I recently bent (more twisted than bent) my cheap’o steel cranks.
I’m going to buy some new cranks (cotterless) but I don’t know whether to get steel or aluminium ones. The weight isn’t really an issue, more the strength.
I know that steel has a better overall strength and won’t snap, but they do seem to like bending. Aluminium is much more brittle meaning that they could snap but shouldn’t bend. This is all experience from everywhere BUT unicycling! Hence why I am asking advice.
What have people found to the be the problems with steel or aluminium?
Steel is heavy. I used to use 125mm bicycle euro steel cranks on my coker and when I switched to lightweight qu-ax alumnium 125mm cranks the ride felt so much better.
Alot of the properties of steal can be changed by heat treatment, it can be made to be glass hard or pretty twisty. Read a few reviews on a variety of brands.
I have bent both ally and Steel cranks. I had some of these and they bent after a while. Then when I switched to splined cranks I bent a set of http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=761. I think it depends on how rough you are with the uni. I land pretty harshly from drops, so thats probably got something to do with it.
I agree with the writers above that it’s more about the quality of the cranks than the material. Back when Miytata was the best brand of unicycles, they came with these alloy IDOL cranks, which were awesome. Not that they couldn’t be bent, but they did a great job for the price.
I figured that it had something to do with me being a ‘heavy rider’ but I haven’t done anything bigger than a 3set of stairs or a drop of about 20inches.
Thanks for all the posts. I’ll have to look around and decide on what to do next from peoples reviews.