Ouch! My old Dawes takes a hit
 

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My Dawes Double Blue rode down to Massachusetts and back last weekend. While on the bike rack took a very low-speed impact from a car that was following too closely in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The only apparent damage is the bent crankarm you see here, but that's bad enough. It seems unlikely that I'll find a matching Nicklin or Williams crank at a reasonable price. I see two possible options:

1. Remove the bent crank with my trusty Bikesmith Designs cotter press and take it to Frank the Welder down in Bellows Falls and see if he can straighten it out. I'm guessing that might damage the chrome (the straightening, not the removal). Does anyone know what it might cost to have both sides of a crankset (but not the chainrings) rechromed my a motorcycle shop or whatever?

2. Go to the dark side and replace the original crank with a triplized Nuovo record. I really like the current wide-range double setup, but wouldn't necessarily mind trying it out as a triple, at least for a while. In that case I'd probably replace the Suntour derailleurs with a Nuovo Record set, the rear modified with a long cage.

Or is there another solution I should be thinking of but ain't?

EDIT: The closer of the two photos makes the spindle appear bent as well, but I don't think it actually is.

Nasty. Looks like you should check the spindle as well. If the chrome is still fine, I'd think bending it back should not change that.

non-fixie spot on como normale. ;)

+1.

vote for your option number one. have straightened a number of these and it certainly looks feasible.

also a visit to a local bike co-op/charity might produce a suitable arm at a low cost.

it is probably unlikely; but an impact strong enough to do this may have put the frame out of alignment so I would check that also just to rule it out.

best o' luck with this.

1. It's a left side crank arm. Probably 6 1/2". You can find them on ebay any day of the week. Might not be Nicklin, like the original, but it'll do.

2. Put it on an anvil, hit it with a hammer... what could possibly go wrong? Okay, yes, I take your point, the chrome could go wrong. Eh. Wear your battle scars with pride. So you lost a little chrome? You got a story to tell. Good trade IMHO.

3. Oooh, that light at the end of the tunnel... is that the dark side? Does it tempt you? Do you want to go there? Is this just an excuse? It's okay! Your old crank served you well. Now it went to the other side. You , too, can go to the other side. It's warm and sunny there. Relax. You know you want to....

Ouch! My old Dawes takes a hit
 

VAR has a tool for that. That's quite a bend though.

Wow, who knew? There's even one for sale on ebay right now with a BIN of $33 plus $17 shipping. Tempting in a way, but....

Yes, Bang out the Crank, ride and retell the story every chance you get

Then



As you say.... Go to the dark side with a triplized Nuovo record but buy another vintage..Grail type frame to mount it on :thumb:

And, sadly, a few years ago the remnants of my first DAWES DB were removed from my junk box and discarded... The crank was fine, if a bit rusty.

There's a reason I won't carry bikes on the back of my car.

sucks that you got hit, glad you're ok, hopefully the dude that hit you is paying for this.

jonwvara, It looks to me that the crank arm has rotated out of alignment at the spindle, which could be worse that the crank arm simply bent out of shape.

Brad

As bad as the bend looks, I would myself clamp a very large (18") adjustable wrench on last inch and a half of the pedal end, and pull the arm outward.

Depending on how much force is needed, and on your own arm strength, I would grip the wrench as close to the head as I could and still have the arm bend back outward.
In this way, the arm is more likely to return to it's straight profile with no trace of an S-bend that might result from too much torque at the wrench head.

I've bent back a few steel and alloy arms this way, and all was well. The final fine-tuning is done after road-testing, according to what your left foot is feeling in terms of pedal rock.
Of course the pedal spindle may at this point also be bent.

OWWW, not the Dawes ! The offending driver is paying for this, right?

I would not hit it with a hammer, I would use a hydraulic press. Remove the arm first.....

I'd check the spindle as well. Looks a little tweaked to me.

One approach that might work here is securing the spindle side of the crank in a vise, then gradually bending the arm back into shape, using a cheater bar or gaspipe.

The jaws of the vise could also be used as a pseudo-press. MA's suggestion about the hydraulic press would be a better option if you go that route, though.

The problem there is that not everyone has access to a hydraulic press.

I like the hydraulic press idea. I think I'm going to try a local machine shop in Barre.

The photo certainly makes it look as if the spindle is bent, but I'm pretty sure that's a distortion in the image. I haven't removed the bent arm yet so can only rotate it around 200 degrees before it hits the frame, but it seems to rotate normally that far--no sign of any binding or unevenness. More important, it doesn't look bent when you look at the actual bike. The spindle is a very hard, stiff piece of steel--I'd think that any impact forceful enough to bend it would have twisted the frame, too, which seems not to be the case.

But then again, maybe the frame is slightly bent. I sure hope not. When I get around to it, I'll do a quick-and-dirty frame alignment check with a piece of string.

It could have been a lot worse. And of course, it's only a bike.

I don't mean to be a doomsayer, but a moment imparted to the crank sufficient to bend it can easily bend the frame as well. The damage may not be apparent to the eye -or even the string test, if other portions of the frame translate with the bb commensurately. I speak from experience.
If at all possible, have the frame checked on a plate by a frame builder.

Or if that option isn't available, you might be able to do something with c-clamps, like what Scooper posts on this thread. (post #17 )

This

Not that I know anything about this sort of thing but, I am inclined to agree with you, Auchen. Think of the force imparted by a 2 ton vehicle, enough to bend that rather stout piece of steel, the crank arm. Though the bottom bracket complex is a very stout construction itself, I could see the force being enough to tweak the frame a bit.

But, if the frame was held rather loosely in the carrier, maybe you dodged that particular bullet, Jon. Too bad, really. Nice bike. And yes, it could have been a whole lot worse.

Darn it! An upbeat attitude apparently only goes so far in this world. It turns out that the spindle is bent--it's very obvious now that the arms are off and it turns all the way around.
So I guess I'm in the market for a replacement T.D. Cross and Sons cottered spindle. There must be tons of those around, right? Since the spindle is bent, it now seems likely to me that there's also some distortion of the frame. I guess it's time to bite the bullet, strip the bike down completely, and take the frame to someone who knows what they're doing and have it checked out.

Damn. Sorry to hear that Jon.
By the way, your upbeat, positive attitude was not for nought.

isn't the arm aluminum? i'm a little surprised so many are on board with bending it back to shape.

ouch! BB spindle bent, crank arm bent.... I'd as sure be checking the frame for stress fractures and / or alignment.

BTW: Others mentioned of trying to straighten the arm. Forget that as its a crapshoot to get it right. Might get close and appear good but they'll always have a 'wonky' slight degree off and you'll feel it in the pedal stroke. Cheap to replace.

No, it's a steel cottered crank. It bent fine when the car hit it.

If you filed a police report, talk to the driver's insurance adjuster. The name of the company should be on the police report. Determine a value for the Dawes from the appraisal section of this forum or ebay completed auctions and file a claim.