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Road cycling season has started in Helsinki! I did my first roadbike ride after snow-ice-mountain biking winter, and discovered clicking sounds in the bottom bracket area.

The crankset is Truvativ Elita Cross with GXP axle. Manuals at ParkTool say that only 8mm Allen key is required to remove the left side crankarm. The fixing bolt unscrews counter-clockwise:

After the bolt is removed, the crank is still press-fit, so it is not possible to just pull it off:

I was kind of stuck at that point, not knowing what to do next. The solution which did the work was to insert the bottom bracket cup removal tool under the crank. Fortunately I had a half-circle wrench, the “full circle” would not have fit over the crank! The unscrewing cup worked as a crank puller, effectively removing the left arm from the splined axle.

When the left arm is removed, the work is done.

I’d say that the claim about “no special tools required for GXP crank removal” is overstated, because the cups still need a wrench with a long lever. But it is still better then other designs such as Shimano Hollowtech and later Sram/Truvativ models, which, in addition to the cup tool, need a specific left arm extractor or tightener.