On Wed, 2012-08-08 at 14:47 -0600, PATRICK MOORE wrote: > Jan noted CNC'd cranks from the '80s and '90s, and mentioned Topline. > I can vouch for the delicacy of Topline Superlights! I broke one at > the crank-bolt hole by torquing the bolt a wee bit too much. > > OTOH, the friend of my brother who, at 6'4" and 250 lb at race weight > in his 20s (later, in early middle age, he had, said my bro, a 52" > chest) made my much-bigger-than-I brother (6'2", 200 lb in his prime) > look small, used the same cranks, in a 180 length, on one of his > racing bikes, this back in the very early '90s. He torqued one of the > arms so much he bent it; sent it back to Topline who bent it back and > returned it.
I broke 3 Avocet crank arms on my commuter. After that I went to the LBS (Performance at the time) and said I didn't care what it looked like, how much it weighed or what it cost, I wanted a crank that would not break. They sold me a Cook Brothers Racing crank, said a MTB racing crank was built to take any abuse so it ought to do fine commuting. This was a CNC'd aluminum crank. I broke a crank arm crossing 15th St. right in front of the Washington Monument and was dumped into the road, scraped up pretty good with blood on the pavement (unlike the other 3 broken crank arms, where I escaped without injury or blood loss) and then the light changes and the cars start accelerating right at me so I hurriedly drag myself and my bike out of their path. I never rode that bike again. Stripped some parts off it -- the brakes are on my Kogswell P/R porteur right now -- and eventually swapped the frame for a copy of _The Dancing Chain_. The guy I swapped with traded in the frame for a big discount on a Cannondale tandem, which he and his wife still ride, most recently on a 1200k randonnee in Colorado. Anybody else here who has broken 4 crank arms? Or do I hold the RBWorld Record? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
