Your rants here.

Koncordski

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Koncordski wrote:

Argh, cannot remove a pedal. The last bloke must have screwed it in with superhuman strength!

Who's going to ask first?

Right or left hand screw?

I'm turning it the correct way, just ordered a longer wrench off ebay. :evil:

dhope

During recent bike cleats were adjusted.

After a couple of short rides I could slightly feel my right Achilles. Adjusted the right cleat, all okay.
After long weekend ride I can now feel my left knee. Guess I'll be adjusting the left cleat too this evening.

mtb-idle

dhope wrote:

During recent bike cleats were adjusted.

there's a missing from that sentence.

rjsterry

Koncordski wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Koncordski wrote:

Argh, cannot remove a pedal. The last bloke must have screwed it in with superhuman strength!

Who's going to ask first?

Right or left hand screw?

I'm turning it the correct way, just ordered a longer wrench off ebay. :evil:

Make sure it's a nice snug fit - if it's loose, you'll round off the flats, then you'll really be in trouble.

asprilla

Pulled the zip off my gillet before I set off tonight. Arse. Love my gillet.

Mr Sworld

Bloody London... Usually only pass through on the way North.

Tonight I had to deal with the tube to Brixton... :-(

mudcow007

Koncordski wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Koncordski wrote:

Argh, cannot remove a pedal. The last bloke must have screwed it in with superhuman strength!

Who's going to ask first?

Right or left hand screw?

I'm turning it the correct way, just ordered a longer wrench off ebay. :evil:

see if your seat post* slips over the spanner an use that as extra leverage

*assuming its not carbon :shock:

ddraver

mudcow007 wrote:

Koncordski wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Koncordski wrote:

Argh, cannot remove a pedal. The last bloke must have screwed it in with superhuman strength!

Who's going to ask first?

Right or left hand screw?

I'm turning it the correct way, just ordered a longer wrench off ebay. :evil:

see if your seat post* slips over the spanner an use that as extra leverage

*assuming its not carbon :shock:

I had to use an old 685mm handlebar once!

dhope

Orange Customer Service.
Useless, utterly fecking useless.

MonkeyMonster

ddraver wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

Koncordski wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Koncordski wrote:

Argh, cannot remove a pedal. The last bloke must have screwed it in with superhuman strength!

Who's going to ask first?
Right or left hand screw?

I'm turning it the correct way, just ordered a longer wrench off ebay. :evil:

see if your seat post* slips over the spanner an use that as extra leverage
*assuming its not carbon :shock:

I had to use an old 685mm handlebar once!

Old swingball tubes - metre n half + of leverage and good sized diameter to go over spanners

veronese68

If you can get it to Kingston I've got a scaffold pole. Or, as a better option and they also take an allen key on the inside of the crank I have Socket allen keys and a reasonably long lever.

suzyb

dhope wrote:

Orange Customer Service.
Useless, utterly fecking useless.

Have you tried orange helpers on twitter. Might be able to help.

https://twitter.com/orangehelpers

rjsterry

Veronese68 wrote:

If you can get it to Kingston I've got a scaffold pole. Or, as a better option and they also take an allen key on the inside of the crank I have Socket allen keys and a reasonably long lever.

I've always worried that there is a much higher chance of rounding that off or shredding the allen key given the smaller cross-section and pretty big forces involved when putting your whole body weight onto a 2' lever.

veronese68

rjsterry wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

If you can get it to Kingston I've got a scaffold pole. Or, as a better option and they also take an allen key on the inside of the crank I have Socket allen keys and a reasonably long lever.

I've always worried that there is a much higher chance of rounding that off or shredding the allen key given the smaller cross-section and pretty big forces involved when putting your whole body weight onto a 2' lever.

I get your point but the allen key has 6 points of contact compared to the 2 larger ones on the spanner. Also a pedal spanner tends to be quite flat, if you can get a wider 15mm spanner on that would help, but there is often not enough space.
I would be more worried about the allen key insert being twisted out of the socket body, I've had that happen before.

rjsterry

True. I remember my brother (a mech. eng.) explaining the physics behind why inset flats (like you get on a pedal) are not that great an idea, but I don't recall the details of why. IIRC pedals take a 6mm allen key - even a decent one with an 8" arm flexes a fair bit when trying to shift a stuck pedal. Didn't fancy the idea of a snapped end of allen key embedding itself in my knuckles and I'd wrecked my pedal spanner (cheap tools :roll:), hence my trip to Cyclelab.

veronese68

Cheap pedal spanners, or any open ended spanner, are really bad as the jaws pull apart makng it even more likely to round off the fastener. Pedals are just a complete pig to remove if they are happy where they are, but even more of a pain (in the knackers) if they decide they don't like it where they are.

CiB

rjsterry wrote:

True. I remember my brother (a mech. eng.) explaining the physics behind why inset flats (like you get on a pedal) are not that great an idea, but I don't recall the details of why. IIRC pedals take a 6mm allen key - even a decent one with an 8" arm flexes a fair bit when trying to shift a stuck pedal. Didn't fancy the idea of a snapped end of allen key embedding itself in my knuckles and I'd wrecked my pedal spanner (cheap tools :roll:), hence my trip to Cyclelab.

I snapped an Allen key clean off once trying to get the pedal out. They don't arf go with a bang when you've got all your body weight pushing down on the iron bar providing the leverage.

Veronese68 wrote:

Cheap pedal spanners, or any open ended spanner, are really bad as the jaws pull apart makng it even more likely to round off the fastener. Pedals are just a complete pig to remove if they are happy where they are, but even more of a pain (in the knackers) if they decide they don't like it where they are.

Bit late for this poor soul but pedals don't need to be any more than finger tight; they naturally wind themselves in not out anyway. A bit of grease, wind them in and the lightest nip tight with the Allen key is more than enough to keep em in place, and to make em easy to get out some months later.

rjsterry

Indeed, quite a few don't have flats on them at all, and only have the allen head on the end of the axle.

veronese68

CiB wrote:

Bit late for this poor soul but pedals don't need to be any more than finger tight; they naturally wind themselves in not out anyway. A bit of grease, wind them in and the lightest nip tight with the Allen key is more than enough to keep em in place, and to make em easy to get out some months later.

I agree, in theory, but unfortunately the pedal that fell off as I was riding over some cobbles (stood up) didn't understand the theory. Hence my earlier pain in the knackers comment.

merkin

It is probably worthwhile investing in a decent quality 6mm Allen key socket to fit on a socket set for these scenarios. I had a similar problem with a pedal but having owned and tinkered wth an old land rover in the past I have a vast array of weapons available to attack such " challenges". It came off eventually using a 2 foot long breaker bar and socket set Allen key after getting well soaked in dismantling fluid.

suzyb

My digestive system is rubbish :evil:

sketchley

I now have wine.....

redvee

Sketchley wrote:

I will now whine.....

FTFY

cyclingprop

Missed my clip tonight in camberwell... chaps met saddle... saddle now out of alignment. Gah.

rjsterry

Rant at self: Managed to set off this evening with out switching my lights on - got from Old Street roundabout to the Embankment before I realised. F***wit!

BTW, if anyone sees a guy on a white steel roadie with all four light switched off after dark, feel free to point out my stupidity.

suzyb

cyclingprop wrote:

Missed my clip tonight in camberwell... chaps met saddle... saddle now out of alignment. Gah.

Balls of steel :shock:

cyclingprop

suzyb wrote:

cyclingprop wrote:

Missed my clip tonight in camberwell... chaps met saddle... saddle now out of alignment. Gah.

Balls of steel :shock:

Actually, now discs of steel :shock:

mudcow007

Fecking dog chewed the stairs carpet last night whilst we were asleep

she also chewed basically through a spindle on the bannister aswell

joenobody

merkin wrote:

It is probably worthwhile investing in a decent quality 6mm Allen key socket to fit on a socket set for these scenarios.

Not sure about other pedals, but my Keos are 8mm

redvee

JoeNobody wrote:

merkin wrote:

It is probably worthwhile investing in a decent quality 6mm Allen key socket to fit on a socket set for these scenarios.

Not sure about other pedals, but my Keos are 8mm

Shimano XT SPDs are 8mm too, well the M770's are whereas the M747s have 15mm flats but they are nearly 20 years old.