interacted with their Instagram posts/stories and have all be ignored. They still have time to post hundreds of stories and posts though.
I wouldn't really expect any company to respond to every question or message on social media. Far too many places to keep track of (messages and post comments) on multiple platforms, and too many idiots asking stupid questions that they could find out by reading the product page, or just timewasters. If I want an answer, email.
Pet hate of mine is when companies don't have an email, I ain't wasting my time trying to get a response through twitter Instagram or Facebook, not having an email suggests they don't give a s**t imho. If there's an email then that's the first thing you should go for, I've gotten some right clueless numpties on the phone so I'll usually avoid calling.
Have these lot gone tits upas well? Socials seem to be dead for ages now.
They have apparently moved back to their original premises. Can only guess putting their prices up hugely and swapping to the shit cerakote hurt their sales. I got some of their stuff when they were cheaper. Wouldn't touch them now.
Well designed and made anodised pedals £70 yes please two years ago, same pedal in Cerakote for £150 no thanks.
Bit of a resurrection but I've had a set of their cranks arrive today. 160mm in the raw finish and they look...... superb! One question, how do I fit them? Nothing on their website and I've only ever run Shimano HT2 cranks since square taper died. Looks like the ring attaches to one arm and the other arm has a kind of lock ring - assume to take up slack in the system?
So do I just do the 10mm bolt up both sides to 50nm as it says (or just really hard) and then use the lock ring to take up any slack???
Never used a Unite crank, but the above is the procedure for raceface/hope/SRAm and lots of other similar cranks
Cheers - just checked Hope's site and thankfully they have instructions. Worried it seemed almost too straightforward and that I was missing something.
Unite - put some instructions on your site!
Ask them, to be sure? They made them and you paid them money, it's a basic expectation really and you want to be confident that you're not going to break them while fitting and they're not going to come off mid-ride.
Is the raw finish actually raw alloy or clear cerakote?
If it's a clear coat it will be interesting to see how they hold up, clears over raw alloy are notoriously bad at holding up to scratches etc, if you break through the coating the aluminium quickly oxides and spreads underneath, maybe cerakote will be more durable but they have started to machine the faces off the pedals for a reason.
They do look nice in clear, but anodise is such a better choice.
Its properly raw - no finish. But then neither does my frame so great match!
