Creaking KH cranks

Unicycles and Equipment
1

I just build myself a a MUni, but after the first few days of trailriding there is a recurring creaking and looseness of the left KH crank.

At first I thought it was the spokes since I laced them up and trued the wheel myself to fit a KH hub to a 26"er, but now I am pretty sure it is the crank since tightening it up always makes the sound go away - for a little while. Then after a few miles of trails the creaking comes back. I tried tightening it pretty tight (3 fingers pulling), but I am afraid of overtightening and damaging the crank.

If I can find a mic I will record the sound and post it, but until then it is a med-high pitched creeeak whenever I press the pedal.

Anyways, has anyone had this sort of experience with KH cranks? Is it natural when they are new to loosen up a bit? Could mine be defective?

2

Eeep… you’re not meant to tighten them more than 3 fingers pulling?

3

Well it all depends on the length of your lever now doesn’t it.

Andrew

4

Normal sized allen key… your not meant to go tight as possible?

5

I think you need to tighten the pinch bolts up TIGHT. I have done this on mine with no problem. Go to unicycle.uk.com, they have a section on splined cranks and hubs which also covers maintainence.

6

a lil anti-seize on my splines fixed my creaking KH.

7

Yeah I had the same thing, a bit of greese in there will fix it.

8

You just need to put some anti-seize on the splines and on the bolt threads. Then tighten everything up and you should be fine. No more squeaking. You’ll have to check the bolts a couple times after this maintenance routine to make sure they stay tight. But after that they should settle in and stay tight for the most part.

See the first page of this thread: Problem with KH-24 for the details on lubing it up and tightening the bolts.

9

Ahh thanks. I will get some anti-seize tomorrow. Also that link was great - now I know I’m not the only one who had to even out the frame with a shim (with a Yuni frame you get what you pay for, eh?). Its kinda bothesome that torqued out frames are so prevalent though. This stuff would never fly in any other industry.

10

Roger’s frame bending FAQ should show you how to bend the frame so that it’s all square. Then you’ll be able to get rid of the shim.

Part of the problem with the frames is that they’re designed to fit a specific hub width. If you try to fit them on a hub with a different width then they can get a bit wonky and out of square. The fix is to bend them to make them fit the new hub. The other problem with the frames is that they are not carefully made so some of them are not nice and square to begin with.

11

Thanks for the link, but I don’t think I’ll be doing any frame bending soon. I got lucky - with the shim in place the wheel is dead center in the frame. If I bent it I doubt I could get it this good, and theres always the chance I would accidentally damage or break it.