Hello,
Ok after destroying a pair of cottered cranks (terrible for fixed riding and dangerous too) i bought a cheap double crankset (sugio idol) and bottom bracket off of ebay. I put it together and everything went perfect I even packed the bearings. When I went to put the chain on, of course my chainline was terrible. Now I have two delimas.
1) The square taper cranks are set pretty good and don't want to come off
I don't want to take the bike to the shop because I'm super cheap and my thought is to ride up and down my street (slowly) until the cranks loosen up. my thought is that since resisting will work them bank and forth they should come off pretty easily. your thoughts please.
2) should I flip around the spindle so that the shorter side is now the drive side.

Don't have a crank puller?

Sounds like a good prescription for ruining the cranks - once they start to loosen you'll still be applying some torque that will tend to deform the square hole and may make it impossible to properly tighten them later. Get the proper crank puller tool for your crankset. Not too expensive and you'll need it if you plan to continue maintaining the bottom bracket.

Flipping the spindle over is likely to make your chainline even worse but in the opposite direction. Sounds like you need a shorter spindle - they come in various lengths to accommodate doubles, triples, and variations in frame geometry.

A crank arm puller is a lot cheaper than a new BB and set of cranks.

https://www.google.com/products?q=crank+puller

A shop won't charge more than $5 to pull them off.

That is a great way to get your cranks off if you have no intention of ever using them again.

x2

Also for chainline, are you running the chainring on the inside or outside of the spider?

try putting the chainring on the other side of the crank arm

proper orientation of the spindle is typically such that the writing on it is as it should be if read from the saddle...ie: top of text towards the front of the bike, reading non-driveside to driveside. do not flip the spindle to improve chainline.

+1 on buying a crank puller and everyone else's remarks about deforming your cranks.

as for flipping the spindle... don't, if your crank is too far out on the right side, it'll feel even FARTHER out on the left, you might even hit your ankle on the arm when pedaling.

also, for the record, there was a long time when every bike was a fixed gear with cottered cranks... not the best technology, but certainly functional when used correctly.

please tell the people why can't you do this... it seems perfectly fine to me.

ok well for now i'm riding it as is. I did not try to ride the cranks off. I might take it up to the shop and ask them about it. The non drive side on the spindle is not that much shorter than the drive side so it seems feasable that it could work. The chainline is horrible and makes noise when i ride and the chain already fell of once but I'm happy that the bike isn't fliped upside down with the wheels off like it's been for the past week.

It seems to me that you don't have a sealed bb.

That being the case, like you said, flip the spindle, that might straighten you out. Or, buy a short sealed bb for $30+/-.

I was wondering like the above post, are you using the inside or outside placement on the crankarm?

If you still have both rings on the double then get some single speed bolts from your lbs. Note that there is also a tool for those.

i see you live in cincinnati. if you are on the cheap and don't want to pay money for tools or for an LBS to do it for you, go here

https://mobobicyclecoop.org/

bike co-ops are a remarkable place for things like this. someone there will be able to explain to you and show you hands-on how you can fix your chainline, and provide you with the tools you need to do it.

Yeah the BB is not sealed, when can i buy a short sealed one? I should have clarified this, The crank arm does not have a spider, It is welded directly to the outside chainring. thanks for the input though

I assume you meant "where can I buy a short sealed bb."

Check your lbs, or like the above post, check out the coop for any other help with tools etc.

Just for reference, I have a letour that I'm rebuilding as a ss then fixie maybe. It has cotterless cranks and I'm flipping the bb spindle and removing the inside chainring (looks sweet and airy).
But it leaves me with a 52, so I'm getting a 18t freewheel, 75 gear inch (I think).

thats the exact same gearing i have, i have a nikishi "American eagle" it's fun. My friend has a Schwinn world that he named Napoleon because 1852 is when napoleon became an emperor (18t in the back 52t in the front) once i get my hands on a crank puller i'll flip my bb around and see how it does

Once upon a time cottered cranks were the most commonly used technology and were often of much better quality... when square tapered cranks replaced them they were relegated to entry level models and remained as a fixture on nicer three speeds.

There are some bikes in my collection that will never see a bb / crank upgrade and if a cottered crank is properly maintained it can have a very long service life.

And those old chain wheels can be beautiful.

In most cases it is better to replace them as you will get a more easily serviced component and lighten up the bike by about a pound.

wait, you dont know how to remove cranks...Do you know how to measure chainline properly?


what is your chainline measurement in the rear (im assuming you dont have a modenish bike if it had cottered cranks). search through sheldon browns stuff on how to measure chainline (I also assume you have a single fixed rear wheel, not a jankversion)

Sorry i don't know everything there is to know about bikes, why did i dare ask for advice on a fourm? I should have just known, all i asked for is an opinion not a condecending bike snob.I can tell when the chainline isn't good and i don't think it takes measuring to figure that out.

oh and i do happen to have a "jankversion"

That's a good way to get help. Do you even know what he's talking about? Read up. I'll even search for you.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/chainline.html

yes i know what he's talking about, I've read sheldon's entire website almost, you don't need to search for me I know how to internet. what's this forum for if not for asking advice?

I'm just saying you get the bad with the good. Just don't take things too personally. IMO, I didn't see anything too offensive on xdr's post. Maybe could've worded it better, but far from offensive. Anyway, good luck.