Subscribe now and choose from over 30 free gifts worth up to £49 - Plus get £25 to spend in our shop
Three bikes, three sets of DMR V8s. One pair on my MTB, one on OH's MTB, one on her new Crosscheck.
My bike picked up a tactile 'clunk' underfoot when pedalling which, after a bit of hair-pulling, seems to be to internal to the pedal. Grasping the pedals and wiggling them, one is solid and one has a bit of movement. The conclusion of an experienced Wrench at the trailside is that it's probably a dodgy ball bearing. It feels a bit 'gritty' so this sounds plausible. Fair enough. I've temporarily swapped them with a pair of cheap beartraps and the problem's gone away.
Seems you can get replacement BB kits for them. I looked at stripping it but it seems I have every socket known to man apart from the one I actually need. The pedals have done maybe 600 miles, topped up with grease regularly, but they've suffered a lot of pedal strikes (which won't have helped) as I'm crap; they look a mess as a result and so for the sake of 30 quid I was just going to replace them.
Out today with the OH, and she's picked up a loud "tink" noice when pedalling. It sounds different to mine and she can't feel anything wrong, but once again I've wiggled the pedals and one feels loose on the axle. If I put my weight on the pedal at the bottom of the stroke, then rotate the crank 180' and put pressure on it, I can reproduce the click as the pedal moves on the axle.
Now, these aren't old, abused pedals, they're about a month old and have been used a couple of times over maybe fifty miles, on road and mincing down canal towpaths. They spin smoothly and seem fine, apart from the click.
Out of interest, I went to look at the third set, on OH's MTB. These are showing no symptoms of problem but, sure enough, one has a slight bit of 'give' on the spindle.
So here's the questions. It this normal? Are the V8s fundamentally broken? Am I just unlucky? Should I send the new ones back? Or is it just a case of getting a socket that fits and tightening them up slightly?
Cheers.
I can't answer all your questions but the bit of knowledge I can pass on is as follows:
V12s can be serviced but I don't think V8s can. In any case,when I asked about it I was told it was a major faff and someone promptly sold me a LH V12 for a £5.
Once they are on a wobble they'll be fine for miles and miles and miles after.
Err.. that's about it. Soz, probably not much help that
Cheers.
I know they [i]can[/i] be serviced; CRC sell BB kits and there's how-to guides on the Internet. Where I was really going with this is whether or not they 'just do this' and if it's easily fixable.
I don't particularly want to go buying BBs and Yet More Sockets if it's going to be a hiding to nothing; conversely, I didn't want to start the returns process for the sake of 30 seconds' work.
I suppose there's no harm in buying a socket, can never have too many tools.
You've been unlucky. I've run V8s with no problems and they are fully strippable (is that a word? It is now.) and serviceable.
We have three pairs between us, filled them with grease and adjusted bearing freeplay before I installed them, and they've all been fine since. Oldest pair about 4 years old I guess.
Totally serviceable (here's [url= http://steveukmtb.wordpress.com/dmr-v8-pedal-overhaul-cup-and-cone/ ]a guide[/url] I did). The only issue will be is if the cups are pitted, then they're knackered.
Cheers all.
Thanks for the guide link; that's the one I'd seen before, it's excellent.
adjusted bearing freeplay
... this sounds like what I need to do. Ta.
remember one side is left hand thread. dont strip the nut
Sage advice for life, there.
I've found that much of the time you can 'fix' a pair of v8s by just sticking some (a lot of) grease in the grease hole and tightening up the endy bit (the cup or the cone, can't remember which is which?) just enough to remove axle wobble. In the worst case, you have to take out and grease all the bearings like those instructions say, or at least whack some grease in under the cone bit before tightening it correctly.
I've found that they last way longer than the bearings on cartridge bearing pedals, and also don't do the annoying pedal falls off on bearing failure thing that cartridge bearing pedals tend to do.
Oh and if you're doing anything with the cones or bearings, don't do it on a patio with gaps between the slaps, or on the kitchen floor with somewhere for bearings to roll under. Do it somewhere where you can see any bearings that escape, or else you will soon feel like an idiot!
Cheers.
Whilst we're on the subject, is grease grease or do I need to worry what I'm sticking in there? I've been using TF2 on the old ones so far.
Just a word of caution, I had a pair of V12s with titanium axles .They have steel nuts and the thread wore away meaning that after being a bit wobbledy the pedal came off completely .They sent me a set of spare nuts but to be honest I was more concerned with my own nuts so I haven't used them since .Not very impressive for £70 pedals .The cheap and cheerful replacements from superstars are still going strong