[brianW offline]

Two weeks ago I took a spill and within a few miles my left crank came loose. Walked out, nice perspective of the trail by the way. Got it tight, next ride it got loose again. This time I was smart enough to carry a 14mm hex wrench. what gives? Do these need to be torqued or something more sinister behind this? thanks.

[fat_billy offline]

Crank bolts do need to be very tight to let the reverse thread work for you. I'm sure maddslacker can come up with a touque setting. I would say that you may have a bottom bracket/bolt issue if it "just came loose". Remember advise is free and you get what you pay for. Later,

[maddslacker offline]

The crankset is one thing I always let the LBS do for me.

[GoldenGoose]

If it is a square taper crank, you've probably deformed the inside of the crank where it slides around the spindle of the bottom bracket. No amount of tightening is going to fix that. Gonna need a new crank arm. Upon installation, they will need to be greased and torqued down properly. Skip that step at your own risk.

[dozzerboy offline]

The crankset is one thing I always let the LBS do for me.

+1 the bottom bracket and crankarm category is one place where you want the professionals to do it. The threads down there are so fine, you can mess the BB, crank, or frame up in 5 seconds...

[element22]

What kind of crank do you have, I will get you the torque settings.

As GG mentioned if you have a square tapered BB then take a look at the interface of the crank arm if it looks a bit rounded you may need to get a new arm. With other interfaces such as Octalink or newer one from Shimano / RaceFace or Truvativ, look at the fine teeth for ripping.

[maddslacker offline]

Wow, blatant spam...

[dozzerboy offline]

Wow, blatant spam...

Dude, seems like some pretty legit bike stuff. Think we should get some DVD's!

[element22]

What spam are you eluding to Mad?

[maddslacker offline]

Someone deleted it already.

[element22]

Ahh...OK..