i'm doing my second FG conversion, and for this one, i got a new single speed crankset. The instructions say to tighten it with a torque wrench up to as certain amount. But, i don't have a torque wrench, and probably won't get one anytime soon. So how do i know if i've tightened the cranks down enough? too much?

what type of cranks are they? what type of bottom bracket interface is it? you can ruin your crank arms pretty quick if over torque or under torque them.

+1

Square taper cranks generally need quite a bit, about 40ft lbs if I remember correctly. Unless you already have a trained arm for this sort of thing, there's no way to guess at it. You'll probably ruin your crank if you just tighten them down to whatever feels good. Ask me how I know.

I hardly ever use a torque wrench, but this is one that's too easy to screw up. Borrow one if you have to, at least to find out the proper torque.

they are square tapered. it's a shimano UN54 bottom bracket. Crankset is Vuelta Pista track.

Get it good and snug with a 6" wrench and it'll be fine.

tighten it till you fart then check it again in a week ...

that's pretty much what i did. even though it's fixed, i use a brake. would this mitigate any potential complications should the crankset be less than optimally tight?