Bendy 102mm Torker Cranks?

[chuckaeronut]

I just put 102mm Torker cranks on my beloved Nimbus 36, and have been riding around, and I'm really disappointed to say that I bent them all over the place (I lost count of the number of "times") just by riding around and stopping rapidly. I've been practicing using my brake to stop from high speed, by leaning back and grabbing the brake handle VERY hard to stay up (thus slowing down) and I pull up with what feels like a lot of force on my T7, putting a ton of back pressure into the rear pedal, despite having my brake on like crazy, and there were at least three instances where, in stopping crazily like that, the crank that was facing backward ended up bent. What's even more crazy is that I'm able to unbend the cranks by moving them into the opposite direction they were in, then kicking the pedal really hard a few times.

On my old aluminum 125 cranks, which are supposedly MORE bendable than these new 102s, I could ride off curbs without a problem and not even think about bending them; now on my 102s, after having tried it a couple times, riding off curbs is out of the question! It's a good thing I can kick the cranks back to (approximately) straight after I mess them up!

Are cheap steel cranks really this bendable, or did I just get a bad pair? I can't imagine there'd be any differences in the actual steel they use to make these things, so I don't see why mine would be softer than any others.

[kington99]

sounds like a bad batch, my nimbus shipped with lasco cranks that bent the first time i stopped at the lights, UDC UK replaced them with ones that looked identical, but lasted fine for hundreds of miles. I'd speak to whoever you bought them from.

[blueharmony]

I have it from the factory that Torker products are guaranteed for life. Therefore, I'd take them back to where you bought them and have them replaced from Torker. Torker works only THROUGH a dealer so contacting them directly may not be useful.

[maestro8]

Reading how you're bending / rebending them, I'm wondering if the metal itself is bending, or if there's some slop in the axle/crank interface as well?

Either way, it's not a good situation. Every time you bend the cranks, the metal will fatigue and you get closer to a broken crank. I'd replace those puppies ASAP.