Asking for a friend (honestly!).
A mate of mine who's fairly new to cycling bought a Planet-x Tempest recently with a Sram rival groupset. After assembling it and riding a couple of rides he noticed that one of the pedals was wonky. He took it to a bike shop to be told that the threads were knackered and he needed new cranks. Seems like a classic case of screwing them in the wrong the way? Except, and I have no reason not to believe him (he's an honest type), he told me that he took extra care to install the pedals carefully, and had installed them on the right side. Planet-x have told him he must have cross threaded the pedal by installing it incorrectly. Which leads me to my question, is it possible to do this so easily? Seems to me a fair amount of force would be required. I've never come across a similar issue with SRAM cranks (I have 3 sets of carbon SRAM cranks across various bikes) so I'm a little suspicious that the bike might have had dodgy cranks on it from the start? Anyone else trashed a crank so easily?
I think if you were even slightly mechanically minded you’d notice if you were cross threading pedals, it would take a fair bit of effort to get them in.
I think if you were even slightly mechanically minded you’d notice if you were cross threading pedals
Exactly what I was thinking. You don't x-thread something like a crank by accident, especially if you're being careful. Which makes me more than a little suspicious. In fact, planet-x told him that it's 'very easy' to do this with sram cranks, which quite frankly I reckon is a load of bollox, making me doubly suspicious.
No way to prove it though, and planet-x have refused to replace it, so I guess theres nothing to be done other than fork out for new ones. My mate is more than a little pissed off.
You can usually re tap the thread, many shops have the tap.
Hmmm, my girlfriend has just had the exact same issue - sram rival cranks with the thread buggered and pedal wonky on the drive side. Pedals were installed correctly (did it on VC with me) so no issue with cross threading. I wonder if theres been a manufacturing issue with a certain batch of cranks?
Planet X of course wanted nothing to do with it (but did in all fairness sell her a new set of cranks at a sizeable discount)
my girlfriend has just had the exact same issue
Suspected as much. So selling faulty kit then refusing to honour warranties under the cover of user error. Feel bad for my mate who bought the Tempest on my recommendation. I won't be recommending, or buying from them again.
I would take the crank off, go to the LBS and get them to run a tap through.
He would have had to exert quite a bit of force to cross thread the pedal all the way in surely?
It would not go all the way in cross threaded - the hole is out of true. Easy enough to chack anyway - take the pedal off and look
I really don't see how a crank can have a fault that would cause this.
I really don’t see how a crank can have a fault that would cause this.
Lets not let common sense get in the way of a stick to beat planet x with.
Suck it up and accept its a very expensive way to learn some mechanical sympathy.
In fact, planet-x told him that it’s ‘very easy’ to do this with sram cranks, which quite frankly I reckon is a load of bollox, making me doubly suspicious.
Well it possibly is a load of bollocks but you'd be on here ranting about their CS if they had called him a ham fisted idiot over the phone 🤣
For ballance PX replaced my headset when I f****** up pressing it into the frame (I admit, i was being lazy and trying to press both ends in at once rather than doing one at a time).
the hole is out of true
I think this is probably the real problem. It's a carbon crank and I've had (not sram I might add) carbon cranks in the past where the thread insert has become unbonded from the carbon body. In that case chainreaction refunded me straight away. This seems to me a cast-iron case where planet-x should replace the crank. They won't though, because they've got an excuse to avoid doing so.
Lets not let common sense get in the way of a stick to beat planet x with.
If I was on a mission to slag off PX I'd have put the name in the thread title 😉
If the insert has come loose from the crank arm the manufacturer will normally warranty it. (if within warranty and not obviously impact damaged etc)
If the threads are damaged from being ridden loose or cross threaded it is user error.
Most common one I see is people riding with loose pedals and wallowing out the threads in the crank arm. I have seen a few people fully thread a pedal in the wrong side (must be a lot of effort going by the force needed to remove them), also a few screwed in squint, normally about half way.
If the insert is loose then you should be able to warranty them through Sram Tech/ZyroFisher via a LBS if you have proof of purchase.
A pedal tap will clean up damaged threads, but cannot add material that is not there, you can install inserts in alloy crank arms.
If the crank threads are damaged you would be lucky if a manufacturer will warranty it, normally both the crank and pedal manufacturer will say it was fine when it left them, therefore user error (unless there is a obvious manufacturing defect).