Bicycle Mechanics - fun with square taper cranks

I'm repacking my BB. While I have it apart, I was wondering if anyone has played with putting on the non-drive side crank on in either the 90 degree or 0 degree position. Could it be fun for a few minutes riding around before putting it on in the proper way?

Used to have a cottered crank and the cotter pin came loose(stripped) and the crank arms were at a 90 degree angle. I guess it was fun but I had to ride it several miles to get home.
Toe clips helped

I think that is the way Kangaroos ride.

Could it be fun for a few minutes riding around before putting it on in the proper way? We put a crankset together in the 0 degree position together at our bike coop once, and offered $5 to anyone who could ride it around the clubroom three times successfully without putting feet down or a kickpush. Nobody was able to. With foot retention or a fixed gear, it might be possible, but I can't see much of a way to do it on a freewheel bike with flat pedals. I might mention that the bike in question was also full suspension and had no saddle on it, making it that much harder to put any sort of momentum into it. With a saddle I imagine one might be able to put his foot under the pedals and pull upwards while sitting.

I've had the same thought. Me and my buddy ride into work together and I really want to play a prank on him by setting his cranks at a ridiculous angle before he gets to his bike.

You could have more fun with this by using an Octalink or ISIS crank. You could put the crank arms 1/8 or 1/10 of a turn away from 180° and it wouldn't be nearly as obvious until your buddy tried to ride it. He'd immediately realize something was wrong but it would be interesting to see how long before he figured out exactly what it was.

As a teenager I had some rounded out cranks that fell off at a race... I reattached and finished the race, but when I was done, I tried at 90 and 0 degrees, then passed the bike around so everyone could have a go. It is pretty fun for about ten pedal strokes, but quite difficult to get the bike moving.
The only thing you need to be concerned about is that every time you reattach the cranks they are installed fully and properly - it is so easy to round out the tapers that it could be a very troublesome and costly prank.

I'm repacking my BB. While I have it apart, I was wondering if anyone has played with putting on the non-drive side crank on in either the 90 degree or 0 degree position. Could it be fun for a few minutes riding around before putting it on in the proper way?
Here's what you need:

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/images/Italian/PMPcrnkL.jpg

Here's what you need:

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/images/Italian/PMPcrnkL.jpg

OMG! Excellent idea! You can introduce the additional flex of longer crankarms without all the messy 'benifits' associated with actual longer crankarms. An added bonus is all the extra weight that not even the longest crankarms can equal. Wow.

Here's what you need:

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/images/Italian/PMPcrnkL.jpg that puts a new meaning to "pedaling squares"

Gives meaning to the term crank ARM. Those are Olmo, no?

Gives meaning to the term crank ARM. Those are Olmo, no?

That's not an arm. That's an ELBOW!

Love it! :lol:

Gives meaning to the term crank ARM. Those are Olmo, no?
No, PMP.

It's a cute variation on a regular crank but they will make absolutely no change in the normal pedaling motion and the difference would be completely lost on a rider who didn't look at them. The extra metal does add weigh though.

You could have more fun with this by using an Octalink or ISIS crank. You could put the crank arms 1/8 or 1/10 of a turn away from 180° and it wouldn't be nearly as obvious until your buddy tried to ride it. He'd immediately realize something was wrong but it would be interesting to see how long before he figured out exactly what it was.

I once pointed out to a friend that his cranks were one spline off of 180º- these were 190mm (I think) Bullseye cranks, so 1 spline equaled about 7 degrees "off":
http://www.bikepro.com/products/cranks/crk_jpg/bbbb_bulls_lft_arm_detail.jpg

He had just finished riding STP in one day, and had previously ridden that bike in a couple Cannonball (Seattle to Spokane) events. He just hadn't noticed.