Just after I got my Semcycle XL I noticed that on there is a black
plastic cap that covers the part where the crank is bolted into the
axle… do you know where I mean?
Anyways, I thought it was a tidy little feature that would keep grit
and dust from getting into the crank attachment. I guess that’s what
its for, right?
This little black plastic cover was missing from one side of the
uni… don’t know if it was missing right when I got the yike or if I
somehow knocked it off in the first couple of days of practicing.
I wrote to Semcycle to ask if they had any extras of these and could
they send me one but I haven’t heard back from them. Probably it is
just a picky little detail that doesn’t really matter too much… but
then again, being a newbie, I never can tell. What do you think?
Keep those caps on. They not only keep the gunk out, they protect the threads on the inside of the crank (for the crank removing tool to thread into). They also will keep your end nut on when it, and it will, unthread itself. This will generally be the left one. Take them off, use red Loctite to lock 'em together, and put those end caps in.
Crank arm dust caps can usually be obtained at a well stocked bike shop. My
local bikeshop gave me a couple just last week. They are quite inexpensive
(usually less than $1).
Despite their name, they are mostly useful for protecting the threads of the
crank arm and keeping the crank nuts from getting lost in the event they
work themselves loose.
-mg
“rif raf” <beandawg@direct.ca> wrote in message news:164553c0.0207111356.cd079c2@posting.google.com…
> Just after I got my Semcycle XL I noticed that on there is a black
> plastic cap that covers the part where the crank is bolted into the
> axle… do you know where I mean?
> Anyways, I thought it was a tidy little feature that would keep grit
> and dust from getting into the crank attachment. I guess that’s what
> its for, right?
>
> This little black plastic cover was missing from one side of the
> uni… don’t know if it was missing right when I got the yike or if I
> somehow knocked it off in the first couple of days of practicing.
>
> I wrote to Semcycle to ask if they had any extras of these and could
> they send me one but I haven’t heard back from them. Probably it is
> just a picky little detail that doesn’t really matter too much… but
> then again, being a newbie, I never can tell. What do you think?
>
> Cheers,
> Erin
They’re just dust caps to keep dirt and grit out of there. They also give some protection to the crank arm threads to keep the threads from getting banged up (but the plastic dust caps do a lousy job of protecting the threads). The threads are used by the tool that pulls the crank off the axle.
The plastic dust caps are always falling off. There are several different designs for the dust caps. Some stay on better than others.
If you want the ultimate dust cap that won’t fall off then try to get an alloy pair instead of plastic. The alloy ones may be hard to get, I’m not sure if they are still being manufactured.