Pedals - how long are they meant to last?

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I've just started to investigate some 'interesting' creaking noises on my bike. I have been planning on removing and regreasing the BB for some time now and finally have all the tools needed and the time available, so thought I would get on with it having nothing better to do today given my Spanish class was cancelled.

Whilst the creaking is definitely coming from the BB, I have noticed that the right hand (or should that be foot?) pedal has lateral (?) movement as well... not really sure how to explain this one but I can move it easily vertically (to the ground) up & down along the pedal's axis. I'm assuming this is not normal - the left one does not do this.

So I am left wondering what is going on? The reason I ask is that after 1-200 miles the stock pedals failed on me with a bearings issues in a sealed pedal. I opted to simply replace them at my own expense (cheaper than driving to the decathlon store and trying warranty) and these have now done 1,250 miles or so in the 4-5 months had them. This does not strike me as much, espescially given the ones on my tourer have so far done +9,000 miles without any issues (except one coming off whilst cycling but that is another story).

Has anyone else come across something similar? Is there something else going on? The ones I replaced the original stock ones with, were not the cheapest in the shop, but not expensive either, but for £17.50 (inc toe clips & straps which I need) I expected to get more than 1,250 miles out of them. They have failed on the opposite side to the first set and on my dominant side.

 

[numbnuts]

I've done well over 27,000 miles on my pedals, but I do service them once a year
if I were you I would get new ones, or how about going clipless the best thing I ever did

 

[e-rider]

New pedals often develop creaks etc. after just a few months or so, usually after a few wet rides. This is because in the factory they usually hardly put any grease in the bearings. Also the bearings will bed-in and possibly need some adjustment. I never owned a pair of pedals that didn't need servicing within the first year - even £100 pedals.

A lot of cheaper pedals are not serviceable - and end up in the bin rather quickly!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I've done well over 27,000 miles on my pedals, but I do service them once a year
if I were you I would get new ones, or how about going clipless the best thing I ever did

clipless is not an option for me - unless you can find some high ankle boots that take cleats and they have to be high ankle, not low ankle or shoes). I have hyper mobility syndrome mostly affecting my legs & pelvis and need the high ankle to hold my leg bones where they are meant to be in relation to my feet/ankle bones (in addition to the custom orthopeadic inner soles) and the situation is now worse with my dog bite injury because I don't have full control (or even 50% control) of my left leg below my left knee which makes life - um "interesting"!

I have a new set of pedals that were not fitted to my mtb - the same as the ones on my tourer so I was going to try those, but I think today is rapidly becoming a write off because I can not even undo the allen key bolt to get at the crank arms to remove the crank arms to get at the BB so suspecting things are worse than thought and I may have to speak with my LBS and get them to look at it - or wait until someone much stronger than me is home tomorrow night... needless to say the pedals are also refusing to come undone as well and that is something I have done in the past myself so unless there is a major difference between the pedals of my tourer & mountain bike to my road bike, today is a failure

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

New pedals often develop creaks etc. after just a few months or so, usually after a few wet rides. This is because in the factory they usually hardly put any grease in the bearings. Also the bearings will bed-in and possibly need some adjustment. I never owned a pair of pedals that didn't need servicing within the first year - even £100 pedals.

A lot of cheaper pedals are not serviceable - and end up in the bin rather quickly!

just tried getting the screws off on the pedals to see if I could get at the bearings and it should come as now surprise that I can't budge those screws either - at this rate a new bike might be cheaper!

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

That's not a lot of mileage, but the weather has been iffy. I've usually found, the cheaper the pedal the easier it is to service.

Pedals in that price will probably have loose bearings and as such are easy to service......once you can get to the cone nuts. This usually entails removing the pedal cage (the thin metal or plastic edge connected to the main body) or sometimes (if your lucky) being able to remove the bearing cover without removing the cage.

Once you get this far, empty the bearings out, clean the races and check for pitting. If there's no pitting...either...clean the bearings and reinstall and pack with grease.....or replace bearings for less than a quid and install and pack with grease.

There's plenty of YouTube vids for how to set or adjust the bearing cones on pedals.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Failing that Brompton pedals are cheap as chips and easy to service.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

It does seem that the ones I have on at present are serviceable. Unfortuantly I can't get the 4 screws out that need to come out to get at the nut that needs undoing and of course it is set too far back from me to be able to get any spanner in to do it without the pedal cage coming off, so back to needing to take the pedals off which also won't happen...

today has officially been abandoned!

 

[Biker Joe]

Ugh-Oh. Not a good day for you.
My commiserations.
Are there no cycling buddies that you can call on for a bit of muscle power?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Ugh-Oh. Not a good day for you.
My commiserations.
Are there no cycling buddies that you can call on for a bit of muscle power?

no. the only ones (on cc) I know are around 15 miles away and work... otherwise it is a 42 miles round trip to my step fathers who may be able to assist but only if his hip is not giving him a bad day... one of the problems with living rurally...
I have even managed to find a long handled allen key (to try to carry on with the BB - can't even release the allen key cover over the crank arm bolt area - sorry can't think for the life of my what it is called) but even the object known as the subtle persuasion tool has failed to get it moving - so think I will go and find some comfort food instead... might try the freehub tomorrow, but I suspect I know what is going to happen... maybe a phone call to a step father and a longer bike ride tomorrow is the only option... he does not know much about bicycles but has just about every tool you can imagine...

 

[Biker Joe]

Soooo sorry I can't be of more help. I just live too far away. (feeling inadequate).
I do hope you can get things sorted out.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

The key thing I try to remember re pedal removal is not to push the spanner with my hand/body part in the direction of the chain ring if I could. Else one slip and it would be like Ben Hur with blood everywhere...

It sounds to me you have flat/cage pedals of some sort, which usually have flats for pedal spanners (and are usually preferable to hex keys which are usually too short)? I usually position the spanner at 10 o'clock on the right pedal when it is in front of the bb and step on it while putting my weight on my left hand on the saddle (to stop the rear wheel spinning) and the right hand pulling on the front brake lever. Similarly for the left step on pedal spanner at 2 o'clock for the left pedal (which is reverse threaded) with left hand pulling on the left/rear brake lever and right hand with weight on the saddle. A bit brutal, but usually works first time no matter how tight the pedals are.

While it is usually possible to release the cone inside a pedal with cup and cone bearings, it is not always easy to get the preload right and tighten it all back up without special tools (and some patience).

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

The key thing I try to remember re pedal removal is not to push the spanner with my hand/body part in the direction of the chain ring if I could. Else one slip and it would be like Ben Hur with blood everywhere...

It sounds to me you have flat/cage pedals of some sort, which usually have flats for pedal spanners (and are usually preferable to hex keys which are usually too short)? I usually position the spanner at 10 o'clock on the right pedal when it is behind the bb and step on it while putting my weight on my left hand on the saddle (to stop the rear wheel spinning) and the right hand pulling on the front brake lever. Similarly for the left step on pedal spanner at 2 o'clock for the left pedal (which is reverse threaded) with left hand pulling on the left/rear brake lever and right hand with weight on the saddle. A bit brutal, but usually works first time no matter how tight the pedals are.

While it is usually possible to release the cone inside a pedal with cup and cone bearings, it is not always easy to get the preload right and tighten it all back up without special tools (and some patience).

My OH replaced the pedals last time, and he is renowned for overtightening everything, so I suspect I am not going to get them off at all at the moment without someone much stronger than me around... the pedals are a flat pedal this one in fact which only needs a standard cross-head thread but I can't get a single one of those to move at all either . I don't mind fiddly but simply can't get into these pedals without the cage area coming off first (and have done the wheel hubs on 6 sets of wheel so far, so have the hang of bearings). no major issue given I have a spare set available which I can swap out.
the bigger problem right now if not being able to get to the crank arm to remove them to get at the BB... and having spoken with my mother, my step-father is ill so its best I don't go tomorrow and father-in-law is also out - too far away... think this may be a £££ job at the LBS. Just one of the joys of cycling! normally I can manage most things, but the problem is with the LBS that I have to cycle there and walk around a town that has nothing in it whilst any work is done, which is going to be boring as hell... still I have to go that way tomorrow to collect a prescription so I might speak with him and see what can be done.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Soooo sorry I can't be of more help. I just live too far away. (feeling inadequate).
I do hope you can get things sorted out.

thank you... think this one may have to involve the wallet...

 

[andsaw]

Hi satnav, have you a car you can put your bike in, im in winsford and can do what you want here.