October 7th, 2018
-----------------

Went back to the co-op today to try again at crank replacement.  It
was open!  To my great surprise, the SR Custom (Super Custom?  I
forget) crank I had previously been eyeing off was no longer there.
However, also to my surprise, I found that the other offerings didn't
seem as ugly to me as I recalled them being.  I grabbed some fairly
generic looking 170mm Shimano crank without any apparent special
branding, and installed it "the proper way", i.e. with greased spindle
and a second tightening of the bolt after an initial ride, to
counteract the loss of preload.  Time will tell how this holds up.  I
*really* hope it proves reliable.  Autumn is well and truly into swing
here and I worry that I may only have another month of good riding
opportunities before it gets too cold and/or dark...