tudorowen1

Help needed please..I have been in Thailand a few months and bought a Chinese folding bike with a copy of a hollotech chainset.I was taking apart the bike to pack it in my suitcase and broke the plastic end cap on the left non drive side of the hollotech crank..I doubt I can get another one.My question is this..Is it really important to replace it? Surely as long as the left hand crank is tightened up with the 2 crank bolts and there is no play in the cranks then is it safe to refit .
As far as I can see the plastic end cap is just for pre -loading the left crank before the pinch bolts are tightened.If I get someone to pull the cranks together or sit on the crank or use a mallet surely that will be enough preloaded?

Polaris OBark

If it is like the real Hollotech, the end-cap is used together with an inexpensive plastic tool to adjust the pre-load. I've replaced them with aluminum bling end-caps (made in China) that allow you to use an 8mm Allen wrench.

choddo

I had a genuine H2 left crank come off last week with the preload endcap still attached in the left arm so it’s not safety critical imho, the two pinch bolts are what holds the arm on to the spindle on the Shimano crankset.

BTinNYC 

Next time; You have to loosen the 2 bolts before removing the pre load cap. And the reverse, install the pre load cap before tightening the the 2 bolts.

Yes, the bike will work without the preload cap, but get a replacement.

Crankycrank

The caps' sole purpose is to preload the crank/BB bearings and necessary if you want them to last a long time. Can't tell from the photo but you may have enough plastic on the cap left to tighten up the pre-load and then just tighten the crank arm clamp bolts as the caps' job is done at that point and won't matter if it's chewed up. You only need a small amount of torque on the cap to get the correct pre-load. You could as you asked just loosely tighten the clamp bolts and lightly tap the crank arms but I think that would be very difficult to get the correct pre-load. Probably OK for an emergency or short term use but get it done properly sooner than later.

tudorowen1

I tried all 4 bike shops in the city to see if I could find an end cap that fitted.The last shop I went in had a lovely alloy end cap that is perfect..so happy now..Thanks to all who replied.