Richie612 Posted February 15, 2021 Report Share Posted February 15, 2021 Has anyone found their pedals slowly get a little loose after riding? If so how have you managed to stop this from happening. I ride an Inspired Fourplay and recently fitted some Dmr V12's to replace the Trialtech pedals that came with the bike. I've been doing a lot of hopping and fakie riding so there will inevitably be some backward pedalling so maybe this is why the pedals are unwinding slowly. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR28 Posted February 15, 2021 Report Share Posted February 15, 2021 Exactly that: pedal threads are designed to self tighten when ridden normally, so by default they come loose when pedalling backwards. Give them plenty of torque (60Nm or so) and they'll stay put. Pedal washers help too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie612 Posted February 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2021 9 minutes ago, Adam@TartyBikes said: Exactly that: pedal threads are designed to self tighten when ridden normally, so by default they come loose when pedalling backwards. Give them plenty of torque (60Nm or so) and they'll stay put. Pedal washers help too. Thought that would be the case Adam thanks. Never pedalled backwards when riding Enduro and DH so this is all new to me . I'm always a bit careful of tightening the pedals too much as they do self tighten like you said. The thought of rounding off the crank threads makes me feel rather queasy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR28 Posted February 15, 2021 Report Share Posted February 15, 2021 Cheap fix though, and you're more likely to damage the cranks from loose pedals than overtightening. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie612 Posted February 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2021 27 minutes ago, Adam@TartyBikes said: Cheap fix though, and you're more likely to damage the cranks from loose pedals than overtightening. Do you mean adding a washer is the cheap fix? Yes I'll proper crank the pedals on tight from now on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR28 Posted February 16, 2021 Report Share Posted February 16, 2021 The washer helps prevent the pedal coming loose. Threads, if damaged, can be repaired cheaply. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted February 16, 2021 Report Share Posted February 16, 2021 Together with massive torque, I put blue thread locker on the pedal threads too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie612 Posted February 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2021 1 hour ago, Daan said: Together with massive torque, I put blue thread locker on the pedal threads too. Blue thread lock I've heard helps but won't it make taking the pedals off for service a bit of a hassle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted February 17, 2021 Report Share Posted February 17, 2021 7 hours ago, Richie612 said: Blue thread lock I've heard helps but won't it make taking the pedals off for service a bit of a hassle? Use a long pedal wrench or a cheater bar over your Allen key, like an old seat post, and you won't have any issues. There are no threads on my trials bike that go untreadlocked Plus, how often do you remove your pedals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted February 17, 2021 Report Share Posted February 17, 2021 When I first fit pedals to my SRAM cranks on my Inspired they can sometimes come a bit loose for the first handful of rides, but they do tend to settle down. Using a decent length allen key to fit them does help, as most multitools won't really give you much torque (especially compared to what they're supposed to be torqued up to). Just keeping a tool with you for the first few rides should help. If it comes to it and you don't have a tool, you can twist them up so they're as tight as you can get them by hand, then pedal around dragging your brake a bit to effectively tighten them on through riding. It's not ideal, but it's better than pedals flapping around in your cranks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie612 Posted February 17, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2021 4 hours ago, Daan said: Use a long pedal wrench or a cheater bar over your Allen key, like an old seat post, and you won't have any issues. There are no threads on my trials bike that go untreadlocked Plus, how often do you remove your pedals? More often than I should , I'm a stickler for maintenance haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie612 Posted February 17, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2021 50 minutes ago, Mark W said: When I first fit pedals to my SRAM cranks on my Inspired they can sometimes come a bit loose for the first handful of rides, but they do tend to settle down. Using a decent length allen key to fit them does help, as most multitools won't really give you much torque (especially compared to what they're supposed to be torqued up to). Just keeping a tool with you for the first few rides should help. If it comes to it and you don't have a tool, you can twist them up so they're as tight as you can get them by hand, then pedal around dragging your brake a bit to effectively tighten them on through riding. It's not ideal, but it's better than pedals flapping around in your cranks! No multitools for me, only use t style Allen Keys and all hung up in the garage in size order! Yes the last time they came loose I nipped them up by hand and rode around a bit to torque them up and that worked. Hopefully they will settle down a bit after a few more days like you mentioned. Might be worth carrying a small multitool for emergencies though. Thanks for the advice. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted February 17, 2021 Report Share Posted February 17, 2021 3 hours ago, Richie612 said: Might be worth carrying a small multitool for emergencies though. I've got a dinky little Topeak tool that I use for that. Always worth having around in case any tweaks need to be made here and there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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