Originally Posted by
RubeRad
This may be a dumb question, but from reading between the lines on this thread, it seems that cottered cranks were thinner because they were steel, not aluminum, is that right? Is it not possible to make elegant, slender steel cranks with a square taper/crank bolt interface to get the best of both worlds?
I have a set of square taper cranks that are solid steel but they are nothing ornamental. They just came off a lower end bike. So yes it would be possible but I don't think companies are in the market to manufacture steel square taper cranks that weight significantly more than alloy ones.
Either way I think cottered cranks have there place. I definitely can not agree that they are the best looking but that is all personal opinion.
-Aron