Crank arm coming loose

[Barchettaman]

Bad luck, it can happen.

You could always just buy a LH square taper crank arm oin the correct length for a tenner, fit and forget.

[AyBee]

Barchettaman said:

Bad luck, it can happen.

You could always just buy a LH square taper crank arm oin the correct length for a tenner, fit and forget.

It's 167.5mm crank for some bizarre reason and I can't find any cranks that come in that length...

[ecsrobin]

Is it an opportunity to get rid of the square taper. Since moving away I've not had a single issue with cranks.

[AyBee]

ecsrobin said:

Is it an opportunity to get rid of the square taper. Since moving away I've not had a single issue with cranks.

As above, looking at the BLB Notorious or the Sram Omnium which both use external BBs, unless you have any other thoughts please?

[Wooderson]

I've just this weekend installed one of these on a Langster build

£99 on ebay. I suspect its from the same factory as the BLB Notorius. I prefer the look of these to the rather old school looking Omnium.

Build quality seems fine and the BB is a generic GXP unit.

I've got Planet x AL30 wheels and Dura ace 15T sprocket and the chainline is perfect - no spacers necessary.

[Gingerbread Man]

ecsrobin said:

Is it an opportunity to get rid of the square taper. Since moving away I've not had a single issue with cranks.

I also thought the horrid square taper was long dead and forgotten about. My RaceFace prodigy cranks from back in the day kept coming loose. I think they ended up misshapen after a bit of riding with them.

[Barchettaman]

Nothing wrong with square taper per se, I have had many thousands of maintenance-free KMs from my decent-quality Shimano ST BB and FSA crankset. Perfect for my commuter that sees crappy weather all year round.

An SKF cartridge BB is reckoned to last 100,000 km! I have one on my CX bike, albeit with Isis cranks, and it's been faultless.

I would agree however that cheap cartridge BBs are crappy and should be avoided. I will quite happily skimp on certain parts of the drivetrain but the BB isn't one of them.