I have a nice Nimbus Freestyle unicycle that looks a lot like the one I have attached. It might be that exact one.
Anyways, in trying to change one of the cranks (the pedal/crank connection locked up and stripped the crank/pedal or both, not sure) I was trying to loosen the crank/frame connection with an allen wrench and the small black plastic circle that sits around the hole for the allen wrench cracked. In the attached picture of the crank bolts, it’s that black ring that sits around the bolt. My question is, is that a big deal? Do I need to order new crank bolts because that black part snapped? It still sits in there, it’s just split apart. It doesn’t seem like it does much of anything, I just want to make sure I’m not going to do any damage by riding with that part split.
Thank you in advance for any and all help and advice!
The plastic ring is not strictly necessary. Its primary function is to protect the threads that the crank puller uses in removing the cranks. Without the “dust cap” the threads can get banged up, or packed with dirt. I doubt either will be a problem on a freestyle uni.
On the other hand freestyle is all about looks, and having a missing dust cap may lose you some points.
or, you could get an o-ring that fits the groove on the bolt, and put that in place of the plastic. It would probably work just as well, and look the part.
A bike shop may have an old bolt or two laying around with one of those as well. I’ve heard of people finding that type of crank bolt at LBS’s, though they were the wrong thread (which wouldn’t matter).
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