Sheared off pedal - How's that happen?

On Apr 28, 1:43*pm, HazeRider wrote:
I discovered the hard way yesterday that I should be concerned about
possibility that the pedals on my bike might shear right off in the
middle of a ride. While crossing a major intersection and standing on
the pedals to accelerate after being at a complete stop the right
pedal of my Look Keo Sprints sheared straight off just as I passed the
traffic throwning me face first into the asphalt. It happened so fast
I never perceived the going down portion of this. One second I'm up
and a nano second latter my head and face do a seven-beat stacatto
drum riff on the asphalt. Major thanks to the lady that stopped in her
car and helped me. Also the police and rescue squad folks. A cop was
on scene in mere seconds and the ambulance in less that two minutes.
Amazing nothing broken on me. I need a Phantom of the Opera mask for a
few weeks and Advil is my best friend. The bike was not as luckly as
me. Major damage to handelbars, computer, sunglass, helmet, etc.

To the question. How the hell can a $150 pare of so call high
technology pedals with chrom-molly axels just shear off right at the
crank? These guys are just less than a year old. Have nearly 5,000
miles on them. They were attached to my Lemond Maillot Jaune. Not any
more. Ain't going to trust life and limb to those pedals any more.
Does anyone know if there is any history here? What would make this
happen?

OK Boys and Girls I was going to say here's the photos, and I just
discovered I don't know how to post an effing photo here.

I'll try to figure it out.

Ed

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:10:20 -0700 (PDT), HazeRider wrote:



OK Boys and Girls I was going to say here's the photos, and I just
discovered I don't know how to post an effing photo here.

I'll try to figure it out.


There is no "here" here.

This is usenet; it is everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Upload your pics to a website and post a link.

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:10:20 -0700 (PDT), HazeRider
wrote:

OK Boys and Girls I was going to say here's the photos, and I just
discovered I don't know how to post an effing photo here.

I'll try to figure it out.

Ed

Dear Ed,

You can upload photos for free (not even registration is required) to
www.tinypic.com and then paste the short link into a post like this:
http://i31.tinypic.com/2iqdd13.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:22:22 +0100, Kinky Cowboy
wrote:

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:43:58 -0700 (PDT), HazeRider
wrote:

To the question. How the hell can a $150 pare of so call high
technology pedals with chrom-molly axels just shear off right at the
crank?

A pedal spindle is just a screw; the usual way to shear the head off
of screw is excessive tightening torque

Who put the pedals on? If you did it yourself, don't hold out any hope
of getting compensation

Kinky Cowboy*

*Batteries not included
May contain traces of nuts
Your milage may vary
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **


Where did it break? Right at the threads? or where the shaft
transitions in size - and had no radius? No radius at a transition
WILL cause a stress rizer - where it will eventually break.
Too tight is unlikely to cause a fracture at this stage of the game -
too LOOSE is more likely- because when tight there are no
"load-unload" cycles - no flexing. Flexing causes failure moreso than
tension.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:48:03 -0400, "Bill"
wrote:

"Kinky Cowboy" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:43:58 -0700 (PDT), HazeRider
wrote:

To the question. How the hell can a $150 pare of so call high
technology pedals with chrom-molly axels just shear off right at the
crank?

A pedal spindle is just a screw; the usual way to shear the head off
of screw is excessive tightening torque

Who put the pedals on? If you did it yourself, don't hold out any hope
of getting compensation

Kinky Cowboy*

*Batteries not included
May contain traces of nuts
Your milage may vary
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

These are installed with an 8mm hex key from the inside, no 15mm wrench
flats available. Actually somewhat difficult to apply excessive torque.
Factory install manual recommends 40 nm, roughly 354 inch-pounds.
http://www.unitconversion.org/energy...onversion.html
Bill
That's 30 ft lbs of torque on a roughly 1/2" national fine thread. No
where NEAR enough to damage a high strength shaft. And difficult to
overtorque by much with an 8mm allen key. I'd be more inclined to
suspect it was LOOSE than too tight.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Getting an idea of where you’re at legally is difficult: search word/
term ?
Try
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&r...&btnG=S earch
2 pages in
And: product liability
If there’s a court hose down the street try the Westlaw computer
online database in the law library.
Westlaw has all the answers but again search terms and using the
database may be difficult, at first.
Westlaw offers an English word search option.
My guess is ‘product liability’ in Westlaw offers a long annotated
essay in the area.
You need to find an expert who does metallurgy or science product
liability and have the expert handle an inspection by his experts.
Online advert for some.
They write an inspection report as an affidavit, the offending
company’s legal staff will know your experts, and then you demand
compensation for your damages: medical bills, loss of mobility, pain
and suffering, possibly punitive damages if the manufacturer’s quality
control missed a serious flaw.
Upfront then, the manufacturer is guilty or not guilty then you argue
about how much money guilty
My opinion is a 9/16th’s shaft waved in front of a jury isnot likely
to go unnoticed.

On Apr 28, 7:51*pm, datakoll wrote:
Getting an idea of where you’re at legally is difficult: search word/
term ?
Tryhttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3A*%3AIE-SearchB...
2 pages in
And: product liability
If there’s a court hose down the street try the Westlaw computer
online database in the law library.
Westlaw has all the answers but again search terms and using the
database may be difficult, at first.
Westlaw offers an English word search option.
My guess is ‘product liability’ in Westlaw offers a long annotated
essay in the area.
You need to find an expert who does metallurgy or science product
liability and have the expert handle an inspection by his experts.
Online advert for some.
They write an inspection report as an affidavit, the offending
company’s legal staff will know your experts, and then you demand
compensation for your damages: medical bills, loss of mobility, pain
and suffering, possibly punitive damages if the manufacturer’s quality
control missed a serious flaw.
Upfront then, the manufacturer is guilty or not guilty then you argue
about how much money guilty
My opinion is a 9/16th’s shaft waved in front of a jury isnot likely
to go unnoticed.

Searching "products liability" in Westlaw would give you a bazillion
hits. Just find a reputable lawyer and be prepared to give up a
quarter to half your recovery, depending on the fee agreement. This
is an easy, easy case, and the only thing HazeRider has to worry about
is looking credible -- and injured. He could handle the case himself,
but, like plumbing, it is time consuming if you do not know what you
are doing. I wouldn't bother getting an expert report until first
attempting to get the case settled. I have defended a lot of broken
parts cases, and unless the failure arguably resulted from some
negligence on the part of the rider (crashing the pedal hard, whacking
it with a sledge hammer, using it to break up concrete, etc.), the
exact cause of the failure is not important -- except from an R&D
standpoint (and Look will want the pedal and a confidentiality
agreement as part of any settlement. That's SOP). The important
point is that the pedal broke JRA within a year after purchase -- and
the break caused the crash. IMO, the argument is going to be over the
extent of damages. Always remember that jurors generally hate
cyclists unless they are cute or particularly deserving. Otherwise,
they are crazy risk-takers and obstacles to motorists (jurors).
HazeRider would be better off settling -- unless he is cute and
adorable or in a wheelchair. -- Jay Beattie.

In article
,
Jay Beattie wrote:

On Apr 28, 4:24*pm, Michael Press wrote:
In article
,





*HazeRider wrote:
I discovered the hard way yesterday that I should be concerned about
possibility that the pedals on my bike might shear right off in the
middle of a ride. While crossing a major intersection and standing on
the pedals to accelerate after being at a complete stop the right
pedal of my Look Keo Sprints sheared straight off just as I passed the
traffic throwning me face first into the asphalt. It happened so fast
I never perceived the going down portion of this. One second I'm up
and a nano second latter my head and face do a seven-beat stacatto
drum riff on the asphalt. Major thanks to the lady that stopped in her
car and helped me. Also the police and rescue squad folks. A cop was
on scene in mere seconds and the ambulance in less that two minutes.
Amazing nothing broken on me. I need a Phantom of the Opera mask for a
few weeks and Advil is my best friend. The bike was not as luckly as
me. Major damage to handelbars, computer, sunglass, helmet, etc.

To the question. How the hell can a $150 pare of so call high
technology pedals with chrom-molly axels just shear off right at the
crank? These guys are just less than a year old. Have nearly 5,000
miles on them. They were attached to my Lemond Maillot Jaune. Not any
more. Ain't going to trust life and limb to those pedals any more.
Does anyone know if there is any history here? What would make this
happen?

Seriously consider legal advice.
Make no more statements to anybody

Oh, hell, he can talk to anyone he wants -- even us. It doesn't
matter unless he confesses to beating the pedal with a sledge hammer.
I mean the sucker broke within a years after it was purchased. Even a
baby lawyer could squeeze some money out of this case. Pedals should
last longer than 5K miles -- they better because I have the same Keo
model on my bike with about the same mileage. Tick, tick, tick. In
fact, I was riding on a Keo this weekend -- just one, though, because
my other pedal is a $10 rattrap that I can use with the boot on my
healing broken leg.

I look forward to seeing the pictures. I don't think the spindle has a
dramatically reduced cross section around the main bearings and don't
think it is just too whimpy for us pedal mashers -- at least I hope
not. A CroMo pedal that light is a little suspicious, though. -- Jay
Beattie.

Thanks, Jay. I erred on the side of caution.

--
Michael Press

D'ohBoy wrote:
[...]
C'mon, Jim. How's about some of that downhome metallurgy to bring
closure to this guy's pain?

My apologies to the OP for using his pain as an opportunity to poke
JB.

Er, "JB" is Jobst Brandt. "jim beam" is "jb".

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

datakoll aka gene daniels wrote:
[...]
on law, ignore KC, he’s in texas.[...]

I thought KC was from the UK.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful