Should pedals spin?

supermurph09

Trying to clip into my Look Keo pedals today was like trying to plait fog. I tend to unclip the left one but numerous times I could not get the damn thing in, i'll inspect that tomorrow as it was really bad today, but for now my question is, should pedals spin?

As i try to clip back in, unless it goes in straight away I can be scrabbling around, trying to flip it over to the right side. Someone suggested today that the pedal should not spin around but should remain (within reason) upright and ready to accept the cleat.

Is that correct? If so what is wrong with my pedals? They have been like this since I bought my bike.

JayKosta

The pedals should freely rotate - it shouldn't take anything more than a gentle touch to get them to swing is little. The pedal probably has a 'heavy end' and that end should rotate to the 'down' position - and hopefully that position allows you to easily 'clip in'. If the pedals are stiff to rotate, then either the bearings are very dirty, need replacement, or perhaps need some type of adjustment.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

nferrar

They should move freely but not spin loosely. Single-sided clip in pedals are weighted so the front points up slightly to make engagement easier, if they don't return to this position on their own then they might need a service.

CiB

Pedals shouldn't spin. For maximum power transfer tighten the bearings up as much as possible to lock them in the horizontal with the crank at the 12 o'clock position. Let us know how you go on with that.

Disclaimer blah blah pile of tosh as answers go but only as daft as the question blah blah.

Mine spin, if I miss and fail to get the foot in first time.

NewTTer

CiB wrote:

Pedals shouldn't spin. For maximum power transfer tighten the bearings up as much as possible to lock them in the horizontal with the crank at the 12 o'clock position. Let us know how you go on with that.

Disclaimer blah blah pile of tosh as answers go but only as daft as the question blah blah.

Mine spin, if I miss and fail to get the foot in first time.

LMFAO Classic

supermurph09

Good job I have good eyesight!

FlacVest

Supermurph09 wrote:

Good job I have good eyesight!

When you push off with the clipped in pedal, wait 1/2 second, look down, and then clip into the pedal. When you push, that will make the pedal spin on the axel.

If you freak out, you'll miss it. If you push gradually, and start in a higher gear so you'll actually roll across the road, you should be able to clip in, and ride off.

However, if I take a week off the bike, I've had times where I fumbled at every intersection. Other times I don't even look and I'm clipping in with ease.

shmo

I find Look Keo Easy pedals can be pretty annoying to clip into if I don't hit it first time. They're very easy to spin 360 when I only want 180 but think that's to do with the shape more than anything. Also find that if I don't clip and try to pedal anyway then I'm almost guaranteed to slip off. This makes it really hard starting off on steep gradients when there isn't time to mess around.

I switched to these pedals after all my Time pedals, 4 or 5 pairs at least, all suffered a creak of doom which was really noisy and ultimately terminal. Time's were a bit more forgiving when not clipped and could be used flat more safely, which was good as they were harder to clip into.