My girlfreind has had her cube hardtail just over 3 months and logged a maximum of 20hrs riding on it.Bought from local bike shop for £1000.We went on aride saturday just gone and half way through she said he pedal felt wierd so i looked at it and the cheap nasty pedal that was given and fitted by lbs had come loose and was just hanging on.I took it off and %50 of the thread on crank arm has come away(now knackerd in imo).Took it back to local bike shop where mechanic has put pedal back on and said locktight should hold it hopefully and thats the best they can do as he doesnt think warranty will cover it,manager also says this.I personally have never known a pedal come loose,and mechanic says that how they get around the warranty is by saying the bike should be checked thouroughly every so many rides miles ect.Is it our fault for not doing this the lbs we bought it from or manufacturer.Cheers

Was it repaired by the same local bike shop? It’s dubious but I’d be asking the question that’s for sure.

That’s nonsense.

I’d be back to the shop & asking them to fit a new crank arm for you.

If it came loose so soon, it clearly not been tightened properly in the first place.

Sorry but it’s the owners responsibility to check every thing is tight prior to a ride, not the shops.

Things come loose, could be the brakes next time, who’s fault would that be?

yeah but a pedal doesnt come off like that if its been fitted properly in the first place. I had a guy come in with a bike he had ridden infrequently, the pedal came off, but was installed correctly – so without a though we changed the crank arm – not the customers fault.

I’d challenge back if i were you.

Pedals came with a £1000 bike? Thought they pretty much all came pedal-less these days. As has been said mind, it technically is the responsibility of the owner to make sure everything is in proper order before riding. This is the thing though, it may have been fitted improperly to begin with, but has since been ridden without it obviously being checked over until it went wrong.

And it certainly isn’t a ‘bike warranty’ issue. Cranks are almost always under the warranty of the manufacturer of the part, not the frame manufacturer.

they get around the warranty is by saying the bike should be checked thouroughly every so many rides miles ect

This is’nt to ‘get round’ the warranty.It IS your responsibility to make sure the bike is safe before every ride.
That said on something like this I’d like to think they’d help out in some way.

The shop that you bought it from fitted the pedals ? If so they should replace the crank no questions asked. Go back and insist they do this.
Pedals correctly fitted DO NOT just come loose.

Sorry but it’s the owners responsibility to check every thing is tight prior to a ride, not the shops.

Things come loose, could be the brakes next time, who’s fault would that be?

In this case, with respect, that’s bollocks.
Shops fault entirely. Pedals don’t EVER come loose unless they aren’t fitted properly.
I’d be mortified if that was me who’d PDId the bike.

The thing is that a pedal doesn’t just go from being on tight to hanging off , there would have been plenty of warnings that something was loose , noises while pedaling being the most obvious . It’s a bit like getting a puncture , continuing to ride and then complaining that the rim was knackered .

The thing is that a pedal doesn’t just go from being on tight to hanging off , there would have been plenty of warnings that something was loose , noises while pedaling being the most obvious .

To you yes and perhaps others, but as the Op’s girlfriend was using some cheapo pedals supplied with the bike she might very well not be that experienced. You’d be surprised at the lack of mechanical sympathy some people have.
I worked in a LBS 30+ years ago, if a customer came in with a loose pedal and a striped crank I’d fitted 😯 I wouldn’t have dared tell the boss, I’d have snuck it back out and paid for the parts myself.

Fair point , it can be a bit of a grey area . For what it costs it would probably be better for the shop to just fix it and keep the customer happy in this instance .

Pedals just don’t come lose if they’ve been fitted correctly (or there’s a fault). And the fact that they’re happy to bodge it back in with loctite speaks volumes to me. I’d be mortified if a customer brought a bike back to me because the pedal had come off and would be bending over backwards to sort a good permanent repair by replacing the arm.

Completely agree with the above. I ran a shop for years and I never had a pedal come loose on its own. The only time I have seen this is when it was not properly tightened in the first place. Repairing with loctite is completely inadequate and I would suggest it is liable to a catastrophic failure.

I seem to remember Leisurelakesbikes installing my pedals on my new ride with PTFE tape, complete incompetence. To say I was surprised and pissed off was an understatement.

Even I knew what PTFE tape was and what it’s intended use at the age of 18 😆

They won’t be able to claim this is a warranty failure from the manufacturer, as it’s their cock up. Warranty doesn’t cover improper assembly. Worst case I’ve heard of is a cable on a carbon frame eating a hole in the frame as the shop cabled it wrong. Shop ended up paying for a new frame.

So hence they are trying to fob you off.

They must replace it!

pedals should be fitted using a crow’s foot and suitable torque wrench typically 40nm

they should never come loose with that level of torque input into the crank boss. The only circumstance would be if the customer has removed that pedal and not refitted it properly.

I would never accept a bike back with a pedal 1/2 fitted into a damage thread using “loctite”….recipe for serious personal injury!

Go back to the shop, its their issue.

Big thanks for all replies.For those asking the pedals were supplied and fitted by the lbs.it also had a six week service in July. They say that Cube have refused to replace the crank under warranty as it is the owners responsibility to check things aren’t loose. It sounds as though a lot of people think a pedal shouldn’t come loose and as the bike is very new and hasn’t been ridden much/hard and was recently serviced that the lbs could take responsibility. But they seem very sure that it’s not their responsibility – their offer as a good will gesture is to replace the chain set for a much reduced fee of £140 with no labour charge. Thanks again for everyone’s feedback

The LBS is talking shite. A properly fitted set of pedals won’t come loose like that.

Time to name and shame

£140, a GOOD WILL gesture … 😥

I wouldn’t want a bad will quote.

The shop and cube are right, it isn’t a warranty issue.

It is however a build issue and is the responsibility of the shop and they should replace the crank arm as they assembled it incorrectly.

Talk to your local trading standards.

what chainset is it?

Presumably it’s the drive side? Did you take it back for its first service to the same place? They absolutely are talking bollocks.

It’s the shops issue not cubes. Warranty or not your contract of sale is with the shop not cube. If the shop believe it is faulty then they can seek compensation from cube once they’ve fixed your bike.

Sale of goods act – if your product develops a fault in the first 6 months the shop must prove that it wasn’t defective or of unsatisfactory quality at the time of sale. I would suggest they can’t so should fix it.

My bet is the pedal was cross-threaded at some point, hence the thread on the crank breaking off, so aslong as only the shop have put pedals off and on then they should shoulder the blame.

Also £140 for a crankset? Whats on there now and what are they replacing it with. Apart from the high end carbon cubes I cant see anything that has a crankset worth more than £90 on it.

A pedal does not need to be tightened that much in all fairness and should have been grease so it never seizes the thread.

Your friend paid them for a product and service, and service is what they should have got right but now it is them that need to be offering customer service to resolve issue.

end of.

£140 seems ridiculous, you can get a Shimano XT M782 10 Speed Triple Chainset from chain reaction for £100.

This shop clearly has no pride in their work.

I am of the opinion of some on here that the shop should be taking responsibility here especially since they provided the pedals and it has been back for a check up. Locktite is not a suitable solution to the problem.

Hi it’s my bike and yes the shop that sold me the bike also completed the service. It was a free service that you’re entitled to as part of the cycle to work scheme. I don’t know what chain set they’re offering, not knowing what one was I felt too silly to ask. Since having the bike I didn’t even think to check all the bolts were tight. I will from now on but I definitely stopped riding it as soon as I felt the pedal wobble. It’s just a bit confusing as the shop seem so sure that they couldn’t be at fault and suggested that Cube agreed that the mechanic’s action to use loctite was appropriate. I can contact trading standards and get some more advice but I’ve lost confidence in using it – I realise bikes will fail when you’re riding them for all sorts of reasons but the mechanic told me that using loctite only ‘might’ work as some of the threads are busted.

I appreciate the posts and realise that the shop may not be at fault – it’s tricky when you know so little about mechanics

Surely a sub £1000 cube hard tail is going to be a deore level crank at best, rrp £90 crc £60. £140 much reduced with no labour??? That’s mick taking surely.

If the shop tells you to do one its your fault, I’d probably take less offence than I would if they offered me that. What’s the bike and is it like for like crankset? For a sub deore level crank and probably plastic test ride pedals I’d just sort it myself I think if they refused but if they try and pull the wool with any much reduced tat I’d be on the warpath..

I highly doubt that Cube agree with the use of Loctite – it’s certainly not the correct way to fix it.

Surely a sub £1000 cube hard tail is going to be a deore level crank at best, rrp £90 crc £60. £140 much reduced with no labour??? That’s mick taking surely.

If the shop tells you to do one its your fault, I’d probably take less offence than I would if they offered me that. What’s the bike and is it like for like crankset? For a sub deore level crank and probably plastic test ride pedals I’d just sort it myself I think if they refused but if they try and pull the wool with any much reduced tat I’d be on the warpath, especially if they’re playing on your lack of knowledge.

Seems everyone just agrees someone didn’t tighten it up enough…

BUT surely if it wasn’t tightened at the start then it would have been loose at the 6 week check and they would have tightened it then, so seems a bit odd.

Could be either persons fault really, but everyone just saying it must have been the shops fault and they have to prove it blah blah blah, but the shop will have a PDI sheet showing that the mechanic ticked a box saying the pedal was tight and probably the same for the 6 week check so they can (on paper) prove it if needed.

but either way you would think they can do something to try and resolve it without charging that much….

Ask the shop what they torqued the pedals to when they did the service…

Hi – when I went in Saturday I asked who had serviced it and was told as their system had changed it was almost impossible to check. I got an email off the assistant manager today who said ‘…all your fixtures and fittings would have been torqued to the correct tensions. This would have been in the region of around 40 Nm – a significant amount of torque to ensure the pedal would remain firmly in place’. I’m not clear from this whether the assistant manager has seen the mechanics report sheet or whether he means what he expects was done – either way I can’t imagine the mechanic would’ve left the box unticked even in the event that he didn’t tighten the pedal. I didn’t get any feedback or report after the service.

Pedal threads and pedals have a good tolerance and you must never use Loctite on them, ever. I use coppaslip to prevent seizure and like everyone here, if a pedal is fitted properly, they wont just undo if done properly. Its threaded that way to prevent it from doing this. I have never lost a pedal and the responsibility and credibility of the shop hangs in the balance on a poor response of repair/ replacement so far.
If the pedal did now pull out the crank, the potential for injury could be massive and for the price that a bike shop could buy a new crank, would be small change for their mis- build issue. Yes, you should check bikes before every ride with a spanner check, but a pedal doesn’t come loose and I am sure and me included , don’t check pedals , just 5mm and 6 mm bolts etc.

Yes you should check everything every ride

But…. the shop is completely wrong to bodge a repair for something that the is 99% probability it was their fault and then charge you a huge sum of money on the pretense it is a “goodwill gesture” …. not cool

Sounds like a well known chain rather than a LBS, is that correct?

No-one but the shop can really help you out here so keep going in and badgering them.

If you really get no-where then at the very worst outcome I’m sure someone friendly from STW probably has a spare crank gathering dust they could give you and help fit if local 😀 Not that it should come to that of course- don’t let the shop wriggle out of it

Utter tosh. Pedal falling off is caused by one thing only – mechanic poorly building a bike.
I have a load of lbs experience and if you came into the shop I worked in with a fallen off pedal the fix would be simple.
Check for impact damage.
Check it’s the original pedal fitted by shop.
Ask customer if they had adjusted/removed pedal.

If none of those were likely then the store replaced the damaged goods and the mechanic had the piss ripped out of him for being shite.

I feel more informed now so will go back to them tomorrow and see what their position is on some of the comments expressed here – cheers Helen

Also to the people on this thread who regularly tighten your pedals… Are you kidding?

Checking your bolts before every ride? Seriously?

Pedals don’t EVER come loose unless they aren’t fitted properly.

Not true in my experience, a couple of years ago I had a set of Straitline pedals that just would not stay tight.

I knew of two other (quite experienced DH riders) who also had this with their Straitlines.

Every other set of pedals I’ve used (Eastons, DMR’s, Shimanos etc) have all been fine.