Originally Posted by bettergears

I got hit by a car two weeks ago. Wrecked my front wheel and bent my fork. Fortunately I got the woman's insurance info. and she agreed to pay for the damage (and actually did). I was only a block away from a LBS and I took my now smashed up bike in. They said they charge $25 for an "accident check" plus whatever costs to repair it. Fine. They said it looks like they can straighten the fork and put a new wheel on and I'd be back in business. Fine.
Two weeks later I call and see if it's ready yet. They say they're waiting on the front wheel. Fine. I asked if a total was available since they were just waiting for a wheel at this point, because I would like to inform the woman that is paying for this and give her time to get the money in the mail. They gave me a total and said everything was fine, they just needed a wheel. Fine. I call the woman who sends the money. All is well. Hooray! The best possible outcome after being hit. Everything is fine.

Everything was not fine.

I went to get the bike, test rode it, and the left crank was REALLY bent and so was my saddle. A well loved B17 narrow now slanting hard to the left. Hello, what the heck is this? I waited around to talk to the owner. He offered to sell me a new left crank. I said this is not the problem, the problem is I was given a total of the damages and my bike was fixed. It is clearly not fixed. He then proceeded to tell me that I should be happy to be well, some people die in bike accidents, and told me to go to another shop that would bend the seat back, since his shop and mechanics would not. The other shop would also sell me a used crank to replace the bent one.

What!?!?

Thanks for letting me rant. I really needed that. I am so freaking angry. Ok, moving on to the questions:

Can my crank be straightened? It is the orignal Raleigh stamped crankset that came with the bike ('77 Super Course) and I'd love to keep it. If not, shouldn't I buy a new crankset and not just a mismatched left crank? And then there's getting a BB to work on the Raleigh threads AND the new cranks. Any suggestions? And, am I wrong here, but if a saddle is bent is it not also damaged? If a shop refuses to fix it, does that not make it broken and part of the damages??? Now that it is my problem how do I go about straightening it? Is it unsafe, is that why they refused to do it?

I really appreciate any feedback or suggestions. I feel really bewildered. I really expected more from my LBS. Thanks for any comments.