Bicycle Mechanics - Chainwheel on Tracer® Romax Crank

I am asking for advice on replacing my bent chainwheel. My '06 Montaque Hummer3 has a Tracer® Romax crank with a 42/34/24T chainwheel. I think the chainwheel has been bent since day one, but it took me till now to put a dial indicator on it. Run-out is a total of .04", from +.0185" to -.0125 in a run of about 2" across the crankarm on the 42T to .030" on the 34T and .08" on the 24T. I believe these are 170 mm crankarms.

A friend advised I pull the chainwheel and use a vice to avoid lateral pressure on the crankset. It looks to me like the chainwheel is riveted (pinned??) to the crankarm not screwed like my '88 High Serra. So should I just get a new crank/chainwheel? If so, should I go for matching the teeth or just a decent price? I often have to climb a 1,000' 20% grade in 24/32 or 19.5 gear inches, but as the road is closed, I do 50' or so switchbacks. The rest of the time I mostly ride 34/11 or 80.4 gear inches to avoid the extream ends of the range though riding 24/11 generally an issue as far as my stamina.

As always,

TIA

Ron

the components on the montague/hummer are of extremely poor quality . I would just use a crecent wrench and bend the offending chainring out to where shifting quality is tolerable.
Otherwise take it to your LBS and ask for a cheap mountain crankset. Alivio or Deore, both are significant upgrades, but again, the rest of the components won't be up to par.

unless it's causing problems, leave well enough alone.

My reply has bombed 3X... anyway, thanks all. Why am I not surprised on the quality? I wondered when I couldn't find anything on the crank set. After reading the first reply, I decided to call Montaque to see if they would cut me a deal on a crank set. It is causing problems as the spread is big enough I can't get the index set. So I called Montaque, was very polite, went through the history, how little I have been able to ride the bike, my troubleshooting with the dial-indicator, mentioned I was unhappy with the quality when I found I couldn't remove the chainwheel. rivets faked to look like screw heads etc. They were pretty insistent I take it to a LBS, but I mentioned how I had purchased the dial indicator and buying a crank tool is not an issue. Paying the LBS $150+ ? is an issue. Played my "divorced Dad, 3 kids" card (all true) and how as an aircraft mechanic I just want to know what size the crank set is 'cause I am not spending money on something I can do myself, especially given how much I paid for the bike, less then 20 miles on it etc. When he asked where I had got the bike it came out I am in the Army. So, he is checking to see about a crankset to give me a "deal" on. Will see what happens next.

Thanks again, am open to suggestions on what brand crank tool to get.

Ron

If they send you a free one, hopefully it's not worse:)

Yea Bill, my thought too. I have been doing some pricing, seems like I can get at least the next (minor) level up for < $90. I am 6'1" so wondering if I should try a set of 175mm. I am pretty ignorant (but ignorance is repairable, stupidity can be tough) so need to make sure I get the right parts. I am back to my orginal question to Montaque: What size is the Bottom Bracket? Are they generic for my purposes?

I have found a Shimano Deore FC-M530 Crankset 48x36x26 for a Octalink V2 BB and a
Shimano FC-M470 Crankset 44x32x22 Spline with no mention of what BB it goes on. Does that mean it is a British/I.S.O. ?

Ron