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Pedal Falls Off
So here I am with my beloved Flyzipper, a Dahon Impulse P21, at the
doctor's because I didn't know how to change an inner tube (put the wheel on backwards). I resumed my commute to work with Behemoth, a monstrous Dutch bike. As some may recall, the last we heard from Behemoth was when I had some strapless mini clips fitted to the pedals to help me get her lumbersome weight up the many hills surrounding Paris (which is why, incidentally, so few people have Dutch bikes here, as I now know from hindsight). Although everyone encouraged me to persist with the mini-clips, I found that they made a difficult bike even more unrideable. Behemoth has always been very hard to start. The added conundrum of having to thread my feet into clips caused a few near-accidents at intersections. So I gave up on the clips. Since I no longer have an LBS worthy of the name, I simply bought a new pair of pedals and attempted to screw them on myself. They are mountain bike pedals and much easier to use, with their toothed metal structure, than the awful, eel-slippery sugarloaf rubber pedals Behemoth was born with. Today is the second time I ride out with Beth since I changed the pedals. Puffing up a hill in first gear, I find the going harder and harder, and the right pedal showing a sort of assymetric grind, twisting my foot a few degrees at every revolution. I carry on, past the top of the hill and coast down into a village. Right there in the center of town, with a considerate motorist behind me, I abruptly lose the pedal, which clatters off onto the pavement. Motorist stops in time not to back-end me or crush the pedal, and waits patiently while I gather up pedal and Behemoth splattered clear across the road with all the contents of her basket. Stopped nearby is a builder with a pickup truck and some wrenches of appropriate size, who helps me screw the pedal on again. He tightens it as much as he can. I resume my route but after only a few hundred yards, I can feel the pedal going wobbly again. Not wanting to trust indefinitely to the kindness of motorists, I decide to walk the remaining 7 km to work. Now what? I realize I cannot trust that pedal. By and by, I see no reason to trust the other pedal either. Is it that the thread where it screws in is shot, due to my inability to screw it on straight in the first place? (For I am constitutionally incapable of screwing straight. Read into that whatever you please.) Does this mean replacement of not just pedals but also pedal cranks? Or is there any endemic reason why one cannot have steel MTB pedals on a aluminum cranks? Evidently not my week for cycling. Elisa Francesca Roselli Ile de France |
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On 16/5/05 8:22 am, in article ,
"Elisa Francesca Roselli" wrote: Now what? I realize I cannot trust that pedal. By and by, I see no reason to trust the other pedal either. Is it that the thread where it screws in is shot, due to my inability to screw it on straight in the first place? (For I am constitutionally incapable of screwing straight. Read into that whatever you please.) Does this mean replacement of not just pedals but also pedal cranks? Or is there any endemic reason why one cannot have steel MTB pedals on a aluminum cranks? Sounds like you cross threaded the pedal first time and stripped the threads. Was it hard to put on the first time you did it? Did you screw it in the right way (the right hand pedal screws in the other way than the left hand one.) ...d |
#3
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David Martin a écrit :
On 16/5/05 8:22 am, in article , "Elisa Francesca Roselli" wrote: Sounds like you cross threaded the pedal first time and stripped the threads. Was it hard to put on the first time you did it? Yes, that's probably it. I did have a hard time screwing them in. Can a pedal that has been cross-threaded and ridden (further damaging the thread) still be used safely? Elisa Francesca Roselli Ile de France |
#4
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Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
Now what? I realize I cannot trust that pedal. By and by, I see no reason to trust the other pedal either. Is it that the thread where it screws in is shot, due to my inability to screw it on straight in the first place? Sounds entirely possible from the description, so you'll quite possibly need a new crank arm on the wobbly side, but to check that use the old pedal for a few circuits of the block where you live and see if that's okay. If it is then just a new pedal should suffice. Or is there any endemic reason why one cannot have steel MTB pedals on a aluminum cranks? No, pedals are pretty much freely interchangeable. The only Sneaky Bit is that the left pedal has a reversed thread, so tightens up anticlockwise. There is often, but not always, a G/D or R/L indicator, but otherwise it's a case that if it won't go on, you've got the wrong one... It's best to put a little grease on the threads before putting the pedals on, as that way they'll come off again when you want without requiring two days of penetrating oil, a ******* Size pedal spanner and a team of trained body builders. The reason for the reversed LH thread is that the act of pedalling should naturally tighten both sides, so you don't have to worry about the grease making them spontaneously fall off. Pete. -- Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/ |
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Elisa Francesca Roselli writes:
David Martin a écrit : On 16/5/05 8:22 am, in article , "Elisa Francesca Roselli" wrote: Sounds like you cross threaded the pedal first time and stripped the threads. Was it hard to put on the first time you did it? Yes, that's probably it. I did have a hard time screwing them in. Can a pedal that has been cross-threaded and ridden (further damaging the thread) still be used safely? If the thread is trashed then you'll probably have to replace the crank or get a helicoil (thread repair) fitted to it. Depends how much you'd like to keep the original crank in the future but I'd be tempted to bond the pedal in to the crank using JB Weld seeing as it's pretty much a write-off in any case. Chris -- Chris Eilbeck MARS Flight Crew http://www.mars.org.uk/ UKRA #1108 Level 2 UYB Tripoli UK Member #9527 LSMR |
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Elisa Francesca Roselli writes:
David Martin a écrit : On 16/5/05 8:22 am, in article , "Elisa Francesca Roselli" wrote: Sounds like you cross threaded the pedal first time and stripped the threads. Was it hard to put on the first time you did it? Yes, that's probably it. I did have a hard time screwing them in. Can a pedal that has been cross-threaded and ridden (further damaging the thread) still be used safely? I wonder if you some how got the pedals switched. The right pedal should screw in clockwise, and the left pedal should screw in counterclockwise. |
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Can a pedal that has been cross-threaded and ridden (further damaging the thread) still be used safely? As a paperweight? Or as something to throw at errant dogs/taxi drivers? Typically the pedal will suffer no damage through being cross threaded but the crank will be shot. This is in accordance with murphy's law of engineering maintenance: "If two components are assembled incorrectly, the cheaper and easiset to replace will be undamaged but the more expensive and harder to replace will be a write-off." ...d |
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David Martin a écrit :
"If two components are assembled incorrectly, the cheaper and easiset to replace will be undamaged but the more expensive and harder to replace will be a write-off." Oh dear. They may have trouble finding a replacement crank for this rare imported bike. And walking her back to her dealer in the 16th arrondissment will take the better part of an afternoon. At least I had the sense to wear my pedometre this morning. So I can still quantify the exercize. EFR Ile de France |
#9
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Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
Oh dear. They may have trouble finding a replacement crank for this rare imported bike. No, cycle transmissions, and especially bits of them like crank arms, are interchangeable to quite a high degree. Much like wheels, tyres, etc. There shouldn't be any trouble getting it replaced at any bike shop that has heard of spare parts. Pete. -- Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/ |
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Jim Smith wrote:
Elisa Francesca Roselli writes: David Martin a =E9crit : On 16/5/05 8:22 am, in article , "Elisa Francesca Roselli" wrote: Sounds like you cross threaded the pedal first time and stripped the threads. Was it hard to put on the first time you did it? Yes, that's probably it. I did have a hard time screwing them in. Can a pedal that has been cross-threaded and ridden (further damaging the thread) still be used safely? I wonder if you some how got the pedals switched. The right pedal should screw in clockwise, and the left pedal should screw in counterclockwise. Cross-threading is one thing, but if the pedals were offered up on the wrong side I don't see how Elisa Francesca would have got them to go on at all. --=20 Dave... |
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