Titanium Sweet Wings cranks from Sweet Parts have long been one of the bicycle industry’s true unicorns. Everyone seemed to remember them or have a story about them, but conversations with industry veterans and years of searching never produced a confirmed owner or even a clear photograph. Until now.

A titanium experiment in 1996

To tell the story, we need to go back roughly 30 years to the mid-1990s. Sweet Parts founders Craig Edwards and Kent Carlson were producing Sweet Wings, some of the era’s most sought-after chromoly cranksets, and looking for the next step. They decided to experiment with titanium.

In 1996, titanium producer Timet made a small batch of special, heat-treatable 15-3-3-3 tubing for Sweet Parts—enough for four or five prototype cranksets. A few sets were lost during the difficult production process, leaving only a small number for testing.

The team already knew the titanium cranks were unlikely to enter production. Even so, Interbike was approaching and a completed set made an irresistible proof of concept. The cranks drew attention at the show, but Sweet Parts gave no release date or price because neither existed. Soon afterward, Sweet Parts closed. Craig and Kent returned to their regular careers, and the titanium cranks disappeared from public view.

For nearly three decades, stories filled the gap. Some people said the cranks had been stolen at Interbike; others said they were destroyed in a fire. The truth is less dramatic and much better: the surviving prototypes had simply been stored safely and were only recently rediscovered among Kent’s belongings.

Titanium versus the production Sweet Wings

The different finish and spider make the prototype easy to identify, but the largest difference is hidden beneath the surface: weight. The production chromoly Sweet Wings weighed 485 grams including the spindle—already light for the period. The titanium version cut 172 grams from that total.

At approximately 313 grams including the spindle, the titanium Sweet Wings would have ranked among the lightest cranks of their day. Even by modern standards that is remarkable—surprisingly close to the roughly 300-gram weight of the THM Clavicula SE, one of the lightest production cranksets available.

From Sweet Wings to eeWings

Craig eventually had another opportunity to put a welded titanium crank into production. Drawing on what he learned from the original prototypes—and nearly 30 additional years of design experience—he created the titanium eeWings for Cane Creek. The modern crank is not quite as light as the Sweet Parts prototypes, but it became one of the stiffest and strongest titanium cranksets on the market.

Read our in-depth Craig Edwards interview

The interview covers Craig, Kent, Sweet Parts, the original Sweet Wings and the modern components that followed.