FSA Gossamer part missing.

Rivers_Nick

Bit of a RANT alert!
I recently upgraded a few bits on my Boardman for the nice new sunny weather and was happily riding along when I noticed there was a creaking under significant power transfer that got more and more prominent throughout the ride. At first I thought maybe it was the stem (as I'd replaced it recently), so looked to tighten it, didn't make a difference, so I went around the bike tightening nuts and bolts, and greasing pedals and skewers, all to no avail.
So it must be the BB?...

I took it to my LBS to get them to just have a look at it and re-grease. When I brought the Boardman in, the fella in the shop took one look at the non-drive side crank and declared that there was a piece missing to the self extracting crank bolt assembly (see pic), he told me that it would be almost impossible to remove the crank arm without it. I've never seen the piece in question, as far as i'm aware, the bike was like this when I collected it 9 months ago. I went to the Halfords store from which it was originally purchased, they told me that they wouldn't have passed it as 'quality tested' if the piece was missing, but to their credit, they dived into the backroom and come out with what appeared to be a 'spare' self extracting crank bolt, so I could use the bit missing from it.
I went back to the LBS with the newly acquired part... it's not the same size, and can't be used. Anyway. The LBS said that they'd try to source the same missing piece or replacement crank bolt assembly, and get on with sorting it.
Now, Halfords are disassociating themselves from the situation by standing by their insistence that the bike was thoroughly checked before being handed over, therefore the piece in question MUST have been there at the time. If Halfords checked the bike, I wouldn't have had to tighten the headset almost immediately after collecting the bike on the ride home that day (but that's another story). Unfortunately, it is my word against theirs, nothing can be proved, and I'm just going to have to accept that.

I know, I shouldn't have brought a bike from Halfords... but it was a serious steal at the time. Still is.

Is there a way around the problem with removing the crank arm?

nicklouse

Nothing to do with Halfords. They don't build the bikes or even fig the cranks. In fact very few bike shops do.

At a guess ( well a bit more than a guess) it fell of while you were riding.

Do you check bolt tightness as recomended in the manual?

Rivers_Nick

Are they prone to falling off whilst riding then?, seems a bit off that if that is the case, you cant seem to get a replacement part easily. Even if it isn't Halfords responsibility, they should have explained the case and referred me to Boardman Bikes? Simple customer service.

penguin_of_death

Halfords should be able to source from Windwave as they are their supplier of FSA bits, it's probably this one

http://windwave.co.uk/products/chainset ... s/390-2074

for £6 you may be able to sweet talk someone at your local branch.

The torque setting on these are very low so they can work loose

heez29

They can vibrate loose, I've had to loctite a few. I sometimes suggest removing it and keeping it safe until it's needed as they're not as secure as the SRAM equivalent.

StillGoing

I sold a FSA Gossamer crankset as part of the kit I took off a Wilier GTR frame set I wanted. Guy who bought it had the left crank arm correctly torqued to between 38 and 41nm only for the crank arm to fall off mid ride. Loathed to locktite the crank arm on.

Rivers_Nick

Penguin of death, thanks so much. I can now at least explore another avenue to sourcing the missing piece!!!

And thanks for the advice regarding the working loose of the crank arm etc. will definitely remove the part and keep in a safe place when not needed. May just replace the crankset in the near future.