I lost my crankarm!!

[Sandy]

So I have this beautiful Ottrott ST which I have ridden and enjoyed for about 1200 miles. Yesterday I went on a short ride down to the park and back. On the way down to the park, I found it more and more difficult to shift into the big chainring. When I got to the park, I could not shift into the big ring at all. The deraileur would move but the chain would not go to the big ring. On the way back, I was about 1 mile from my house and stood up, off the saddle, and started to pedal. Very quickly I realized that the left crankarm of my new Dura-Ace 10 crankset was attached to my pedal which was attached to my shoe, but the crank arm was not attached to the bb axle. Luckily, I extended my shoe/pedal/crankarm and placed the threesome (don't get excited Kevan) on the ground and safely stopped. I think I was most fortunate in that I did not have an accident.

It turns out, that the crankarm is held on by a small hexagonal bolt type mechanism similar to that which holds on a seatpost. That was somewhat surprising to me, since the forces applied to a crankarm certainly can be a lot, especially with my weight.

The pedal now seems to have a rattle, as a result of rubbing against the ground, I guess. I am going to take the bike into the shop now to see what they have to say. I would appreciate any comments and suggestions that you could give me so that this will not happen again.

THANKS,


Cranky Serotta Sandy