Lower pivot bolt came loose – Just bad luck?

Back from a ride yesterday whilst cleaning the bike I noticed that the rear end had a fair amount of play.

The lower pivot was quickly outed as the culprit and was tightened back up. The bolt was definitely on the loose/about to fall out end of the spectrum.

I tightened it up and left it.

Yesterday evening a quick STW google a couple of posts alluded to stiff/seized bearings could be at fault.

So I whipped out the bolts and spacers and whilst a little grubby the bearings seemed fine.

I cleaned everything down, re greased and packed in some quality water repellent grease. I then thread locked the bolt.

Now was this just bad luck?

I plan on running the bike at my solo bike for MM but am now paranoid that its going to come loose again.

Just bad luck and time to get on with things or sit in the corner, rock and worry?

Not particularly unusual. Are you regularly checking your pivot bolts anyway rather than just when they feel loose?
A drop of blue loctite might not go amiss.

I had this happen on two bikes, to be fair on one once tightened it was fine ever since, though the other continued to come loose now and again. Best thing I did was put a dab of paint on both the bearing bolt head and the frame so they lined up, then I could check if things were undoing by checking after each ride if the paint still lined up. Better than checking each time with tools and meant if it did loosen I caught it early before it got so bad to damage something.
(Oh and the one that kept loosening I took to sideways where Tim fixed it and it never troubled me again, probably a moral n there somewhere about my bike fixing ability….)

Cheers guys.

I use the paint trick on my Puffin EBB but hadn’t thought about using a dab on the top bolts and frame.

Will give it a bash.