# Topline Cranks?



## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

What does everyone think about Topline cranks?

I just got a set and the guy is claiming they are 388grams without rings?

Are they junk or prone to breaking?

thanks


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## Shayne (Jan 14, 2004)

Flexy and yes, prone to cracks.


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## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

Ive read that they are made by same company that made Grafton Cranks????


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## chefmiguel (Dec 22, 2007)

Also flexy and prone to cracks.


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## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

that sucks, i think i'm gonna throw them on the Ritchey i'm redoing, they are super nice and will look good. I'm only 165-170# i guess most crack if the rider is over 190#

Hopefully they will last at least a couple years.


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## Austin Dave (Jul 7, 2010)

YakimaDeathYaks said:


> that sucks, i think i'm gonna throw them on the Ritchey i'm redoing, they are super nice and will look good. I'm only 165-170# i guess most crack if the rider is over 190#
> 
> Hopefully they will last at least a couple years.


Good thinking. What could go wrong??


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## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

I guess this could always happen


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## Shayne (Jan 14, 2004)

Likely much worse that that shaving cut


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## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

Either way its gonna hurt


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## fos'l (May 27, 2009)

AFAIK Topline made Grafton cranks then "forged" out on his own. They have a reputation for breaking in socal. I've got two pairs that will be only suitable for light duty.


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## AKamp (Jan 26, 2004)

I've beat the piss out of probably 4 or 5 pairs over the years. Only one arm had a catastrophic failure. Came off a jump and the drive side arm snapped in two. Not quite sure how I still managed children years later. Plus nice long ride back home with just the left leg. But I still have two pair I still ride ocassionally


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## Boy named SSue (Jan 7, 2004)

YakimaDeathYaks said:


> that sucks, i think i'm gonna throw them on the Ritchey i'm redoing, they are super nice and will look good. I'm only 165-170# i guess most crack if the rider is over 190#
> 
> Hopefully they will last at least a couple years.


IIRC their stated rider weight limit was 150#.


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## MendonCycleSmith (Feb 10, 2005)

That's just a flesh wound.

Little peroxide and super glue, you'd be right as rain. 

I had a pair of the SL's, never broke them, but after a few months riding, I couldn't deal with the feeling of the pedals falling away from my feet as I pedaled uphill while standing. 

They also suffer from a tendency to contact the FD cage when in the big ring, which required filing a small notch in them.

Or am I thinking of a different crank?

Want to say Shayne gave me the info on that when I ran into the issue, so feel free to correct if I'm wrong....


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## rev106 (Jul 9, 2009)

I have a broken set, need some spare ones?


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## rockychrysler (Aug 9, 2003)

I've only owned one set of Topline cranks, but I've had them for, like, forever. I think it's sad that so many have such a low opinion of them. I've found them to be fine cranks and pretty to look at, too, especially in gun-metal blue.

















(don't you dare mock my Onzas)


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## az45 (Jul 21, 2010)

I have a set on a 2000 Dakar Pro that have been fine. 
Maybe there's a difference if they're on a full suspension bike.
Where are you guys seeing the failures?


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## miles (Jan 6, 2004)

The main problem with Toplines were the mechanics who installed them. If you limit the install to 125 inch-pounds they should last a very long time.


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## mainlyfats (Oct 1, 2005)

Granny ring sheared off mine and the non-drive side cracked.


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## gmats (Apr 15, 2005)

I've had them. Loved them. Unfortunately, the cranks got sold with my Psycle Werks as a complete bike. The person who bought the bike eventually broke them. The bike still lives. Still wish I had them.


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## always_last (Jun 7, 2012)

I owned a pair for about 15 years but just recently sold them. They were on my main bike so were ridden frequently for all that time. I never had a problem with them, but I only weigh about 145lbs. My main issue with them is the straight profile of the arms which requires a wide bottom bracket and puts the upper portion of the crank out wide also. My ankles tend to bend in and I was always catching my ankle bone on the crank bolt cut out. Years of scar tissue made it tolerable, but still not great which is why I finally sold them.


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## rockychrysler (Aug 9, 2003)

always_last said:


> I owned a pair for about 15 years but just recently sold them. They were on my main bike so were ridden frequently for all that time. I never had a problem with them, but I only weigh about 145lbs. My main issue with them is the straight profile of the arms which requires a wide bottom bracket and puts the upper portion of the crank out wide also. My ankles tend to bend in and I was always catching my ankle bone on the crank bolt cut out. Years of scar tissue made it tolerable, but still not great which is why I finally sold them.


i, too, have these scars.


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## SirDonald (Feb 4, 2008)

I broke both set of this cracks I had on my Klein. May be ok for some one under 140 lbs.


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## ZiggsterZaskar (Jul 25, 2021)

chefmiguel said:


> Also flexy and prone to cracks.


Really I assume your a wanna be know it all who even at the the time of this post was a adolescent bmxer? There are a lot of ground breaking products that pave the way to where mtbing is at today. Some good and some better. Products of this era are not for the modern cookie cutter era no doubt but,.....if you building or restoring a classic MADE IN THE USA bike or product of this era Grafton top line cranks are right up there with Cook Bros. and Shimano XT and early XTR....
.


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## TiJoe (7 mo ago)

Every set of Topline Cranks I rode on failed. They always broke where the pedal threads in. I suffered a good fall when one of them failed on my road bike. 
I believe I have a brand new set of Topline Tandem cranks packed away somewhere in the bowels of my old bike part totes.


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## pw_la (Sep 19, 2021)

ZiggsterZaskar said:


> Really I assume your a wanna be know it all who even at the the time of this post was a adolescent bmxer? There are a lot of ground breaking products that pave the way to where mtbing is at today. Some good and some better. Products of this era are not for the modern cookie cutter era no doubt but,.....if you building or restoring a classic MADE IN THE USA bike or product of this era Grafton top line cranks are right up there with Cook Bros. and Shimano XT and early XTR....
> .


That's a lot of anger, 9 years later!

Maybe calm down.


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## Uncle Grumpy (Oct 20, 2005)

ZiggsterZaskar said:


> Really I assume your a wanna be know it all who even at the the time of this post was a adolescent bmxer?


*You're



ZiggsterZaskar said:


> There are a lot of ground breaking products that pave the way to where mtbing is at today. Some good and some better.


We all agree. You're making a point that seems to support the general view that Topline cranks might be amongst the "not great". 



ZiggsterZaskar said:


> Products of this era are not for the modern cookie cutter era no doubt but,.....


No, we've come past the era of experimentation. Did you know that there are products being made today that certainly aren't cookie cutter and, thanks to the likes of Topline cranks and various other components, have better durability and longevity.



ZiggsterZaskar said:


> if you building or restoring a classic MADE IN THE USA bike or product of this era Grafton top line cranks are right up there with Cook Bros. and Shimano XT and early XTR....


Building to be a carpet queen - Topline. Building to ride - Cook Bros and Shimano XT and early XTR.

Let me summarise, collectively we love Topline cranks because they look sexy and they pushed the envelope. Bravo to them.

But they broke. They broke. Oh boy, they broke.

And then you got upset.

And I laughed.

Thanks, you've been great.

Grumps


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## TiJoe (7 mo ago)

Do you remember Magic Motorcycles Crank set? I remember when they were first shown at Interbike in 1992. All sorts of negative reviews but they were revolutionary at the time.
Then CODA purchased them, and they almost took off. Then 10 years later, the rest of the industry copied most of their concepts and features .


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## AKamp (Jan 26, 2004)

Not all Toplines broke, just the ones that got ridden hard. The topline design was the original grafton design but after a falling out the machine shop simply changed the name. We have to remember that almost everything back then sucked, at least all of the weight weenie parts. Looks at hubs, white industries blew their internals, Ringles flanges exploded, never felt a tight bullseye hub. All cranks back then sucked. Kooka, Grafton, bullseye, aluminum synchros. They all sucked. Cooks was the gold standard but their weight weenie RSRs broke as well. All Ti bottom brackets sucked including Phil if they got ridden hard. Some stuff lead to today products, the magic motorcycles pioneered the Hologram and Shimano cranks of today. Other stuff just faded. But god do I miss drooling over some of those early parts.


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## TiJoe (7 mo ago)

AKamp said:


> Not all Toplines broke, just the ones that got ridden hard.


How I read this.... Purchase our light weight, beautiful cranks. You shouldn't really use them because if you ride using them they will eventually fail. But they look good on everyone's bike. 
2 years later... You must not weigh more 160 pounds or develop more than 300 watts of power, or these cranks will fail. Only weight weenies should use these cranks, who do not ride their show bikes very much, because these bikes are built as light as possible and have many other questionable parts.


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## AKamp (Jan 26, 2004)

That was pretty much it and still is. I would guess more carbon cranks failing today then toplines ever did. Granted there are more people riding today then 30 years ago. People accept that there is a good chance that the carbon cranks may break because they are saving 100g or more over aluminum. It was the same with the Toplines. You want to ride light, you have to ride light. Toplines also came in a light an a heavy version. One was about 100g lighter then XTR and the other more like 170g. That is pretty significant. Here are two sets that have had some love and haven’t broken. Granted they haven’t been ridden in 2 decades.


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## TiJoe (7 mo ago)

Seeing your images makes me want to dig out the plastic tote that all my old Topline and other weight weenie part are in. 😥 OTOH, you need to dig out the old square tapper bottom bracket you used to use with the cranks and add them into the total weight. I spent over $150 years ago on a Titanium axle with cartridge bearings and aluminum cups to keep the weight down when I ran Toplines.

I've ridden FSA carbon cranks since they first came out and have never had a carbon crank fail. (On my old 26" hardtail, the FSA cranks were beat to heck from lots of rock hits, but they never failed me.) Now I am riding on RaceFace Next R carbon cranks and love them. Just purchased a second set today for my next build


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## AKamp (Jan 26, 2004)

For reference so first gen XTR


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## AKamp (Jan 26, 2004)

And some EEwings with a ring


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## AKamp (Jan 26, 2004)

TiJoe said:


> Seeing your images makes me want to dig out the plastic tote that all my old Topline and other weight weenie part are in. 😥 OTOH, you need to dig out the old square tapper bottom bracket you used to use with the cranks and add them into the total weight. I spent over $150 years ago on a Titanium axle with cartridge bearings and aluminum cups to keep the weight down when I ran Toplines.
> 
> I've ridden FSA carbon cranks since they first came out and have never had a carbon crank fail. (On my old 26" hardtail, the FSA cranks were beat to heck from lots of rock hits, but they never failed me.) Now I am riding on RaceFace Next R carbon cranks and love them. Just purchased a second set today for my next build


I gave up on Ti Square taper bottom brackets a long time ago. They all bent, especially in a 127 for those wide ass cranks.


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