a nice mechanical question
 

the bolts on my chainring are loosening. every three or four days i have to tighten a couple of them up. im using an elita crankset, and with just one spacer the chainline is pretty much perfect, as far as i can tell. so i dont think its a weird lateral tension issue or something like that. what could be causing the loosening?

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linseed oil. local hardware store.

Linseed oil is a lubricant and will only help the chainring bolts back off more quickly.The leverage caused by his chainring spacers are causing the flex that's backing the bolts off. Even when linseed oil gels up it's not going to have enough strength to hold up to what's happening here. He needs a real thead locking compound. . Locktite and faggedaboudit.

Is this a common problem? It's happened to me, once, locktite from now on.

I usually just clean the grease out of the bolts and they stick together good enough on their own. If you've got spacers in the chainline though, you will probably need to go above and beyond. Blue loctite is the answer to all of life's problems.

^^^ Cool, then I'll put it in my creaking hub bearings:P

I bet they won't be creaking anymore

I had a similar problems as the OP with my bolts always loosening when I was using cheapy BMX chainring bolts (aluminum). When I switch to steel I have not had to constantly retighten them nearly as much.

i should check and see if my bolts are steel or not. i just might loctite it. thanks for the input.

Seconding the blue loctite suggestion. Works for me.

I've had this problem with every set of aluminum bolts I've ever used. Loctite is one solution, steel DA bolts are another...and get rid of the spacers!

I have built about a dozen wheels using Linseed oil. No problems.

Loctite is not an initial solution - it's a last resort.

Use steel chainring bolts. Lube up the threads + chainring/spider interfaces with your favorite grease. Enjoy.

get a bottom bracket with the right length axle and lose the spacers.

lightly grease your chainring bolts, no need to over do it on tightening them.

Linseed oil is great for spokes/nipples because there is little shear force on the threads of the spoke, it's all in tension. Chainring bolts take forces in pretty much the exact opposite way, entirely shear with little tension. A little gumming of the threads insn't going to keep them from backing off. Use locktite. First time, everytime.

Let's call in the Mythbusters.

I've never heard of Linseed oil for cycling aps. Must research....

its just one tiny spacer, maybe .5/1 mm. i didnt think it was that big of a deal. the chainline would probably be fine without it, but i dunno. im just a perfectionist.

linseed oil is great for nipples.

When I'm oiling up nipples, linseen oil is the way to go. it smells good, too.

I take care of my nipples.

It's also the next best thing to Weigle's frame saver for protecting steel tubes. Linseed oil is very thin and viscous at first, and upon exposure to air the oil slowly polymerizes to a gel or shellac which makes it a pretty good choice for wheelbuilds.
It also stains raw wood furniture nicely.

awesome!

mmmm...loctite

locktite = bad unless you wanna spend 1/2 a day trying to get the ***** off when you want to change something. Trust me Ive found out the hard way, and I wasnt the one who put the locktite on.

Go buy another bolt

which color locktite did you use? there are a couple of colors with different qualities.

no idea, I wasnt the one who used locktite.
If your interested (if you arent skip to the next post) It was on a wheel of a MG midget knockoff wheel where the wheel connects to the axle. It had worn there so one of the previous owners that didnt want to fork out the approx AU$500 for a new wheel and where the wheel connects to the axle used locktite. So 1/2 a day later, one less can of WD40 the wheel came off
All I can say is glad I didnt get a flat on that wheel.