On Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:07:10 -0800 (PST), thirty-six wrote:

On 23 Dec, 13:01, _
wrote:
On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:47:43 -0800 (PST), thirty-six wrote:
One thing is always to keep your chainring fixings
together, do not mix them up. *If you end up mixing nut and bolt then
there is the possibility of a slight mismatch

This is nonsense.

Screw threads were one of the first targets of part interchangability, and
claiming the above is alarmism of beamian nature.

Despite Whitworth standardisation of screw threads, mismatches do
occur with chainring fastenings. I'm not certain of the precise cause
because those bolts I've lost, I've lost, and that is despite making
sure that they were tightened fully. It could be that the threads
were bottoming out and so felt tight when in fact it was simply that
the end of the thread had been reached and so movement of the
chainring would unscrew the bolt.

a) if that (bottoming out) were the case then keeping a nut and screw
together would not prevent it;

b) you seem to have slid from "do this or else" to "I'm sure of the cause";
and

b) it's a poor workman that blames his equipment.