I May Have Ruined a Crank Arm, But, At Least The Sun Is Shining, Today

It's been a cold and wintry week, and it looks like we have another week of it coming. I'm getting a lot of use out of the fixed gear, with the studded tires, and the bike is beginning to show some wear from that use.

The drive side crank arm was loose on the crank, the other day. So, I tightened the crank bolt down, and all seemed okay. But, when I got home from work, the next day, the crank arm was, once again, loose.

I finally determined, this morning, that the Campy crank bolt ,which I had used, was too long for the drilling in the Shimano crank arm. I had bottomed the bolt out, but had not really moved the crank arm, that much.

I replaced the offending bolt with a Shimano item, and rode to the coffee shop and back. When I got home, the crank arm was still secure. Time will tell if I allowed the crank to be loose long enough to irreparably damage the arm/spindle interface. I hope that the arm is still usable, for the long term, but I won't know until I put a few miles on it.

Sometimes, I think that commuting on a bike may be the most abusive thing you can do to it.

x