RE: Loose Cranks
Let’s all get straight on the situation here. It’s a two-week old unicycle
that was bought for a birthday present. My guess is that it was purchased at
a bike shop rather than online. So we can be pretty safe in assuming it’s a
relatively inexpensive, Savage-type model, and was assembled by the
least-skilled mechanic at the shop (they get the easiest jobs).
Bike shops tend to put unicycles together backwards about roughly 50% of the
time. They don’t realize there’s a difference. The owner has confirmed that
this one was assembled right. The average bike mechanic doesn’t know how
tight unicycle cranks need to be, and may not have checked the tightness out
of the box from Asia. Like any new bike or unicycle, some things might come
lose during the “break-in” period. This is why most new bicycles come with a
free 30-day check-up.
So give both crank arms a good tightening (you probably need a 14mm socket)
and you should be fine. Check them again a week or two later. If you can’t
turn the wrench using the same force as before, they’ve stayed tight.
If you happen to have a cotterless crank removal tool, you could take off
the cranks and follow some of the good advice that was offered by others,
but you’re probably fine by tightening it up.
> You are right about the threads on a cotterless crank they are both
> right handed where as on a pedal (as Noel noted) they are opposite to
> stop them from from undoing. The threads on a cotterless crank ought to
> be opposite to prevent loosening
I never heard anyone suggest that before 
…Probably because it
doesn’t apply. If it did apply, the bike industry probably would have
figured it out by now. But you don’t need to thread parts in specific
directions unless they rotate against other parts, which a cotterless crank
nut doesn’t.
> but a better solution (and more expensive) is a splined
> hub and crank set.
For a guy learning on a brand new unicycle? For the time being, splined
axles are only necessary if you pedal, or jump, reeeeeeal hard or a reeeeal
lot.
> The left is the one most likely to come loose.
Splined or cotterless? Either way, I think this is based on your riding
style rather than the engineering on the cycle. I’m right-footed, so my
right crank tends to come loose before the left. But mostly it doesn’t,
because I check them every once in a while before a ride. When I was using
cotterless cranks on my MUni, I checked them at the start of every ride.
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
“If people want to truly understand mountain biking, they have to do two
other things: ride a unicycle, and master the trampoline.” – Joe Breeze,
one of the originators of mountain biking, in a conversation with Tim Bustos
I have had the problem of my crank coming loose
> while doing allot of one footed stuff so I have had to
> tighten it beyond
> what I ought to to keep it from loosening.
>
> Gary
>
>
> –
> unicus - Unicycling Newbie
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