phyl

My fiancee and I have had a bit of an odd problem. Over the last 2/3 months, on three separate mountain bikes (Cheap bikes, so probably not great quality) the left hand pedal has begun coming loose. I wondered if it may be something to do with the temperature as it's been fairly hot here. It's never been a problem before and I find it wierd that all three bikes have come down with the same problem at the same time !

Two of the bikes have a nut that fixes the pedal onto the crank, and the other has a bolt which screws into the crank. All of then tighten to the right.

It's at the point where we can only ride for about a mile before the pedal is loose and we need to stop to re-tighten it. Applying nut-loc hasn't fixed the problem, and it's driving us nuts as we effectively can't use our bikes.

Any ideas what the cause may be, or what can be done?

operator

What's the cause? Improper tightening when the bike was assembled or it just worked loose. Solution to your specific problem, grease and retighten properly.

By the way left hand pedals should thread on "left" or counterclockwise.

Noam Zane

Reading what he's written, I think he's complaining of not the pedal but the left crank arm repeatedly loosening from the spindle. A common problem that already has several threads dedicated to it.

Noam Zane

I'll add that if you have repeatedly tightened the nuts and/or bolts and applied nut-loc, the crank arms are on their way to the scrap pile and will need to be replaced.

Remove one crank arm and look at the tapered square hole... not so square anymore? The softer metal has deformed and cannot be saved. You can cobble a "repair" with soda can shims or epoxy but by now replacement is the only dependable choice.

There are a couple of theories on why it always seems to be the left side.