Rotor Agilis XC2 crankset

Innovative cross-country race crankset

You can trust Cyclingnews Our experts spend countless hours testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

Rotor follows a different path with its new Ágilis XC2 mountain bike

Modern external bearings and a large-diameter aluminium spindle go a

Oval rings are worth a try

As is becoming increasingly popular these days, the Ágilis XC2 is a

Shift performance is very good in spite of the Q Rings’ elliptical

As for the Q Rings themselves, they definitely take one or two rides

The effectively smaller chainring sizes at the dead spots get you back

Three's a crowd

The obvious benefits to a two-ring crankset are simplified shifting

Stance width of the Ágilis XC2 is a refreshingly narrow 163mm – a

Keep in mind that narrower isn’t necessarily better for everyone, and potential

However, for those who feel the latest crop of external-bearing

Good idea ... in theory

Rotor offers the Ágilis as a modular system with one of two external-bearing bottom bracket designs – the standard BB1 which we

Though mostly identical to conventional bottom brackets, SABB adds free-swivelling

Either way, our steel bearing-equipped BB1 unfortunately had a bit of

Yea or nay?

Even with its performance benefits the Rotor Ágilis XC2 is still

Unfortunately, we’re less impressed with the bottom bracket. Though we’ve had good luck in the past with a

Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*

Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets

After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59

Join now for unlimited access

Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1