Am I being impatient

Hi, I brought a new orange five recently, mail order from singletrack bikes in Bonnyrigg, on the very first outing the pedal came out of the crank arm and threaded the arm! I spoke to singletrack bikes and sent photos, the pedals were supplied with the bike, but I obviously had to fit them, however I did have to go into hopes website to get the torque settings as none were included with bike, so I know they were set right and can’t explain why it happened, anyhow, singletrack bikes said to send them the cranks as silverfish would need them back to replace them and it should take 2-4 days but could be as much as a week! Well the email that stated those times was the 2nd feb, it’s now the end of the month, I spoke to them last week and was told silverfish had agreed to warranty them but we’re not sure when they would arrive, one week later still no joy, called singletrack yesterday and was told they had not had them yet and silverfish would let them know what’s happening today hopefully!

Really feel quite annoyed at the moment, feel like I’m just being fobbed off and really wish I’d paid more and gone local! Am I just being impatient? Bear in mind that I have a brand new bike that has no cranks, I’m loosing warranty time and riding time and although o have had a couple of rides on it since by fitting another set of cranks, I have now had to refit them to the bike I removed them from (bike for sale)

What should I do, surely once they agree to a warranty claim there is no reason for dragging it out?

Did the insert come out of the crank arm, or did the pedal just rip the thread out?

If the latter I’m really struggling to look beyond user error.

Whether or not the damage was the result of user error (and it sounds like the OP did as much as possible to install them correctly), they have agreed to warranty them. I’d be annoyed if it took that long. If there are supply issues then that’s maybe unavoidable, but I’d want to be kept informed as to what exactly the delay is caused by and given a date for when I could expect them,

Race face ride cranks so no inserts, As for it being user error, it’s kind of irrelevant as they have agreed to warranty them, and if it was down to the pedal not being correctly torqued then really they should include fitting instructions with clear torque settings on them! However, they have agreed to warranty them so it’s just a case of time really, as you say perhaps it is supply issues, but after spendings £££££’s on a new bike that I can’t use I’m close to wanting to send it back for a full refund. 🙁 although it’s not really the outcome I want

Buy SLX cranks cheap now, flog Race Face replacement when it arrives.

Win-win.

If warranty has been agreed with Silverfish then I can’t see why the shop would want to delay getting you sorted. After all, it’s just more time and effort for them too. They must have some explanation for the delay?

How long since the shop got the cranks to send away?

Well they must have received the cranks on the 3rd or 4th of feb so been a while, turns out, I’ve just spoken to silverfish who have told me what’s going on, they don’t have any of those cranks and as of yet can’t tell me when they will have them 🙁

Buy SLX cranks cheap now, flog Race Face replacement when it arrives.
Win-win.

This is a good idea. Buy new cranks, ride new bike and be happy 🙂

In that case:

chakaping – Member

Buy SLX cranks cheap now, flog Race Face replacement when it arrives.

Win-win.

Also, XT doubles are going dirt cheap just now too if you prefer

if they have agreed – and tbh your contract is with the shop and not the supplier/maker- then they should just issue them and get on with it

Torque shouldn’t matter as your pedaling action tightens them up, not loosens them. Most likely reason is that they were cross threaded on installation or the thread was damaged during manufacture.

to be honest after having spent significant amounts on a new bike the last thing I want to do (or am gonna get go ahead off the missus for) is to buy more bike stuff. I don’t mind being without for a short period of time whilst the matter is sorted, but I just feel it’s getting beyond a reasonable time frame now

When it is resolved you’re still going to have RF cranks though….. better to have the temporary outlay then flog them to some sucker on return 😉

If silverfish can’t say when new cranks will be supplied then that is a problem between silverfish & singletrackbikes, i would suggest you get onto singletrackbikes & get them to supply equivalent or better cranks instead – cost of which is down to silverfish & singletrackbikes to sort out between themselves.

Torque shouldn’t matter as your pedaling action tightens them up

wrong, totally wrong. pedalling will loosen them.

OP, have you checked the pedal axles aren’t seizing and causing the axle to unscrew?

best idea mentioned above is to buy new cranks and flog the others as new when they come in from warranty

The pedal axles spin ok, not loose, there is resistance but just “new pedal full of grease” type resistance if you see what I mean, it was a brand new set of hope f20’s supplied with the bike

That.

typically Hope then!

maybe the pedal threads in the crank were out of tolerance. At least its being warrantied, but to answer your initial question, no you are not being impatient.

Dickyboy – Member

If silverfish can’t say when new cranks will be supplied then that is a problem between silverfish & singletrackbikes, i would suggest you get onto singletrackbikes & get them to supply equivalent or better cranks instead – cost of which is down to silverfish & singletrackbikes to sort out between themselves.

Although you need to fit Orange into that equation too as (unless it’s shop built) Singletrack never bought the cranks and the customer never bought them either – as he has a receipt for a bike instead. Does the shop actually have the responsibility to replace components as part of a bigger assembly? Sounds a bit messy.

wrong, totally wrong. pedalling will loosen them.

Nope, its totally right.

Here’s totally why.

Also, who torques a flippin pedal? That smacks of guilt to me.

Also, who torques a flippin pedal?

I do, 35nm on all mine (shimano cranks) and then check after first ride after fitting.

I would be demanding the shop sort it out ASAP.

Also, XT doubles are going dirt cheap just now too if you prefer

Ohhh. Whats the weight difference between SLX, XT & XTR doubles?

mrjmt – who torques a pedal

Errrrre me!

Why does that “smack of guilt” to you? I torque most things on my bike, simple reason, I’m a big guy and small alloy parts are easily snapped, I’m aware of this so am meticulous about making sure I do things right! That’s not to say I don’t ever get it wrong, but I am always very carefull to make sure things are torqued correctly. Also in this particular instance as there were no steel inserts in the cranks like on my previous bikes it is even more of a worry.

thanks for your useful contribution but that has never been an issue

thanks for the science lesson mrjmt. but….

the pedals have handed threads (as do threaded BBs) so that the the act of pedaling unscrews the pedal or bb in case of a bearing seizure. if the threads were the other way around, pedaling would permanently tighten the threads in the event of a bearing siezure.

think about the way you turn a pedal spanner to unscrew a pedal, same motion as your legs take to drive the bike…..

Anyhoo, irrelevant.

OP, get on the phone and demand a replacement, if its been agreed to be warrantied, the shop should supply you either the correct part or an equivalent.

to tighten pedals you put the pedal spanner on and spin the cranks backwards

to loosen the pedal you would spin the crank forward as if you were pedaling –

sound counter intuitive – but me and dave are saying the same thing i think….. just viewed from different reaction points. anyway it all falls round the below quote.

Bicycle pedals are left-threaded on the left-hand crank so that precession tightens the pedal rather than loosening it. This may seem counter-intuitive, but the torque exerted due to the precession is several orders of magnitude greater than that caused by a jammed pedal bearing.

Well the shop have been on the phone and told me they have been chasing silverfish nearly everyday and that they have this morning made a complaint, they have also suggested they might have a spare arm floating round the warehouse and have been told they will be sent out!

Let’s see what week 4 brings, if it’s a genuine supply issue then it’s really annoying but not directly the shops fault, although they are ultimately the seller and responsible for replacing it for me, but il give it a few more days and see what arrives, if nothing then I will look into taking it further

I am, I haven’t the patience to read a first post that long 😆

Hello guys.

This all sounds a bit weird to me for several reasons.
1) Pedal axle threads aren’t generally covered under warranty. A failed thread, on a used set of cranks, is normally a result of one of several things; either a pedal inserted incorrectly (I.e cross threaded), a huge pedal strike dislodging the axle, a pedal not being tightened up correctly or a pedal axle not engaging deeply enough with the crank arm*

Clearly, if our warranty guys have a agreed to replace the cranks then that’s great but I will say that’s pretty unusual.

The second thing I find odd is that we can’t, apparently, tell the shop when the cranks will be in.
We have to forecast all of our orders well in advance so I could tell you when we’re going to receive things for the next 6 months – unless the cranks have been discontinued or are an OE specific product (I.E not a line we can carry) then I can’t see how we don’t have that info.
Obviously dates will vary a small amount but still, you get the point.

If you want me to take a look into this personally them just drop me a mail on Richie @ silverfish – Uk . Com

* some pedal axles ‘taper’ to allow easy fitting. This taper can, on some pedals, be some extreme that on a crank arm (especially if fitted with a pedal washer) simply not leave enough threads engaged.

Well, if this seems “weird” to you, then it seems even weirder to me!…..

1) you say that pedal threads are not generally covered, well that doesn’t seem to be an issue, I’ve been told it will be warrentied, pedal was torqued and can’t see it being cross threaded as it turned in by hand with ease for the most part! Could there not of been some kind of manufacture defect with the threads?(not sure what but I can’t really explain why, it was only ridden for a mile or so (first climb out the car park at llandegla to top of the “out in the open bit”) so not had the chance for any pedal strikes ect and in my experience that would have to be one hell of a strike, I’ve hit a few pedals on things in my time and NEVER had any issue from it other that loosing pins from the pedal)

The second thing that I find even odder than you do, is that I decided to call silverfish direct on Friday as I felt I was getting nowhere with the shop, I was told by silverfish that the cranks were not available and they couldn’t/wouldn’t tell me when they could be expected! All they could do was take my number and tell me they would call me back later in the day with some info (never did receive that call![not that I’m supprised])
So it’s not just the shop that have now “apparently” had that info from you, it’s me as well, also what I find strange is that your site shows stock for the double and triple versions of the same crank arms, however I couldn’t see “just” the crank arms on your site (mines a single NW version but presumably they are all the same arms?

After all that I did get a call from the shop late on Friday who told me they had been calling silverfish most days to chase them up and have ended up lodging a complaint, that “apparently” has made some odd crank arms floating round the warehouse “appear” all of a sudden?

I’m not sure exactly what’s going on, or who, if anyone is actually passing on genuine information, but I’m getting a bit fed up of the whole saga, all I know is I’m being fed different info from everyone, even people from the same company it would seem! The last info I have been given is that the cranks are being sent out now so I hope they will arrive early next week, if not then I may well contact you to investigate further, thank you!

Hi nutsnvolks

Message me anyway if you will, cause something’s not right.
Fire me through the details and I’ll look into it and find out what’s going on.

Cheers

Richie

FWIW, Singletrack Bikes are good guys. Not to say they haven’t ****ed up here, you understand, it’s possible… but they’re not out to scam you.

If you want me to pop round and wee in their shoes, I will, but I won’t feel good about it.

I agree Northwind – they’re a great customer of ours and good fellas.

Northwind, I agree, they seem like good guys, I got a great deal on my five and they have always been really helpful, however with this issue, something isn’t adding up, there seems to be a mix of info coming from silverfish to both myself and singletrack, I don’t think for a second that anyone is out to scam me, and I am sure this will get sorted eventually, just a bit frustrating when you’ve brought a brand new bike and after 3-4 weeks it’s incomplete!

As for weeing in their shoes, lol, thanks for the offer but might be a bit drastic

I think the OP has been particularly jammy getting anyone to agree to replace something like that so I’d tread carefully if I were him….

I didn’t mean it that way nutsnvolks- just thought you might like to know, you haven’t inadvertantly bought a bike from scumbags or chancers, it does happen.

Yeah I know, I have re edited my post whilst you wrote that as it came across wrong lol

Boblo – don’t think there is anything “jammy” about getting a defective item replaced/warrentied

I’ve never checked the torque of a pedal axle in my life…ever (or any other bolt for that matter).

As others say, I would just buy some other cranks for the time being and punt the others when they come back.

Lucky to get a warranty if you installed the pedals yourself. IMO.

Any big scratches on your pedals?

But it’s not certain it’s defective is it? More likely ham fistedness and therefore jammy because you’re trading on their goodwill. QED.

And in answer to your question; yes.