Originally Posted by
zukahn1
I have noticed this too when I volunteer at the local bike collective. The cheap three piece cranks that are on a lot of the low end bikes just seem to fall apart. What makes some of them even worse is on a lot of them they don't even have a threaded bottom bracket so you can't just switch to a good used crank and bottom brackett.
Yep, and it's even steel left cranks that are coming off! And many are 165mm. Like I have lots of those just lying around! The freewheels have also been disintegrating and a record pace.... the person is JRA when suddenly it either locks up, or goes into "exerciser bike" mode, where you pedal furiously, but go nowhere.....
But that's Walmart's "squeeze the manufacturer to make it cheaper cheaper cheaper" policies at work. Makes what they sold 5 years ago look good.