Originally Posted by rpenmanparker

OP, please take no offense, because we really are trying to be helpful. It is that two important technical terms that you have used in your posts are wrong. You said you used a washer to attach the pedal, but you meant a bolt (with washer or not). That's a big and confusing difference. The you said you are not strong enough to pedal the lowest gear, but you must have meant the highest gear, the one using the smallest rear cog. Lower gears are easier to pedal, higher gears are harder. Just trying to help you out.