I put roller skate buckles on another pair of Shimano cycling shoes and replaced my left side crank arm.
The previous crank arm kept coming undone. I read on a forum that this can be because you have damaged the crank arm Octalink (?) thread like thing and sure enough I had rubbed a lot of the zigzags away by not tightening up enough. I had a spare right crank arm. I wonder if there is any way of mending the old Octalink (?) zigzags. I have done the replacement crank arm up really tightly.
Part of the problem was the hollowtech crank bolt. The tool I was using was the standard thumb wheel type thing which has no leverage. This time I used the head of some snub nose pliers to do up the hollowtech crank cap and that worked better but it is annoying. It can not I think be over-tighted since the zigzags on the crank spline/axle are only so long. Is this more Shimano planned obsolescence (like carbon sole shoes without replaceable heels and soft plastic spd-sl cleats)? I have just purchased some new aluminum crank caps that be tightened with an Allen key from China here in pretty colours.Oops. I purchased the wrong size (M18) when roadbike hollow tech two is M20 so am reordering from the same store.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32822473805.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000014.23.6e6614eavTvjlE&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.33416.213724.0&scm_id=1007.33416.213724.0&scm-url=1007.33416.213724.0&pvid=b7922d9c-75fd-4d05-954b-fb993342a7c9&_t=gps-id
cDetailBottomMoreOtherSeller,scm-url:1007.33416.213724.0,pvid:b7922d9c-75fd-4d05-954b-fb993342a7c9,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238109%231935&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sceneId%22:%2223416%22,%22sku_id%2 2:%2264885474770%22%7D
Really cheap too. The Allen key (hexagonal wrench) required is 10mm.
The Chinese also sell a hollowtech tool to which leverage can be applied but I could purchase three caps for about the same price.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...754563e4d00-16
By the way, the hard plastic SPD-SL cleats mentioned I think in this thread are dangerous (because the plastic is hard and slippery) but the last forever and become less slippery once roughed up a bit. I have been using them for 18 months and they are still going strong @ 5USD
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000...27424c4dilG3qU
I also realized that the reason why my chain was starting to slip, from the large chain-ring, was due to bottom bracket play rather than due to the chain being worn out (so quickly) yet. I hope so since the chain is so cheap and 11s, which as Kimmo points out, is important to use 11s not cheap 10s chains to protect the cassette, chain-rings and save watts.
I also renewed the closed cell foam mat on my "sofa-bars" to yellow to match my bike frame and the yellow bracket covers that I purchased from China for about 5USD.
New Sofa Bars by
Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr
The colourful brake covers can be purchased here
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...1a4d4c4dEGIS76
The bits of matting can be purchased at 100 yen (1 dollar) stores but since they don't stock yellow where I am I ordered mine from China for about 2.5 times the price.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...27424c4d3pVJ5J