This design it also reduces the weight of the bike as you don't need to have a BB. My friends who bought this crank never complain about its performance. With the combination of Deore front derailleur, the chain shifting is smooth. This crank only weighs 1063 grams with its bottom bracket.
The only weakness which was told to me is the bottom bracket wears out pretty fast compare to other higher models such as SLX and XT. Another thing is the Deore words will fade when your shoe is rubbing on it continuously when you cycle. Other than that there is no weakness that we could find.
website link:
http://bike.shimano.com.sg/publish/content/global_cycle/en/sg/index/products/mountain/deore.html
