I was wondering if I have to worry very much about wearing out steel cranks when I switch them out, repeatedly. I have a 29er with which I would like to be able to switch cranks depending on the type of riding I do.
For instance, I would like to use 102’s when I am around town and either use 140’s or even 150’s for the hilly fire roads around here.
It’s a cheap fix. Ideally, a separate wheel with different cranks would be better, but that’s more costly for something i don’t ride that often.
My question is:
Since the steel cranks are the same metal as the spindle, do I have to worry about wearing them out when I switch them out? I wouldn’t consider doing this with alloy cranks.
you sure dont want to be switching aluminum cranks around, that’s for sure. if you take them off a couple of times, after a bit you wont be able to get them to stay tight. not sure about steel cranks though.
I was doing that very thing for a while. It didn’t seem to do the cranks any harm, but, it sure got old fast. Now that I have 5 Unicycles I find that I don’t need to crank swap as much, plus I always have a spare when someone shows up and wants to ride. Save up some money buy more unicycles, its good for the economy.
Re: switching out steel cranks on 29er? Will I wear them out?
Some time ago, someone on this forum (was it John Childs?) recommended taking off cotterless cranks on a routine basis to clean and regrease them and then putting them on again with the proper torque etc, as a matter of maintenance. I don’t think many people do that though.
I am switching cranks quite regularly now on several of my unis, not for maintenance purposes but to investigate the effects of different crank lengths. As long as you properly grease what has to be greased (square tapers, crank nut threads, pedal threads) I don’t think it causes excessive wear.