Don't buy lekkie buzz bars. Manufacturing fault.

[Haystacks]

As the title says don't buy em. The crank bolt has just snapped off on mine and upon further investigation i've discovered they have recalled them due to manufacturing faults with the bolts and not warned those that have already purchased. I now have a BBSHD that is fucked and will require considerable work. Sorry if this post comes off as angry, that would be because i am. Will post more tomorrow when i've calmed down.

 

[FlatSix911]

Thanks for providing the heads-up to EBR members... can you post some photos?

 

[Haystacks]

Thought i should expand upon this post now i have calmed down a bit.

There are two types of rides i go on; Gentle, mainly flat, hardpack trails including canal paths and a large lake, the second is far more challenging terrain, moorland with steep ascents and some super rocky paths. The former i do everyday to keep the blood flowing as we are still in lockdown, the latter is my preferred route but has been a bit treacherous over the past few weeks as the paths are little streams in the winter which have frozen hard recently so i haven't been riding this route.

I've added this background because both incidents i have had with the lekkie crank bolts (both sides) have been on the sedate journeys. The first incident stripped the thread from the bolt, easily fixed with a replacement so i just took it on the chin, the second incident has irked me more as it turns out this is a known fault that has lead to lekkie recalling the cranks with those bolts; i was riding along as normal and suddenly the crank turned noodly and fell off....... plop - into the canal. Initially i thought it was the same issue as before but upon inspection it turns out the crank bolt had completely sheared off and left 3/4 of it in the axle. Now for the sake of a component that costs pence i am faced with having to fork out approximately £250 to rectify. Not happy.

I've ordered a replacement axle, bearing, clutch and PAS and against my better judgement another pair of lekkie cranks, assured by the vendor that these are the new iteration with better quality bolts. Oh and pedals, grrr.

 

[harryS]

Shouldn't be much holding the bolt stub. A decent center punch, a good drill plus an EZ-out should have it out. I've taken out far worse.

 

[FlatSix911]

Sorry to see the sheared crank bolt... have you considered using a bolt/stud extractor before ordering a new crankset?

 

[harryS]

Some penetrating oil, and it's hard to tell from the picture, but seems like there's enough thread for a vise grips,

 

[Haystacks]

Shouldn't be much holding the bolt stub. A decent center punch, a good drill plus an EZ-out should have it out. I've taken out far worse.

I did consider extracting it Harry but i reckon the loctite i put on it would hinder the process, then when i looked at the process of changing the axle altogether i soon came to the conclusion that for a stress free option i'd just change it. The cost comes from all the ancilliary nonsense; replace 1 pedal, 1 crank and whilst i have the cover off regrease (mobil 28 is expensive over here) Axle is 32 euro. With clutch pas and bearing its 60 odd so i ordered the whole assembly and will keep clutch pas and bearing for spare if i can after inspection, can't see there being any issues there.

Thanks for your reply Harry along with @Thomas Jaszewski you're always one of the names that pops up helping people in BBSXX land

 

[Haystacks]

Some penetrating oil, and it's hard to tell from the picture, but seems like there's enough thread for a vise grips,

It's a trick of perspective, it's about 10mm inside, not protruding.

 

[harryS]

Loctite makes it tougher. I once pulled out a seized/broken crankshaft bolt out of my Mazda 4 cylinder. That was an epic battle. It took about 120 ft-lbs of torque on the EZ-out , a DIY adapter for it, and a butane torch, over a period of four weeks to extract it. I tell my grandkid about it, but she don't care.

 

[tomjasz]

As the title says don't buy em. The crank bolt has just snapped off on mine and upon further investigation i've discovered they have recalled them due to manufacturing faults with the bolts and not warned those that have already purchased. I now have a BBSHD that is fucked and will require considerable work. Sorry if this post comes off as angry, that would be because i am. Will post more tomorrow when i've calmed down.

Interesting. I'd not heard any reports on the crank bolts. Could you share the source of the info on failed bolts?

 

[tomjasz]

Lekkie has supported the failed bolts. Sadly it was a manufacturing fault and some got out into the market. Lekkie will help customers sort the issue.

The soft bolts have 60-70nm written on them, the hard bolts have 45-55nm written on them.
The first production run of the V3 series cranks had soft bolts. Due to incorrect manufacturing (not hardened). Unfortunate we did not find out until they started breaking. Once we had worked out what was wrong we sent an news letter to our dealers halting the sale of V3 cranks until a replacement bolt could be supplied. That was completed last year. Our records show you should have no first production V3 cranks. However, a few got out in the market, we posted about the issue on social media, but we expect a few people would not have seen that.
For those that have a problem, we can supply them with replacement bolts and give support to removing the broken insert.
They just need to make contact with us.

 

[m@Robertson]

What @tomjasz said. I had a bolt shear on a set of early 3.1's myself in early Sept 2020. Lekkie took care of me after spending quite a bit of one-on-one with me diagnosing. I should have asked about the support for the axle. I had a spare axle on hand and just used that after having no real luck drilling a pilot into the bolt stub with a tiny bit. I think I still have it in the garage, waiting for a rainy Saturday that needs a project.

45Nm is 33 ft lbs and that sure seems like it ought to be considered the outside of the envelope right there.

 

[Bullfrog]

Haystacks...Thank You for the info!
What about heating the axle with a propane torch to get the loctite to let go and then using a sharp chisel or punch to tap the outer edge of the bolt to get it to turn? Propane torch is well above the 500F removal temp for loctite. I'd wrap the axle with a wet rag...as close as possible to the motor to prevent heating the bearing.

 

[tomjasz]

Haystacks...Thank You for the info!

Failures and issues with Lekkie products are rare. When there is a failure Lekkie comes through with warranty replacements.

But what really gets me riled up are threads with titles that imply, or outright accuse a vendor of poor products and product support. Please consider editing the original post headline.
I've watched literally thousands of Lekkie sales and see very few issues.
Doug@ california eBike and the new owner Jeannette have worked with Lekkie to assist in warranty replacements.

 

[Bullfrog]

I agree with tomjasz, I have had very good luck and service with Lekkie components, especially their chain rings .

 

[Surly]

Third one. This is the set BOUGHT to replace the previous sheared ones, was assured they were the replacement for the faulty ones, not convinced they are.