Having got to work successfully with no rear wheel issues, I left for the evening and started the journey home.
I made it about half way, when my left hand crank started wobbling! I stopped and tightened it, only for it to come loose again within about 20 metres.
It eventually fell off completely as I scooted along, and I lost the bolt.. it wasn’t much use by this point anyway. So I resorted to pushing the mile or so to Halfords. They didn’t have any cranksets in stock, so I pushed the rest of the way home, and ordered a new Deore external BB with two-piece crankset from Ebay to replace it.
I’ve realised that you can’t go (too) cheap on a commuting bike – reliability is almost important as for the primary bike, since breakdowns on the way to or from work can really ruin your day!
I’m looking forward to being able to ride in both directions without breakdown, and my first test ride after installing the crankset, of 6.5 miles, went well.. fingers crossed!
Jims' MTB Diary - Mountain Biking in Sussex, UK 