Weird Pedal Question

[Disastrous]

Morning folks, hope someone can shed some light on this for me...

I'm fairly new to road biking and haven't quite made the jump to clipless pedals yet (imminent, awaiting funds!).

In the meantime, I've got a set of metal pedals with plastic toe clips and strap attached.

The weird thing is, every single time I go out for a run over about 10km, one of the screws holding the clip onto the right pedal works it's way loose and drops out, leaving me with a hanging-off toe clip.

Massive pain in the arse and I've replaced it loads of times, screwed it on within an inch of it's life etc etc. The weird bit is the right pedal is the one I stay 'in' at traffic lights etc so I must be doing something whilst I'm pedalling.

Anyone got any ideas what I can try to keep the damn screw in until i go clipless?

[donfisher]

It's probably something simple like it just needs a washer. Now you mention it, the nut and bolt fell out of one side of mine before on the side I kept my foot in at the lights. Maybe I was twisting it loose or something? As I'd lost the bolt I just used a zip tie which lasted a good while until the whole pedal failed and I replaced them.

[Jobbo]

My toe clip screws have all come with lock washers like this - I think they're even captive on the screw:



They've never come off, so make sure yours have lock washers.

[mrmr96]

Maybe just use some thread locker on it?

[Disastrous]

Hmm. I tried thread locker but it didn't do the trick. No washers though and those locking ones look the business. Are they available at a bike shop near me??

[mrmr96]

Disastrous said:

Hmm. I tried thread locker but it didn't do the trick. No washers though and those locking ones look the business. Are they available at a bike shop near me??

Locking washers will be available from hardware stores, like B&Q/Screwfix etc. Just take the bolt so you can check the size.

[Disastrous]

mrmr96 said:

Disastrous said:

Hmm. I tried thread locker but it didn't do the trick. No washers though and those locking ones look the business. Are they available at a bike shop near me??

Locking washers will be available from hardware stores, like B&Q/Screwfix etc. Just take the bolt so you can check the size.

Cracking. Will do that this very weekend.

Cheers

[yellowjack]

Disastrous said:

Morning folks, hope someone can shed some light on this for me...


The weird thing is, every single time I go out for a run over about 10km, one of the screws holding the clip onto the right pedal works it's way loose and drops out, leaving me with a hanging-off toe clip.

Anyone got any ideas what I can try to keep the damn screw in until i go clipless?

Definitely screws? Not Nut/Bolt? I had a similar problem on my 'old' roadbike. It had a Nut/Bolt combo through the front of the pedal, so I solved the problem by fitting a second nut flush with the first, and nipping them up against each other to lock them in place. Funnily enough, it was only one out of the four bolts on mine that would 'let go' as well. Another alternative would be to source a handful of 'Nylock' nuts, the ones with the tight fitting Nylon insert in the thread that soaks up vibration and effectively locks the nut in place on the thread of the bolt.






^^ Two views of the offending Left pedal. 'Locking' nut added to both bolts as a precaution.


^ The Right pedal. Completely standard with just one nut, never had a problem.


^ The bike in question. Falcon Pro-Line, mine since 04 May 1997. Bought new for the princely sum of £230, and "Hand built in England" with a lugged, double butted, Cro-Mo (read:Heavy) frame and forks, of which Falcon Cycles said:

"It is a measure of our faith and confidence in the quality of the skills of the craftsmen who handbuilt this bicycle and of the materials used that we guarantee the frame and forks against defects for up to 15 years during the lifetime of the original owner from the date of purchase."




^ And I still have all the original books and receipts

[ewenm]

Nylock nuts would be my solution too.

[Disastrous]

Sorry, my stupidity - I do indeed mean nut and bolt. WTF did I say screws??

Nylock nuts sound a good plan too...Shall get around to it this weekend I think (though in reality I'll probably just buy clipless pedals and shoes in a lazy fury!)

[Gnostic Ascent]

An alternative is to use a spring washer.

[Gnostic Ascent]

An alternative is to use a spring washer.

[yellowjack]

Disastrous said:

Sorry, my stupidity - I do indeed mean nut and bolt. WTF did I say screws??

Nylock nuts sound a good plan too...Shall get around to it this weekend I think (though in reality I'll probably just buy clipless pedals and shoes in a lazy fury!)

Not that stupid really. It's more than possible that some pedal manufacturers might 'tap' a threaded hole into the body of the pedal and fix the clips with 'machine' screws. The question of going clipless is an entirely personal one. I've kept 'old faithful' fitted with it's (original) toeclips because it was used for things like riding to hockey training and going to the supermarket when I was away from home, and buying for one. Cycling shoes would have been inconvenient to say the least. Nowadays, I'm permanently back in the family home, so I almost always shop by car, and my body is too old and broken to play hockey any more, so I'm going to rebuild the Falcon as a 'winter' bike. I'll probably end up going clipless on it when the rebuild is done (probably just in time for next winter), as well as fitting some proper roadie mudguards in place of the 'butchered and bodged', circa 1993, Mt Zefal mountainbike mudguards, which came off a very broken mountainbike I had, as a 'Temporary' fix, back in 1997.

[Disastrous]

yellowjack said:

Disastrous said:

Sorry, my stupidity - I do indeed mean nut and bolt. WTF did I say screws??

Nylock nuts sound a good plan too...Shall get around to it this weekend I think (though in reality I'll probably just buy clipless pedals and shoes in a lazy fury!)

Not that stupid really. It's more than possible that some pedal manufacturers might 'tap' a threaded hole into the body of the pedal and fix the clips with 'machine' screws. The question of going clipless is an entirely personal one. I've kept 'old faithful' fitted with it's (original) toeclips because it was used for things like riding to hockey training and going to the supermarket when I was away from home, and buying for one. Cycling shoes would have been inconvenient to say the least. Nowadays, I'm permanently back in the family home, so I almost always shop by car, and my body is too old and broken to play hockey any more, so I'm going to rebuild the Falcon as a 'winter' bike. I'll probably end up going clipless on it when the rebuild is done (probably just in time for next winter), as well as fitting some proper roadie mudguards in place of the 'butchered and bodged', circa 1993, Mt Zefal mountainbike mudguards, which came off a very broken mountainbike I had, as a 'Temporary' fix, back in 1997.

It's a clear case of N + 1. My father has a lovely Thomson Orbit that I was using for a while that he took back when I bough the Allez, despite him not using it. Ideally I'd have this as a 'town bike' with old-fashioned pedals and keep the Allez as a 'race' bike with clipless pedals.

As it is, I'll probably just get those Shimano pedals that are flats on one side and clipless on the other.