Look Keo Blades

I bought a set of Look Blades about a year ago. I used them on a couple of bikes and they drove me crazy because they would not rotate to the "neutral" position so that you could kick into them off of a stop. I would be continually kicking the medal this way and that.

Since I have several bikes to ride, I just stopped riding the bike those pedals were on.

I woke up Saturday (supposed to be rainy with strong winds but turned out to be only for a hour in the morning) with a thought of doing something, ANYTHING about that since they are very light.

Firstly after removing them so I could look at them I discovered that they have a lock-in washer and screw on the inner face of the pedal under a rubber plug. Opening this I sprayed a bit of TriFlow to see if it was heavy grease causing the problem. No dice, didn't change a thing.

Then a thought - the nut and washer, if overtightened would put a preload on the bears even though I think they are rollers. I loosened the nut, turned the pedal a couple of times and carefully tightened it Bingo. That was the problem.

Now they spin freely and rotate naturally to the neutral position. They do not have any free play side to side.

After I install them on my Madone in place of the Keo Tour de France pedals, I will check them occasionally to see if the screws are tightening or loosening depending on side. If they are I will put some Loctite on the screws and set them to the correct no-load tightness.

So if you've read negative reports on these pedals this is a fixable item.

On Monday, June 1, 2020 at 12:33:52 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I bought a set of Look Blades about a year ago. I used them on a couple of bikes and they drove me crazy because they would not rotate to the "neutral" position so that you could kick into them off of a stop. I would be continually kicking the medal this way and that.

Since I have several bikes to ride, I just stopped riding the bike those pedals were on.

I woke up Saturday (supposed to be rainy with strong winds but turned out to be only for a hour in the morning) with a thought of doing something, ANYTHING about that since they are very light.

Firstly after removing them so I could look at them I discovered that they have a lock-in washer and screw on the inner face of the pedal under a rubber plug. Opening this I sprayed a bit of TriFlow to see if it was heavy grease causing the problem. No dice, didn't change a thing.

Then a thought - the nut and washer, if overtightened would put a preload on the bears even though I think they are rollers. I loosened the nut, turned the pedal a couple of times and carefully tightened it Bingo. That was the problem.

Now they spin freely and rotate naturally to the neutral position. They do not have any free play side to side.

After I install them on my Madone in place of the Keo Tour de France pedals, I will check them occasionally to see if the screws are tightening or loosening depending on side. If they are I will put some Loctite on the screws and set them to the correct no-load tightness.

So if you've read negative reports on these pedals this is a fixable item..

This morning I was making some changes to my Madone before a ride. I changed to a 32 tooth rear and I was going to change to the Keo Blades.

I took the Keo Tour de France spring pedals off and went over and picked up a Keo Blade to replace it. That's funny, I thought. And picked the Tour de France pedal up again.

I went and got my scale and weighed them both - BOTH the Keo Blade and the Keo Tour de France weighed exactly the same 130 grams apiece. It is my opinion that the spring locking mechanism is more reliable so I simply replace the Tour de France pedals onto my Madone.

And I recommend that rather than buy the Keo Blade where you would probably have to play with the bearing preload, the Tour de France is just as light, has a more reliable mechanism and cost less.