Quick Post as an update r.e. diagnosing problems ..

Hats off to Evans cycles in Kingston once again. They really are a decent, honest LBS. (There's also
a race bike shop in across Kingston bridge who seem really good (whilst I'm advertising decent local
bike shops here.))

They gave an offer of sorting out the crank noise exactly one week from now, or sell me a crank
puller for £12. I took the crank puller and some free advice.

The main advice (three times mentioned) was "use a wrench to make sure the thread won't ruin".
Probably good advice. I did an extra 5 miles to get the aforementioned wrench.

I'm a bit confused why taking my cranks off and cleaning up that area cured such an annoying noise.
The crank bolts (or whatever they're called) were tight and re-tightened by my LBS. Taking them and
the cranks, a quick clean up - all was fine. I'm not even dreaming about touching the cartridge (is
it a cartridge? It's an area of the bike that frightens me to touch. For now anyway. If I need to
wait a week for my LBS, I will get over the fear).

I did mention to my LBS that if they see me tomorrow, I've "re-threaded" the cranks. They wont see
me fortunately

Sorry for rambling, it was just a load off my mind.

It's better to fix your bike yourself.

Nick