Gold Cross bike "Flight Campus Cruiser"

[pringleman1]

Hi everyone,
I bought this bike > http://www.flightbikes.com.au/urban-bik ... -mens.aspx last week on special for $200.
It is a very smooth bike to ride and lots of fun because its a single speed (even though it has 3 small internal gears).

I just have a question for anyone interested. The crank, i think, where the pedal bars turn the chain was slightly touching the bike frame when I was riding. I took it back to the shop and they pulled the crank away from the frame and its stopped it touching for now. I did see that it is slightly bent on a portion of the rotator. Since it was such a cheap bike and im only using it for commuting to uni and around town, should i look into getting it replaced or buying a stronger crank set?

Please let me know if im calling parts of the bike by wrong name, I don't know a lot about bike parts.

[drubie]

It's under warranty I presume - ride it for a week or so and see if the problem returns.

It does sound like the clearances are very tight though (is the crank arm touching the frame or the chain touching the frame?)

[pringleman1]

Its the circular rotator that moves the chain along the spikes/pins. I had a closer look and some adjusting and found out i can take the plastic lip off it. The plastic part looks like it is meant to be stopping bits from getting in the chain or keeping then chain from jumping off the pins.
The plastic part is the thing that was touching the frame but not sure if it was slightly bent or the circular rotator part is slightly bent. I need to find the right size socket to take the pedal arms off the circular part to fully take the plastic lip off, when i do ill take it for a ride and see if anything changes.

Is there different types of the circular crank part that are stonger then others?

Since it is a light bike, would my riding style or the power coming from my legs while pedaling bend the crank set at all.? Im looking at buying some foot straps/cages for the pedals also, would this effect the crank set?

[greyhoundtom]

Firstly you have purchased a new bike and it would obviously come with some type of warranty, therefore I don't think it is a good idea to pull stuff apart at this point in time as there is every chance that this could void the warranty.

If you have problems with the bike such as parts rubbing where they should not, it is best to take the bike back to the shop and get them to fix it. At the same time the bike should be suitable for the use it is purchased for, and that means that if such things as crank arms bend under normal use they are faulty or not suitable to the use the bike was purchased for and the shop should fix it or replace them.

For the names of the various parts of a bicycle this site is helpful. Bike parts names guide

Cheers,
Tom