{"id":160842,"date":"2017-06-07T00:01:29","date_gmt":"2017-06-06T22:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mtb-mag.com\/?p=160842\/"},"modified":"2017-06-07T13:10:20","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T11:10:20","slug":"office-visit-praxis-works-santa-cruz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mtb-mag.com\/en\/office-visit-praxis-works-santa-cruz\/","title":{"rendered":"[Office Visit] Praxis Works, Santa Cruz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not long ago we stopped by\u00a0the other end of town in Santa Cruz and paid\u00a0a visit to Praxis Works, a local engineering firm with a focus on drivetrain components. About 1 year ago we tested<\/a> out their “conversion BB”…In layman’s terms, it’s a press fit bottom bracket that allows you to run GXP style cranks in a BB30 bike. While Praxis’ early foray into the world of being a solutions company has stuck, they’re branching out a great deal and trying to break away from that image. After a stroll through the office we met some great folks and got a solid grasp of what the company is really all about…<\/p>\n

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History & Overview<\/h3>\n

At just 6 years old, Praxis is growing rapidly. The brand initially took root when well known kinematics engineer David Earle<\/a> decided to start a component firm focusing on drivetrain solutions. David earned his notoriety working with various brands from Bontrager to Specialized on a wide range\u00a0of projects from\u00a0drivetrains and components to frame kinematics like\u00a0Yeti’s “Switch” suspension system.<\/p>\n

From left to right, an evolutionary timeline of Praxis’s game changing collet bottom bracket.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Around\u00a02011, Praxis started out with their unique cold forged shifting chainrings and collet style “conversion” bottom brackets. They have now expanded to offer a full line of cranksets for both road and mountain, a complete MTB wheel line, chainguides, wide range cassettes and many other offerings. With a healthy, growing dealer base, surging OEM demand and 20 global distributors, they’re quickly becoming more widely known in both road and MTB.<\/p>\n

From left to right: Good, Better, Best. The forged Cadet, hollow forged Girder and the carbon fiber Lyft cranksets. Praxis is doing their best to cover the whole spectrum with all of their endeavors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When David Earle first began founding the company he had a\u00a0solid\u00a0relationship with a particular forging company in Taiwan that had an exclusive on a unique forging technique in the manufacturing world. Today, they are the parent company of Praxis. What’s special about their relationship is that Praxis is still a Western brand operating virtually autonomously. They have free reign to work out of Santa Cruz and execute\u00a0a great deal of R&D efforts out of their stateside office.<\/p>\n

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A large part of what affords Praxis this level of engineering mobility is the fact that they’re well equipped in Santa Cruz with a broad range of tools that allow concepts to quickly become working prototypes which can be tested on the amazing trails that are riding distance from the front door of their office.<\/p>\n

The Tour<\/h3>\n

Director of Marketing and Sales, Adam Haverstock gave us a tour of their office starting with their wheel shop. Wheel building sage\u00a0and\u00a0Nor Cal legend in general, Jim Langley holds it down here. For nearly 30 years, Jim has been an avid tech editor for the likes of RoadBikeRider.com, Bicycling Magazine and Velo News.<\/p>\n

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Jim laces the majority of the C32 wheels in house in addition to checking them for accuracy with the most insane German truing stand we’ve ever seen. He also keeps tabs on quality control and performs occasional warranty work.<\/p>\n

How accurate? “Extremely accurate”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Left to right: Cross sections of the asymmetrical AL24 and C32 rims.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Engineering<\/h3>\n

Resident engineer\u00a0Will Hilgenberg was kind enough to show us around their machine shop which hosts a CNC machine, lathe, press and beyond…<\/p>\n

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This is where Praxis can do a variety of things from\u00a0conceptualizing to fine tuning throughout the prototype phase. For example, let’s say a new chainring offset standard comes out; they can punch out a riding prototype in house and get testing straight away.<\/p>\n

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Forging<\/h3>\n

While they wouldn’t divulge too much information, the Praxis parent factory\u00a0in Taiwan has an exclusive cold forging process which provides very consistent wall thickness in their hollow cranks all while eliminating as much material as possible to help get the weight down.<\/p>\n

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