Fifty Plus (50+) - Not going to be riding for a while

I was out Thursday, a beautiful sunny (albeit cold) day. Getting started on my usual 32 mile ride, and about 7 miles into the trail, my left pedal starts to wobble. I stopped to check this out, only to find that my pedal is not the problem, it is the crank arm and where it attaches to the bike. I head back, coasting only since I don't want to damage the crank. About 200 yards from the turnaround, it falls off anyway. Well I suppose its a good thing I am up hill from the house. Still, I ended up walking about 1mile, and now the bike has to go back to the LBS where I bought it. I can't do it till Monday though. I am working all weekend. I do hope they can get it repaired in one day. I certainly don't want to be without my bilke for very long:( I also hope that this will be covered by the warranty. I only bought it in April

So sorry!

That is one of the best reasons(excuses) to have 2 bikes!

Hope it gets fixed.

I had a similar event last year on my p8. I just continued to ride, pushing in with my left leg as I pedaled. Then tightened it at home. It was the first time ever that the crank had come loose on a bike I have owned since 1985

Ideally, the left crank should be affixed with a left-threaded bolt, but this was tried only once, to my knowledge, by Shimano, I believe. A dab of blue LocTite on the left crank's fixing bolt is probably a good idea. On a similar note, be sure to torque your car's lugbolts/nuts properly, particularly those on the left side.

That's probably a five-minute, $5 fix, unless you've rounded out the hole in the crankarm. Then it's a five-minute, $150 fix. I'd mention the warranty angle, on the basis that a crankbolt that was properly torqued when it left the shop wouldn't have worked loose, but I also understand the shop's probable defense: If you rode the bike after you realized the crankarm was loose, everything that happened after that was on you. Then you say, "But I was far from home" and they say "if you'd done proper maintenance, it wouldn't have come loose" and everybody's unhappy.
But I still say a bike that was assembled right when it left the shop wouldn't lose a crankarm.

Good Heavens.....I've ridden one bike (shame on me) without removing or tightening the crank arm for 8 years. You've had that crankarm on for only 6 months. They damned sure better cover it themselves...faulty assembly is a reflection on them.

You damn skippy. The bike shop bought that problem, even if you did round out the crankarm. Take it back and make them fix it

Sounds like a good reason to take a new bike in to have everything checked after the first couple of hundred miles…

- Wil

I took the bike back in May for a 30 day free maintenance/ adjustment. I had some problems with the rear deraileur not shifting properly and they took care of it in a matter of minutes. I suppose I could have fixed the crank myself had the bolt not fallen out on the trail somewhere. When I first noticed the problem and stopped to check it, the bolt was still in and I could not remove the crank ( I would have taken it off at that point to avoid further damage). As it is, I coasted down the hill (Cherry creek Spillway) to the light at Yale. About 200 yards from where I turned around, the crank just fell off. I did not pedal at all. My foot was resting on the center boom.

On another note, I find it odd too, that the crank would fall off like that. I have ridden my Giant Sedona from 1994 until 2004. I had the crank set changed 3 times during those years and never once did the crank come loose and fall off. I had a Roadmaster, that my mom bought for me when we lived in CA, that had a pedal corrode and fall off, but this is a first.