I have had two pairs, both have ended up being unable to turn. The last pair were returned and refunded. My first pair have developed the same problem, but are outside the 2 year warranty.
Has anyone had similar problems?
£9 for new bearings, or £18.99 for new pedals?
I do a couple of years on them and as soon as bearings play up I buy new ones.
When I took them apart everything was fine, then when putting it back in the problem returns, I think its some kind of mis machining on the plastic collar that means it gets compressed.
Maybe its the batch that Merlin had ?
I suppose the solution is to check them just before two years is up and send them back?
I think you need to remember they are £19 pedals with a 2 year warranty, so even if you check them at 23 months and send them back, you don't get another 2 year warranty. For £19 they are almost disposable items and £9.50 a year is pretty good value. Given your experiences why not get some more expensive ones and see if they last longer?
I am going for some XT's and see how it goes. I am very disappointed in Shimano here, given the reliability of pretty much everything they produce.
Cheap as they are, they should last, especially with trickle down tech.
I had a pair of 747's from approx 1995, which I have just sold and they were still good and approx 4 others, which though worn never had this binding problem.