General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Crankarm falling off mid ride? Rss Feed  
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2013-01-18 7:45 AM

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Subject: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
Just happened to me.  Luckily on the trainer.  Anyone have this issues as well?


2013-01-18 7:52 AM
in reply to: #4584001

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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?

Did it break or just "spin" off?

There's no way to not make this sound snarky so I'll just say it...

It has never happened to me because I really pay attention to my bike's maintenance.

Wink

2013-01-18 7:59 AM
in reply to: #4584001

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Davenport, IA
Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
Shimano crank with two pinch bolts to hold on the left crankarm?
2013-01-18 8:01 AM
in reply to: #4584020

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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?

Sprint_DA - 2013-01-18 8:59 AM Shimano crank with two pinch bolts to hold on the left crankarm?

 

Yep  Two pinch bolts.  Just came loose?

2013-01-18 8:03 AM
in reply to: #4584012

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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
GMAN 19030 - 2013-01-18 8:52 AM

Did it break or just "spin" off?

There's no way to not make this sound snarky so I'll just say it...

It has never happened to me because I really pay attention to my bike's maintenance.

Wink

Not snarky at all.  Understood.  I didn't realize that could happen to just "spin off"

2013-01-18 8:04 AM
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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?

It happened to a female pro, i forget her name or the race, maybe LP? and she was given a bike by another (smaller) rider and was DQ'd for making forward progress without her bike.

 

But she snapped hers.



2013-01-18 8:05 AM
in reply to: #4584029

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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
ditchmedic - 2013-01-18 9:04 AM

It happened to a female pro, i forget her name or the race, maybe LP? and she was given a bike by another (smaller) rider and was DQ'd for making forward progress without her bike.

 

But she snapped hers.

Didn't snap mine.  Looks more like it just spun off.  Going to head to the bike store this morning to get it checked out.  Went last night with front de-railer issues. 

2013-01-18 8:10 AM
in reply to: #4584001

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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?

I had that happen during a race.  And it sucks.  Basically it's simply a manner of checking your bolts on a routine basis. 

I was doing a HIM Relay so I used my road bike with shorties and didn't properly check it beforehand.  So long story short, always check the major bolts on your bike at least once per month.

2013-01-18 8:26 AM
in reply to: #4584042

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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
Marvarnett - 2013-01-18 9:10 AM

I had that happen during a race.  And it sucks.  Basically it's simply a manner of checking your bolts on a routine basis. 

I was doing a HIM Relay so I used my road bike with shorties and didn't properly check it beforehand.  So long story short, always check the major bolts on your bike at least once per month.

Think its simple enough for me to fix?

2013-01-18 8:36 AM
in reply to: #4584001

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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?

Had it happen in a group ride at about 25 mph.  Riding along and all of a sudden the left crank arm and pedal are just swinging from my cleat.  I was new to cycling, had no idea what had just happened so I kept pedaling to avoid causing a pile up and the next thing I know, the entire right side assembly is hanging from my right cleat.  

Three things I learned from that experience:

1. Routine bike maintenance is a must

2. Stop pedaling when something breaks or you'll make it worse

3. It's really hard to unclip when your crank is in 2 pieces 

2013-01-18 8:55 AM
in reply to: #4584080

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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
Dlaxman31 - 2013-01-18 9:26 AM
Marvarnett - 2013-01-18 9:10 AM

I had that happen during a race.  And it sucks.  Basically it's simply a manner of checking your bolts on a routine basis. 

I was doing a HIM Relay so I used my road bike with shorties and didn't properly check it beforehand.  So long story short, always check the major bolts on your bike at least once per month.

Think its simple enough for me to fix?

Yes, it's just a matter of putting it back on and making sure the torque is correct.  But I would at least have a bike shop look at it just in case.  Plus you might need new grease assuming it's not still back in now.



2013-01-18 9:01 AM
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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
My new FSA crank had a bit of locktite on those bolts. If yours was removed and installed a few times maybe the locktite wasn't replaced.
2013-01-18 9:42 AM
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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?

Yes very scary, I had it happen to me on the road with my FSA crank.  Had the retaining bolt for the crank assembly come out on me in the middle of a training ride.  There I sat wobbling along with a pedal attached to my left foot and a pedal/crank assembly attached to my right foot....in aero.

Some hairy scary moments for a bit but I manage to keep the bike rubber side down and come to a stop.  Had to call the wife after a search for the retaining bolt was fruitless.  Went and got another one, couple of dabs of locktite on the threads and now I'm good as new.

2013-01-18 11:02 AM
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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
ditchmedic - 2013-01-18 9:04 AM

It happened to a female pro, i forget her name or the race, maybe LP? and she was given a bike by another (smaller) rider and was DQ'd for making forward progress without her bike.

 

But she snapped hers.

Heather Wurtele at Coeur d'Alene

2013-01-18 10:16 PM
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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?

Dlaxman31 - 2013-01-18 8:45 AM Just happened to me.  Luckily on the trainer.  Anyone have this issues as well?
Yup, mid-race at the 17mile mark in an Oly (so 8 miles to go) on a rolling hills bike course.

It was my own fault, I replaced the BB 2 weeks earlier and failed to reinstall the left crank with enough torque so wobble wobble wobble, off it came.  I was not carrying a 8MM allen wrench either (now I do).  Lesson learned.

So what to do in the middle of the race? I one leg pedaled for the rest of the course, which sucked for 8 miles of hills, but I did not DNF, in fact had a PR at this race and my fastest 10k run split ever.  I even got the race photo of me with the crank arm in one hand at mile 20 with a huge smile on my face !

2013-01-18 10:36 PM
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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
A buddy of mine had his pedal come right off of the crank, stripped out, so needed a new one.

We were on our way up to a mountain bike area, so pretty happy it failed on the way there, and not on the hill :p

Made him buy a new bike before I took him back


2013-01-20 7:09 AM
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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
Unfortunately, this was fairly common a few years back with the old design FSA cranks. The center bolt simply unscrewed itself, but since it's on a spline, you didn't really notice it until you had the crank arm attached to your shoe, but not to the bike... Scary to say the least!

The solution is fairly simple though... add some Loctite blue to the threads and torque it to the proper value (over torquing is just as bad as under torquing in terms of clamping force btw., except that over torquing may also damage the component).
2013-01-21 2:53 PM
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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
Just back from Auckland 70.3 my friends crank snapped off 20km from the end she managed not to fall walked Nike to transition which was nearby race over. There were shinano mechanics at transition but they said basically not fixable or at least very expensive. Shame she was having a great race.
2013-01-21 7:17 PM
in reply to: #4586617

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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?

Where does one find torque values for bikes? Would an LBS have the specs? 

Also, remember that lubricating a thread (for example, with loctite) will lower the torque value needed. Adding the loctite and torquing to the manufacturer's recommendations means you're overtorquing. Just one more thing....Yell

2013-01-21 8:25 PM
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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?

Had this happen on the commute into work 2 summers ago (Trek 7.3 fx hybrid)

 

Flat ground, no issues, pulled into a ATV place, and got it back on well enough until I brought it back to the LBS where they replaced the crank.

2013-01-22 4:10 AM
in reply to: #4584025

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Davenport, IA
Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
Dlaxman31 - 2013-01-18 8:01 AM

Sprint_DA - 2013-01-18 8:59 AM Shimano crank with two pinch bolts to hold on the left crankarm?

 

Yep  Two pinch bolts.  Just came loose?

We've had that happen once at the shop in the three years I've been there.  One of the guys didn't torque the bolts properly when they installed the crank.  Those bolts are meant to be at 13-15nm, which is significantly tighter than the "snug" that a lot of people will do. 

 

Although I would imagine you've resolved the problem by now, make sure that the splines on the inside of the crank arm are still in good shape, sometimes they will be damaged as the crank arm wobbles off.  And luckily it happened indoors so you didn't lose the compression plug.



2013-01-22 10:55 AM
in reply to: #4588764

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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
Sprint_DA - 2013-01-22 5:10 AM
Dlaxman31 - 2013-01-18 8:01 AM

Sprint_DA - 2013-01-18 8:59 AM Shimano crank with two pinch bolts to hold on the left crankarm?

 

Yep  Two pinch bolts.  Just came loose?

We've had that happen once at the shop in the three years I've been there.  One of the guys didn't torque the bolts properly when they installed the crank.  Those bolts are meant to be at 13-15nm, which is significantly tighter than the "snug" that a lot of people will do. 

 

Although I would imagine you've resolved the problem by now, make sure that the splines on the inside of the crank arm are still in good shape, sometimes they will be damaged as the crank arm wobbles off.  And luckily it happened indoors so you didn't lose the compression plug.

I did get it resloved.  Thanks for all of the comments guys.  I did end up finding the compression plug on the floor.  Definately will look into this a lot more.

 

Definately need to take a bike mechanics 101 class to get confortable with these seemly simple but semi advanced fixes.

2013-01-22 11:02 AM
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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?

Had one start coming loose, but re-tightened and that fixed it.

Did you have any sounds coming from it first?

2013-01-22 11:18 AM
in reply to: #4589290

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Subject: RE: Crankarm falling off mid ride?
eliwashere - 2013-01-22 12:02 PM

Had one start coming loose, but re-tightened and that fixed it.

Did you have any sounds coming from it first?

a little bit of a grinding sound.  I thought it was chain rub during the ride.  Obviously I was way off.
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