# Difference between S-Works carbon and alloy spiders?



## bernithebiker (Sep 26, 2011)

Well the title says it all really.

I have 2 S-works cranksets, one compact, the other standard. One has an alloy spider, the other carbon, but I can't remember which is which. And they look identical.

If you look at the Spesh website, the carbon spider has no sign of any carbon weave, it's just matt or gloss black.

So how do you tell the alloy and the carbon spiders apart? I can't weigh them as you need a special tool to get them off the cranks.


If you tap them, they both sound the same. The only thing I can think is to scrape them with a knife, which of course, I would rather not do!!


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## dcorn (Sep 1, 2011)

Take a picture. Mine is matte carbon, but you can tell it's carbon because it has a very subtle weave pattern. Look at it in the light at different angles and you should be able to see a pattern if it's carbon.

Looking at spesh's website, there are a couple differences. The carbon spider has a silver ring in the middle where the 'teeth' are, the aluminum is fully anodized. Also, they say carbon has carbon specific bolts. The bolts appear to have different font between the two different materials (the carbon bolts have a bigger font).

Wanna sell that compact spider?


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## tonytourist (Jan 21, 2009)

If you take the chainring bolts out, you can tell the difference quite easily. The carbon spider uses a proprietary bolt where the alloy spider uses a standard chainring bolt.


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## bernithebiker (Sep 26, 2011)

Thanks for that Dcorn.
I think you would not see any difference from a photo.
Both my spiders have a silver ring in the middle, but I'm starting to think that the standard is the carbon one, and the compact the alloy. Because, the standard just looks and feels different to the compact one.

And the font on the standard (carbon?) spider bolts is bigger than that of the compact. Also, I know that the bolts on the standard (carbon?) one are a special size, so this one has to be carbon.

Anyway, I'm keeping the compact, selling the standard (yes, carbon spider!). 172.5mm crank arms.White and black with a touch of red.


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## NJBiker72 (Jul 9, 2011)

I had my lbs swap the mid compact for a compact on my pro last year. They said they had to put the carbon one on. 

No idea why and there was no charge so no reason to lie. So my guess is the compact.


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## bernithebiker (Sep 26, 2011)

*Photos*

Photos of standard (off the bike). 99% sure this is carbon spider.

And compact (on bike). In theory this is alloy, but maybe it could be carbon too?!


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## fporter (Aug 21, 2012)

What is the weight difference between the alloy and carbon spiders? Which is stiffer? Thanks!


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## dcorn (Sep 1, 2011)

Berni, judging by the pics of the bolt font on the Spec website, the standard is carbon and the compact is alloy like you said. The silver part in the middle near the teeth that they show on the site isn't visible with the crank arms assembled, so it seems you may have an older setup (also judging by the way your arms look, my 2011 crankset has no visible carbon weave).


NJbiker72, both the aluminum and carbon are available in the 110 and 130 BCD, so no reason to switch with a different crankset. Weird that they did it with no charge.


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## NJBiker72 (Jul 9, 2011)

dcorn said:


> Berni, judging by the pics of the bolt font on the Spec website, the standard is carbon and the compact is alloy like you said. The silver part in the middle near the teeth that they show on the site isn't visible with the crank arms assembled, so it seems you may have an older setup (also judging by the way your arms look, my 2011 crankset has no visible carbon weave).
> 
> 
> NJbiker72, both the aluminum and carbon are available in the 110 and 130 BCD, so no reason to switch with a different crankset. Weird that they did it with no charge.


Maybe just not in stock. And they wanted the sale.


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