I have recently come into posession of a 1950's Raleigh Lenton that was converted into a fixed gear somewhere around the early 80's. My LBS has given it the once over, but advised me to change the original steel cottered cranks as soon as possible, on the grounds that they would invevitably fly apart at an intersection forthwith, especially on a fixed gear bike.
The cotters seem to be in good condition, and the cranks are currently secure. I'm currently using the bike on my daily commute.
Are the cottered cranks truly a ticking time bomb, or is the LBS being unnecessarily cautious here?
A properly installed cottered crank will be no problem with a fixed gear. This was done for years, and there was not a rash of failures. I had a similar set up, and it works as you would expect.
Let's see ... this bike has been a fixie for probably 20 years, with no problem with the cottered cranks. Cottered cranks are a sturdy and durable design. Did you ever take the cranks off of a cottered set-up? Without a special tool, it takes alot of hammer force to pound out the cotter -- which is held secure with a nut and washer on the narrow end. What? Vibration is going to loosen the nut, it will fall off, and then without warning the crank will fly off? If by some remote possibility the nut did fall off, you would feel slop in the crank way before anything bad happened. (Just like you feel slop in a cotterless crank that is loosening up.) Then it would be a simple matter of replacing and tightening the nut.
The LBS can make $100 bucks or so if they "upgrade" your bike. I wonder what kind of experience your LBS has with cottered fixies? What is their experience re. the failure rate of cottered fixies vs. cotterless on fixies.
I'm a little cynical here. I asked my LBS to install a "sealed bearing" BB on my fixie -- in part just to support them. A couple of months later the BB loosened, IMO because of improper installation -- not tight enough. They said it was my fault, as my "back pedal for stopping" was the cause of the problem -- and charged me for the repair. Actually, I have front and rear brakes, and use them for most of my slowing down. I now do pretty much all of my own repair work.
Let's see ... this bike has been a fixie for probably 20 years, with no problem with the cottered cranks. Cottered cranks are a sturdy and durable design. Did you ever take the cranks off of a cottered set-up? Without a special tool, it takes alot of hammer force to pound out the cotter -- which is held secure with a nut and washer on the narrow end. What? Vibration is going to loosen the nut, it will fall off, and then without warning the crank will fly off? If by some remote possibility the nut did fall off, you would feel slop in the crank way before anything bad happened. (Just like you feel slop in a cotterless crank that is loosening up.) Then it would be a simple matter of replacing and tightening the nut.
The LBS can make $100 bucks or so if they "upgrade" your bike. I wonder what kind of experience your LBS has with cottered fixies? What is their experience re. the failure rate of cottered fixies vs. cotterless on fixies.
I'm a little cynical here. I asked my LBS to install a "sealed bearing" BB on my fixie -- in part just to support them. A couple of months later the BB loosened, IMO because of improper installation -- not tight enough. They said it was my fault, as my "back pedal for stopping" was the cause of the problem -- and charged me for the repair. Actually, I have front and rear brakes, and use them for most of my slowing down. I now do pretty much all of my own repair work.
As they say on Car Talk, "Somebody needs to make a boat payment."
Other than being a bit heavy, cottered cranks are refreshingly durable, handsome, and mechanically straight-forward. Keep them--and get some slot cleated shoes and wool shorts just to spite those bike shop jagoffs. :P
Only reason to replace would be if the chainring's worn, but steel/chrome rings last virtually forever.
I have recently come into posession of a 1950's Raleigh Lenton that was converted into a fixed gear somewhere around the early 80's. My LBS has given it the once over, but advised me to change the original steel cottered cranks as soon as possible, on the grounds that they would invevitably fly apart at an intersection forthwith, especially on a fixed gear bike.
The cotters seem to be in good condition, and the cranks are currently secure. I'm currently using the bike on my daily commute.
Are the cottered cranks truly a ticking time bomb, or is the LBS being unnecessarily cautious here?
Not so much unnecessarily cautious. I'd go for either maliciously lying to get you to spend money, or dangerously incompetent wrt bikes older than the mechanic.
There's nothing wrong with steel cranks or cottered cranks, as long as you don't care about weight, and you don't want to take them apart, respectively. Once you do want to take them apart, cottered cranks become a bit of a liability, but there's certainly no reason to replace the crankset until the BB croaks.
They're not a PITA to take apart either, unless somebody's over-tightened the cotters. Soak the area with penetrating lube before trying to undo 50 y/o cotters. If you do have to drill them out, you can buy new cotter pins.
I have recently come into posession of a 1950's Raleigh Lenton that was converted into a fixed gear somewhere around the early 80's. My LBS has given it the once over, but advised me to change the original steel cottered cranks as soon as possible, on the grounds that they would invevitably fly apart at an intersection forthwith, especially on a fixed gear bike.
The cotters seem to be in good condition, and the cranks are currently secure. I'm currently using the bike on my daily commute.
Are the cottered cranks truly a ticking time bomb, or is the LBS being unnecessarily cautious here?
Jeff 8-)
Since cottered cranks were the gold standard for track sprinting for many years after cotterless cranks were standard on road bikes I would say that your LBS is full of BS. Reg Harris used cottered cranks and they worked fine for him. Phil Brown
I have recently come into posession of a 1950's Raleigh Lenton that was converted into a fixed gear somewhere around the early 80's. My LBS has given it the once over, but advised me to change the original steel cottered cranks as soon as possible, on the grounds that they would invevitably fly apart at an intersection forthwith, especially on a fixed gear bike.
The cotters seem to be in good condition, and the cranks are currently secure. I'm currently using the bike on my daily commute.
Are the cottered cranks truly a ticking time bomb, or is the LBS being unnecessarily cautious here?
At best, unnecessarily cautious. Any concern that such cranks are sudden-failure-prone when there is reverse pressure involved is unfounded in my opinion. Although cottered cranks vanished for good reasons, it had more to do with weight and ease of assembly and servicing than failures. The square taper allows assembly without the need for a box of cotters and the attendant filing and fitting, and it's easier to make a durable aluminum crank with a square taper than with a cotter. There are lots of very old cottered-crank bikes running aound whose BB has never been apart for anything but a little grease (if that), and a good many are and have been in daily use by pedicab and cargo-bike operators who spend a lot of time standing on the pedals waiting for a break in traffic. I on't think you have anything to worry about with your old setup; I'd just ride it. The worst that might happen is that the crank might loosen up, which isn't something that goes from wiggle to wobble to whoops in a hurry. -- Typoes are a feature, not a bug. Some gardening required to reply via email. Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.
I have recently come into posession of a 1950's Raleigh Lenton that was converted into a fixed gear somewhere around the early 80's. My LBS has given it the once over, but advised me to change the original steel cottered cranks as soon as possible, on the grounds that they would invevitably fly apart at an intersection forthwith, especially on a fixed gear bike.
The cotters seem to be in good condition, and the cranks are currently secure. I'm currently using the bike on my daily commute.
Are the cottered cranks truly a ticking time bomb, or is the LBS being unnecessarily cautious here?
Jeff 8-)
Since cottered cranks were the gold standard for track sprinting for many years after cotterless cranks were standard on road bikes I would say that your LBS is full of BS. Reg Harris used cottered cranks and they worked fine for him. Phil Brown
no experience with fixed gear and cottered cranks, but cotters will not last if you knock them in from the wrong side. From which can be deduced that if your riding style involves large torque reversals you could have trouble. -- --- Marten Gerritsen
They're not a PITA to take apart either, unless somebody's over-tightened the cotters. Soak the area with penetrating lube before trying to undo 50 y/o cotters. If you do have to drill them out, you can buy new cotter pins.
I will add here to soak overnight with a penetrating lubricant. This is a general rule. Whenever I want to work on a years old fastener I add the penetrating oil and leave it for 24 hours.
"maxo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
As they say on Car Talk, "Somebody needs to make a boat payment."
Other than being a bit heavy, cottered cranks are refreshingly durable, handsome, and mechanically straight-forward. Keep them--and get some slot cleated shoes and wool shorts just to spite those bike shop jagoffs. :P
Only reason to replace would be if the chainring's worn, but steel/chrome rings last virtually forever.
I have been using cottered Raleigh cranks for years on both my fixed gear and coaster brake rain bike. After several thousand miles on each the only problem I have is that I wore out the bottom bracket on the rain bike and am having a hard time finding a replacement spindle.
The bike shop you went to is wrong on this topic but that does not make them all bad. The local shop here that gives me tremendous service on my cottered bikes is not the place I take my Campagnolo 10s for service. I am sure there are shops that do both well but I have not found one yet.
At best, unnecessarily cautious. Any concern that such cranks are sudden-failure-prone when there is reverse pressure involved is unfounded in my opinion.
Amen. there is no greater example of reverse pressure than a sprinter doing a track stand. Phil Brown
I have recently come into posession of a 1950's Raleigh Lenton that was converted into a fixed gear somewhere around the early 80's. My LBS has given it the once over, but advised me to change the original steel cottered cranks as soon as possible, on the grounds that they would invevitably fly apart at an intersection forthwith, especially on a fixed gear bike.
Horseshit. How did we ever survive back in the days when millions of bikes had cottered cranks.
Quoted message said:
Are the cottered cranks truly a ticking time bomb, or is the LBS being unnecessarily cautious here?
Cottered cranks are a PITA to work on, since you have to drive out and replace the cotters to pull the crank arm. They don't want to be bothered, plus they want to sell you something.
OTOH, aluminum cranks are a lot lighter. But there is a cool factor to the steel cranks.
--
David L. Johnson
__o | You will say Christ saith this and the apostles say this; but _`\(,_ | what canst thou say? -- George Fox. (_)/ (_) |
