The Chainlink

Keep It Tight !

The importance of giving your bike a bolt tightness test.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/sports/a9499/quick-bike-p...

I think it's a good practice to give your bike the once over every so often, or more. Check that everything is tightened up properly, especially if your bike goes through a lot of vibrations, who doesn't if you're a city cyclist. You don't wanna be like 'that guy' that never checked on the tightness of his rear rack enough and had it become loose, drop a fastening bolt, then drop down into the rear spokes and bring the start of his return trip home to a screeching halt, and a time consuming repair session. At least 'he' was moving kinda slow and didn't end up snapping a spoke, or being thrown with the sudden stop.

Check the integrity of all fastening points on your bike. Check the fasteners, nuts, bolts, screws, etc.on your bicycle, or have it checked out at your LBS(local bike shop) every once in a while for your safety. Don't be like 'that guy' ! Keep it tight !

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on November 21, 2015 at 6:04am

And, as I discovered recently, make sure stuff will come loose when necessary. I'm currently trying to save a crank arm whose pedal was in there too long (perhaps with insufficient lubrication on the threads). The steel and aluminum are now real close buddies. While not the obvious hazard that loose bolts can be, it's nevertheless a needless expense to trash parts when a bit of extra attention might have been all that was needed.

This goes for stems and seatposts as well. A bit of grease on installation and the occasional check to make sure everything moves when asked is a good idea, especially on bikes you right through our salty winters.

Permalink Reply by mike w. on November 21, 2015 at 7:04am

Carefully -VERY carefully- heat the crankarm with a propane torch. It usually doesn't take much. The alloy of the crankarm will usually expand enough to loosen the threads and ease removal of the pedal.  

(Would that happen to be an older Campy record crank and pedal? They were often notoriously tight fitting even when well greased up.)

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on November 21, 2015 at 10:07am

I've tried heat (just with a heat gun at this point). It's a Sugino crank arm and (the remnants of) a Look pedal. For now, that little "project" is on the back burner. I'll get back to it one of these days. 

Permalink Reply by Fran Kondorf on December 6, 2015 at 1:41pm

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