EggBeater Failure

Like most sealed bearing pedals, the Crank Brothers' EggBeaters use a
bushing and O-ring on the inboard end of the pedal body and a sealed
bearing at the outboard end. The sealed bearing fits over the pedal
spindle and is attached with a screw through the center of the
bearing.

Wearing shoes with sloppy cleats I was able to pull the pedal body
completely off the spindle when the bearing failed. The center of the
bearing stayed attached to the spindle while the pedal body came away
with my shoe.

There were no noticeable warning signs of its imminent failure. It
merely came apart when attempting to disengage the cleat.

I'm ~145 lbs and recovering from a broken leg so you know I wasn't
overwhelming the equipment with brute force. The pedals are about two
years old though they've not seen constant service during that time.

Question is whether this is the normal failure mode for typical sealed
bearing pedals or is it unique to EggBeaters? How can it be prevented
if there are no previous signs of its happening?
--
zk

Zoot Katz wrote:
Like most sealed bearing pedals, the Crank Brothers' EggBeaters use a
bushing and O-ring on the inboard end of the pedal body and a sealed
bearing at the outboard end. The sealed bearing fits over the pedal
spindle and is attached with a screw through the center of the
bearing.

Wearing shoes with sloppy cleats I was able to pull the pedal body
completely off the spindle when the bearing failed. The center of the
bearing stayed attached to the spindle while the pedal body came away
with my shoe.

There were no noticeable warning signs of its imminent failure. It
merely came apart when attempting to disengage the cleat.

I'm ~145 lbs and recovering from a broken leg so you know I wasn't
overwhelming the equipment with brute force. The pedals are about two
years old though they've not seen constant service during that time.

Question is whether this is the normal failure mode for typical sealed
bearing pedals or is it unique to EggBeaters? How can it be prevented
if there are no previous signs of its happening?

I've had the same thing happen on a pair of Wellgos. It only happened
the one time, and I've used several pairs of similar pedals for 10K's of
miles. The good news (I think) is that this type of failure doesn't
typically threaten with a crash.

Zoot Katz wrote:

Question is whether this is the normal failure mode for typical sealed
bearing pedals or is it unique to EggBeaters? How can it be prevented
if there are no previous signs of its happening?

That happened to a Ritchey spd pedal about 7k miles old, just a few
weeks ago. Also no warning signs. FWIW, it was the right pedal, the
side I clip/unclip about 90% of the time while staying clipped on the
left.

I'm taking that as a cue that it's time for me to become more, um,
ambipedalous. Mostly because of the indication that I lack left-side
skills I might need in an emergency.

RichC

Peter Cole wrote:

I've had the same thing happen on a pair of Wellgos. It only happened
the one time, and I've used several pairs of similar pedals for 10K's of
miles. The good news (I think) is that this type of failure doesn't
typically threaten with a crash.

When mine broke (or at least, when the pedal started coming off the
spindle still clipped to my shoe) I was accelerating hard through a
left turn on a 6-lane road in rush hour traffic. I could feel something
was wrong, but couldn't look down. I was lucky it was the right side;
since I was turning (and therefore leaning) left, the left pedal might
well have come all the way off the spindle had it been the broken one,
and I would surely have gone down right in front of the vehicle
following me in the left-turn lane.

As it was, I felt something wrong but the pedal stayed on the spindle.
I ended up riding the rest of the way in on the spindle (no fun), and
borrowing somebody's BMX pedal at work (off an unused bike) to get home
on.

RichC

Zoot Katz wrote:

Question is whether this is the normal failure mode for typical sealed
bearing pedals or is it unique to EggBeaters? How can it be prevented
if there are no previous signs of its happening?

I prevented it by switching to the better designed (IMO) Look version
of the pedal, with needle bearings

http://www.lookcyclesusa.com/pp-4x4.htm


--dt

3 Aug 2005 06:21:07 -0700,
. com,
"rdclark" wrote:

Question is whether this is the normal failure mode for typical sealed
bearing pedals or is it unique to EggBeaters? How can it be prevented
if there are no previous signs of its happening?

That happened to a Ritchey spd pedal about 7k miles old, just a few
weeks ago. Also no warning signs. FWIW, it was the right pedal, the
side I clip/unclip about 90% of the time while staying clipped on the
left.

I'm taking that as a cue that it's time for me to become more, um,
ambipedalous. Mostly because of the indication that I lack left-side
skills I might need in an emergency.

I'll readily unclip either side depending on the circumstances. Given
the road crown, the left foot is usually dabbed unless I'm at the
curb. Lately I've been unclipping the left foot (injured side) before
unclipping and dabbing on the right side. I still can't trust the left
ankle to not collapse.
--
zk

Wed, 03 Aug 2005 07:52:48 -0400,
, Peter Cole
wrote:
\
Wearing shoes with sloppy cleats I was able to pull the pedal body
completely off the spindle when the bearing failed. The center of the
bearing stayed attached to the spindle while the pedal body came away
with my shoe.
\
Question is whether this is the normal failure mode for typical sealed
bearing pedals or is it unique to EggBeaters? How can it be prevented
if there are no previous signs of its happening?

I've had the same thing happen on a pair of Wellgos. It only happened
the one time, and I've used several pairs of similar pedals for 10K's of
miles. The good news (I think) is that this type of failure doesn't
typically threaten with a crash.

That's somewhat reassuring though not as reassuring as a cone, washer
and lock nut.

Mine failed while powering up a small berm in too high a gear I tried
un clipping when I started losing it. I was standing on the pedals and
leaning to the right at the time. It was the right pedal that failed
at the top of a stroke. The forces may have been unusual but not so
much so that one would consider a pedal failing.
--
zk

Wed, 03 Aug 2005 11:47:31 -0400,
, Doug Taylor
wrote:

Zoot Katz wrote:

Question is whether this is the normal failure mode for typical sealed
bearing pedals or is it unique to EggBeaters? How can it be prevented
if there are no previous signs of its happening?

I prevented it by switching to the better designed (IMO) Look version
of the pedal, with needle bearings

http://www.lookcyclesusa.com/pp-4x4.htm

What's different about how the pedal body is held to the spindle?

In my case, the inner race of the outboard bearing separated from the
rest of the bearing. It remained screwed to the spindle. The outer
race remained in the pedal body.
--
zk

Same thing happended to me a few weeks back. The pedal body came off
the spindle. This set of egg beaters was only a few months old
(purchased Dec '04). It came off without warning. Luckily I was
peddling in the saddle at the time.

Prior to that, I owned another pair of eggbeaters. I used them for
about 2 years (when they 1st hit the market) without any problem. One
of these pedals was lost in a crash. My crank arm snapped and so did my
collerbone. The pedal and crank were left behind while I was carted off
by ambulance. Hence the needs for a new set of pedals..

Anyway, the crankbrothers customer service experience was excellent for
me. They shipped back to me the next day my repaired pedal as well as
another pedal (gratis) so I now have two pairs of pedals. Good stuff.

Some other comments a the original (stainless steel) model I have
required a 5mm hex wrench and had metal dust caps. The newer pair uses
8mm hex wrench (less desirable/convenient) and plastic dust caps, to
save weight I guess. The internal design for both looks the same as far
as I can tell.

On first thought, it is troubling to think that it's a tiny (5mm, IIRC)
retaining bolt that holds the pedal body to the spindle. Then again the
same was true for the (traditional, not eggbeater licensed) Look pedals
I rode for years without any problem. Chaulk it up to someone in the
factory not applying enough torque to my eggbeater pedal, I reckon.
C'est la vie!

Thu, 04 Aug 2005 20:55:58 GMT,
,
? ?@?.? wrote, in part:

On first thought, it is troubling to think that it's a tiny (5mm, IIRC)
retaining bolt that holds the pedal body to the spindle. Then again the
same was true for the (traditional, not eggbeater licensed) Look pedals
I rode for years without any problem. Chaulk it up to someone in the
factory not applying enough torque to my eggbeater pedal, I reckon.

In this case the bearing itself came apart. The outer race and balls
are still in the pedal body. The inner race stayed on the spindle held
by that dinky lookin' screw and blue Locktite.

Pressing the remainder of the bearing out of the body is going to be a
challenge without the inner race.

The pedals were purchased in October 2002 so Crank Bros. don't have to
honour the two year warranty though I'm hopeful they may offer a
solution. I do like the pedals and they always attract comments.
--
zk