Is my bike ok to ride?

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  • November 1, 2015 at 7:33 pm #917531
    Emm
    Participant

    Biking on the mvt between alexandria and mount vernon today I heard a crack and a snap…a cursory look showed nothing wrong on my bike and it rode fine, but when I got home I realized whatever part was in the center of my crank arm/chain ring is now missing…there’s just a big hole.

    8c79552e155d9a5b58af67998d8be3eb.jpg

    Is this something I need to fix asap, or can the bike be ridden a little longer before the bike goes in for its off-season tune up in January? I can’t tell if this part serves a purpose or not–some of my bikes have a metal/plastic piece here, some have crank arms that don’t have this piece.

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  • November 1, 2015 at 9:17 pm #1040429
    hozn
    Participant

    I think it was always that way. Or at least most modern cranks have a hollow spindle. If there was a superficial cover there, then you should be fine without it, but my hunch is you heard something else.

    Edit attaching photo from Google images of similar crankset.
    th_Bontrager_Crank_1.jpg

    November 1, 2015 at 9:35 pm #1040430
    Emm
    Participant

    @hozn 127158 wrote:

    I think it was always that way. Or at least most modern cranks have a hollow spindle. If there was a superficial cover there, then you should be fine without it, but my hunch is you heard something else.

    Edit attaching photo from Google images of similar crankset.
    th_Bontrager_Crank_1.jpg

    Thanks! An old photo shows some type of cover there, but I’m glad to know its likely superficial.

    But I’ll also check the rest of the bike, since the photo with the cover is 2 years old…so it could have dropped off forever ago. I may have just hit a bump extra hard and heard things vibrating hard for all I know.

    November 1, 2015 at 9:57 pm #1040431
    Crickey7
    Participant

    Yes, it’s just a cover, and so likely not important. Although the crankset on mine was also missing its cover, and failed within a year in a manner the mechanic at Freshbikes said he’d never seen (fortunately warrantied).

    November 1, 2015 at 10:46 pm #1040432
    ginacico
    Participant

    Eek. My friend Peter actually did break a crank arm yesterday. He was lucky it happened under circumstances that didn’t cause a wreck, but required a long walk home.

    Also in the past week I discovered my headset had come loose, and the entire front fork was wobbling.

    Do a thorough check, and never ignore the squeaks, rattles, or other odd noises!

    November 2, 2015 at 2:40 pm #1040447
    mstone
    Participant

    duct tape

    November 2, 2015 at 2:51 pm #1040448
    DrVoidberg
    Participant

    One of my bikes has a similar gxp / hollow spindle setup. It might be worth removing the cranks to check that the spindle itself wasn’t the source of said noise. Better safe than sorry.

    November 2, 2015 at 3:18 pm #1040454
    dasgeh
    Participant

    @ginacico 127161 wrote:

    Eek. My friend Peter actually did break a crank arm yesterday. He was lucky it happened under circumstances that didn’t cause a wreck, but required a long walk home.

    Random thought I’ve had while watching my kids learn to ride bikes: if your bike fails in a way that the wheels still spin and the brakes still work, you can push your seat down (and possibly take off the pedals) and ride it balance bike style home/to a bus stop/to a shop.

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