Originally Posted by 79pmooney

The Avocet cranksets of the day were made by Ofmrga. I bought the triple, thinking like you; good looks, good price. Early on I downshifted to the inner ring to start a steep grade. The long bolts in sleeves for the inner ring broke, I stalled and fell to the low side. Avocet sent me new bolts and told me the originals weren't tight enough, Maybe. That was the days before torque wrenches wrere in bike mechanics' toolchest. But it was also year one of that bike and I;d been riding the erector set TAs for years with no issues at all.

Retired that crankset with quite a lot of miles. 25,000? Pulled it out for temporary use on a bike I had just set up. Broke the crank across the pedal threads coming out of the saddle to top a small rise. (This time no big deal. Stepped down on the road, sat down, braked to a stop, dismounted and couldn't figure out what the clunky feeling of my right shoe was, Pedal still strapped on! This time I was 1/2 mile uphill from my destination; a gathering of friends.

So, long story short - don't trust them with more than you are willing to lose. (I've heard similar stories. It is mot just me.)

Ben