Pedal fell off

[Engineer1]

In order to avoid any name and shame or cast any aspersions, lets make this hypotetical, bike purchased in September, 6 week check in October, by the 26th November the pedal has fallen off and stripped the thread out of the crank arm. So would that be

1. user error not checking and tightening the pedal?

2. the shop at fault as they obviously couldn't have tightened the pedal sufficiently?

3. a combination of iffy components?

The bike is back at the shop awaiting repair as they don't have a drive side crank arm in stock but what would you accept as far as paying for the repair?

[mrtomsv]

Firstly I think I can guess which shop you bought from - in future don't.
Secondly you say 'pedal fell off' but then go onto imply that there's been some damage which needs repairing. If the pedal or crank simply came off then could you not reattach it yourself? Bikes are supposed to have parts removed/replaced/upgraded so its no big deal really.

[Engineer1]

The shop it was purchased from is a specific cycle shop and only sells bike hell it's a single brand shop. The pedal has stripped the thread out from the crank arm so no chance of reattaching and no chance of re-threading it as the hole is no oversized and would need a nutsert type of thing fitting.

Basicly six to eight weeks since the first service the pedal has been according to the shop so lose that it has stripped the thread out. Six to eight weeks sounds a seriously short time for that much damage to have occured.

[Rouleur]

If a pedal is tightened to the correct torque, or anything near it, it should never come loose as the thread tightens with pedalling. Obviously you need to check the axle from time to time but I'd say that it's the shop's fault.

[Engineer1]

That's my view, also the bit that sts me up is the Mrs didn't spot the iffy feel and the pedal could have fallen off while she was riding at speed, and in traffic hell the BOS I got from halfords fell apart but atleast the pedals stayed tight.

[anonymous-user]

Sounds like it was cross threaded when the pedal was last fitted and as pressure was applied, the thread stripped. They should fix it for free if you haven't taken the pedals off since you bought the bike.

I always use copper-ease on pedals as it keeps them tight but makes removing them easy.

[Engineer1]

I suspect as much but it's in the shop and being the right hand crank arm that has stripped thread it needs replacing, I spoke to the boke from the shop this afternoon and they where saying it must have been left loose and ridden for an extended period loose to strip the thread like that, well the bike was 6 week checked by them on them on the 21st of October, I found the reminder on my phone that i'd set to take it in, so just over a month since their spanner monkey tightened everything a component was loose enough to cause the arm to be written off as far as repairability.

Sounds like they will be in for a serious ear bending from my wife on Monday once I've passed all this on to her to tell them at the shop.

[Engineer1]

Well fair play to the shop, they have replaced the part with what they have told me is an upgrade and all for no charge.

[WeirdNeville]

Sounds about right. There's no way that could happen from "user Error" - the bike would have to have been built incorrectly, either through massive over torque of a pedal spindle, or by cross threading and just forcing it home.

[Rouleur]

Result. Did your OH nag them into submission?

[Floor Tom]

Rouleur said:

If a pedal is tightened to the correct torque, or anything near it, it should never come loose as the thread tightens with pedalling. Obviously you need to check the axle from time to time but I'd say that it's the shop's fault.

Just to point out, pedals, if the bearing is tight or siezed will thread out with pedaling, not in. However, if they were fitted correctly there is no way they should have fallen off.

[Crippo]

Indeed, Pedals do not need to be super tight if teh bearings are in good order as they won't undo.