Advocacy & Safety - Yikes! Threw a Pedal!

Well,today was the second day commuting on the Sirrus. Started off ok,but the pedal straps felt wobbly. This is my first time using straps(still not sure if I like them) and only my fourth ride on the bike(home from LBS,to work,back home,to work again). I figured I'd play with them when I got into work. I stopped at a light where I make a left turn onto a bastard steep hill. The light changes,I wait for the traffic to clear(still not fast at getting into the straps),and start cranking hard to get speed for the hill. Suddenly,just as I'm in the middle of the intersection,the right pedal goes flying off! :eek:

I manage to get onto the sidewalk safely and retreave the pedal. I try to screw it back on,but the crank threads are not just stripped but worn out. The pedal threads basically "countersunk" the crank's thread area. I look at the left pedal and see it's at a bit of an angle and ready to come out. So I push the bike the rest of the way into work and get a friend to haul my bike to the LBS with his pickup. They replaced the cranks and pedals with the ones on another Sirrus from the floor and told me it was a warranty issue(I didn't have to pay anything).

Now some questions/observations. Ok,I always go over my bikes when I get them from the dealers,even if they're brand new(lesson learned from motorcycle dealers). But I never even thought to check the pedals. Who'da thought I needed to check something that basic and critical? I thought the wobble I was feeling was loose straps;I was unfamiliar with them and never thought to check the pedals. What I want to know is;is it my bad for not checking every little thing,or did the dealer hose up?

A cautionary tale for everyone. Check over your new ride and don't take anything for granted.

That is DEFINITELY messed up. Pedals stripping out the threads in the crank. Holey-moley...

A cautionary tale for everyone. Check over your new ride and don't take anything for granted.

Good advice!! I bought a new Surly this season and took it out for a test ride. I was clipping down a hill at something like 35 MPH and ONLY THEN thought to myself "Hmmm.... I wonder if everything is tight and true on this bike :eek: . Everything was fine and the rig rides like a rocket on rails, so a happy ending to the story but I agree - don't assume things are OK just because it's new.

This is unbelievable. Aside from my first two bikes, my last six bikes have been brand new direct from the LBS. I have never had trouble with pedals coming loose. If your bike was brand new, purchased from a LBS, I would change dealers for sure. You should not have to check the tightness of your pedals ever. What you describe could have been very dangerous.

You put out some serious wattage there, OP. Training for next year's TdF, perhaps?!?

Seriously... YIKES! You're lucky it didn't cause a crash, seeing as you were going up your local Mont Ventoux. I once snapped off a pedal, but I think it was merely old and rusty (and I was riding casually across a college campus).

Forget straps, BTW. Go all the way, go clipless!

Very strange, considering pedals are threaded such that pedalling will tend to tighten them.

The same exact thing happened to me earlier this summer. I bought a new bike, while riding a few days later I thought the straps were loose on the left pedal. No - it was the pedal coming off! What a load of fun that was. Since I bought the bike at a dealer a few hours away from me, I had to drive back to get the pedal and crank replaced (still no cost though).
No problems since! But I've never heard of that happening!

Sounds like a hack gorilla wrench out the pedals on backwards. Definatly a warrenty issue the LBS should fix with new pedals and cranks.

Sounds like a hack gorilla wrench out the pedals on backwards. Definatly a warrenty issue the LBS should fix with new pedals and cranks.

Agreed. The left pedal goes on the left, and the right on the right, not the other way around. I have seen this happen before.

Agreed. The left pedal goes on the left, and the right on the right, not the other way around. I have seen this happen before.

How could you install the wrong threads? I mean,it wouldn't spin in at all. The threads wouldn't catch no matter how much pressure you applied. Plus I'm sure the pedals came from the factory with the straps/cages on them,so there'd be only one way to put them on.

It was still pretty weird how badly the pedals tore up the cranks. I'm wondering now if the cranks hadn't been threaded properly. I'm also surprised how quickly they went;I had like a total of about 25-30 miles on the bike when it happened.

At least it worked out. They put all new cranks and pedals on(prolly should've held out for TruVativs ;) ). I am pleased to note that after all the bumpy boardwalks on the trail and rippled brick sidewalks of Georgetown,my fender rigging held. One strut screw on the back came a little loose and a dose of blue Loctite cured that.