Crank Brothers pedal failure

Just wondering (as I sit at home off work) has anyone else speared their leg with a crank brothers pedal after the platform has suddenly come off?

not speared my leg but had several similar failures

anyone want to buy two drive side eggbeater pedals?

Thanks. I have two non-drive side pedals (eggbeater & candy c). Free to any home.

Hmmm, not good is it.

Not crank bros, but my kona wah wah's did it after 2 dh runs at wharnecliff.
Made me crash, close to spearing my leg, wrecked my rear mech chain wrapped round spokes etc etc, not good really.

I've heard of it happening with the crank bros before, happened to a friend of mine and of course all the internet stories about 'em…

first time mine did it was 1/4 of the way into my third lap of the first 24/12 race

which was nice

To be fair all sorts of pedals fail, though you usually find that Eggbeater types develop a fair ammount of play before they 'go'.
I give mine a quick wiggle test along with the chainset, headset and wheels every now and then.

i still swear by them, i'm just too lazy to look after them properly

I've killed pair like that, didn't spear myself though (phew)

I've 10 sets and been using them for 6 or 7 years with only one failing as you describe above. They are high maitainance pedals but thier advantages far outweigh the disadvantage of a quick squirt of grease and a once over every couple of months.

Hapens all the time, when I can afford some decent pedals I will be getting shot of mine

Snapped an axle on some V8s (genuinely)JRA once. That speared my leg. I had to walk the rest of the way to work and get the train home. Did get new ones on warranty so its all good.

oldgit – Member
To be fair all sorts of pedals fail, though you usually find that Eggbeater types develop a fair ammount of play before they 'go'.

I've never had a Shimano pedal remove itself from the axle while pedalling along. I have experienced this with a Crank Brothers pedal. Crossing a busy junction in fact, which was nice!

There was no worrying play in the pedal before it came off, the pedal had been used for about 6 months in a period where I wasn't riding much. Not exactly hard use, and no racing.

I'd also add that the group I ride with had something like 6 pairs of these pedals fail in the same way, always on the l/h side.

I sent an email to Crank Brothers detailing the problem, they didn't have the courtesy to reply.

They actually work really well, it's just a pity that CB didn't sort out the problems and the fact that they were expensive when compared to Shimano as well just added insult to injury.

I personally wouldn't touch anything produced by CB again.

Hi guys, if anyone has any problems with crank brothers products they just need to get in touch with us on info@2pure.co.uk.

IdleJon – I find it hard to believe that crank brothers would ignore an email but sometimes things do get flagged as spam or lost in the system, crank brothers – like ourselves – believe in providing excellent customer service. If you still have the pedals please get in touch and I'll see what we can do.

Regards
ran

Thanks for the reply ran.

This would have been 2 or 3 years ago, maybe slightly longer and before you were the distributors I think.

The email would have been rather stroppy as I sent it having ordered and just received a servicing kit, and having totally failed to get the pedal back in working order.

Ok Jon, thanks. Like I said though if you still had them I could try work something out.

ran

Only thing stopping the platform from coming off is a tiny nylock nut on the end of the spindle . . . . this only needs to undo about two turns for the nylock to stop gripping, then the nut is free to undo completely (and off comes the platform). I always use new nylocks when rebuilding pedals after maintenance and make very sure that the spindle thread is totally free of grease before applying a drop of threadlock, then the nut goes on.

the failures on mine have been the entire assembly coming off, bearings and all.

Once the nylock is off everything else can follow . . . bearings, bushes, the lot.

the nut was left in!

these were the older design pedals though, i don't ride enough any more to knacker them!

I'm hoping that everything came off otherwise I might have some bearings/bushes in my leg?!
I'll never use these pedals again. I was only going to the bloody shops!

Hi Trig, I am sorry to hear about the problems with your pedals. I would like to see them back here to see what exactly has gone wrong though. If you get in touch on info@2pure.co.uk then we can arrange a return for you.

ran

I experienced this twice with two sets of pedals. The last time was on a road ride on Boxing Day several years ago. I was pootling along an empty street and when I went to ride out of the saddle, my pedal detached from the axle and I had a nice bloody scrape down the side of my calf. I just managed to stop tumbling to the ground with reactions that would make a baby giraffe proud. I stopped using Crank Brothers pedals after that. They were less than a year old at the time. Like Mrmichaelwright, the nut was still in the axle on mine. I've never had a problem before or since with any other manufacturers pedals and have happily used Time ever since.

Fair play to Ran at 2Pure for wanting to help. Always good to see importers looking to resolve issues and back up their product. Unfortunately, the internet can create a skewed view of how reliable products are based on a few bad experiences. For me, I wasn't willing to take the chance to be proven unlucky for a third time but that doesn't mean all CB pedals are pants.

Yes, and they are a total bitch to get on and off when changing pedals…please put a 15mm pedal spanner option on.

They seem to weld themselves to crank arms and I need to use a piece of copper pipe 2foot long to lever the buggers off !

Oh I have a RH pedal but most of the bearings and inner gubbins are halfway down a trail in spain..

i've a set of acids that the drive side has seized up on, bit disappointing after only 14 months. i have a set of shimano's that are 10 years old now and still going strong 🙄

2 sets of CB pedals here and alls good 8)

IdleJon
Ironically I've only had that problem with two sets of Shimano!
I had one set of Eggbeaters fail, though the locknut held everything in place long enough to get me home.
Guess that's why I use Eggbeaters still.

Same, been running the SL eggbeaters for about 5 years after my XTR pedals shat themselves after clipping a rock.

Only problem was a snapped spring a while back which was repaired under warranty. And i even continued my ride with no issues by zip tying the otherside of the pedal to close the bars onto my cleat 🙂

Oh and the other issue was freezing up with the Shimanos. However I did only ever use the cheapest SPD's.
I still thinks it's a maintenance thing in most cases, it's hard to believe that any pedal would go from perfectly good order too fail. Obviously I understand that things do break.

A friend of mine used eggbeaters and had several pairs on the go. He'd get the knackered bits replaced at the eggbeaters stand at Merida events at regular intervals. He was generally good at maintenance, but gave up in the end cos eggbeaters just couldn't cope with his kind of year round usage in the Peak. He's gone back to SPDs.
Another mate had a locked up cleat and toppled off his bike when he couldn't unclip.
I was doing the Rough Ride last year and chatted to a rider sat on the roadside with half an eggbeater pedal in his hand and the axle still on the bike. Amazingly, another rider stopped and said he was carrying the spare part (a circlip or something) that was needed to fix it, because his failed regularly.
I'll stick to my Atacs 🙂

You lot are all Ham footed.
But am I not right in thinking that even if all the bushes wear on Eggbeaters the body can't slip past the locknut?

no. if the bearing wears sufficiently the inner race will separate from the outer. that's what happens when they come apart.
do the new cb pedals have a bearing both sides, or are they still one bearing, one bush?

i would add that crank bros are still better than most for performance as i have first hand experince with atomblab & a friends superstar pedals.

there warranty is also exellent.

maybe ist the simple fact they are by FAR the biggest selling pedals on the market so naturally have a large volume of claims.

if i was going back to silly pedals i would get mallets again no problem.

Just bust a spring on mine, i have been using them for all riding including courier duties…lets say they've done 13/15000 miles at a guess, one rebuild kit only in that time (they are acids btw) got them from merlin for 35 quid…so all in pleased with them…bought a pair of smarty's of ebay for 25 quid with cleats so will use them for a bit then remove the spring and fix the acids, so..two spare springs and some cleats and pedals to use to boot…still prefere them over anything else as you can rebiuld the lot, my experiences with spds are not to clever….

I've been using Speedplay Frogs for over 10 years.

Absolutely no problems. All I do is check the bearings occasionally (they're a doddle to replace) and squirt some Pace RC7 into the greaseport.

Oldgit you are wrong. When the nylock nut goes the whole pedal comes off (very quickly sometimes).

trig
I actually asked if they could come off if the locknut stayed in place.
I ask because when mine collapsed the internals had worn to nothing apart from the nut so I could ride home.

maybe ist the simple fact they are by FAR the biggest selling pedals on the market

is that a fact ? I'd assume it was shimano 520's..but I'd only be guessing…

fubar – Member

maybe ist the simple fact they are by FAR the biggest selling pedals on the market

is that a fact ? I'd assume it was shimano 520's..but I'd only be guessing…

I think it's an internet fact! 😉

I've had two fall apart because the outer bearing collapsed and the pedal slipped over the nyloc nut which remained in place.
I've learned now that if the bearings make any unusual noises, replace them immediately, they will fail soon.
Anyone got any experience with using ceramic or better quality bearings ?

I've also snapped a spindle on one. Yes, snapped it in half. 2" of spindle screwed in to the crank, 2" with the nut still attached to the platform.
I keep meaning to take a picture and see about a warranty claim.

2pure, if you're there, what's the idea of supplying sealed bearings in the rebuild kit ?
Don't they stop the grease getting through to the inner bush ?
I always prise the seals out before I fit the bearings.
I also grease them far more often than the recommended 100 hours, probably 10 – 20 hours.