Newbie needs help with pedals
 

I have a Trek 1500 road bike and I'm trying to put on Shimano PD520 pedals. Can someone let me know how to take off the stock pedals that came with the bike. Once again, I am new.

Thanks!

You need a 15 mm wrench that will fit on the flats at the crank end of the pedal spindle. You may need a wrench that is slightly thinner than usual to fit in the space between the cank and the pedal. The RH pedal unscrews counter clockwise and the LH pedal unscrews clockwise. If the pedal is in too tight to shift, try pouring boiling water over the crank as you unscrew, and put antiseize on the threads of your new pedals before you install them.

Just to repeat/underscore the "directional" part of AndrewP's instructions, the pedal on the left side is threaded opposite most other threaded assemblies. Another hint: there might be a hexagon-shaped hole in the pedal spindle, visible from the "inside" of the crank arm. If so, and you've got the right size, you can put an allen wrench in that hole to remove/install the pedals. Look for this with the new ones as well. Sometimes it's easier to use the open-end wrench; sometimes the allen wrench works better.

Pedals are often reefed down very tight (as they should be); you may need to put a pipe over the end of the wrench to get the needed leverage to start them loose. Anybody here remember the torque spec when it comes time to re-install?

Just a warning. If you are a really new rider, you probably won't have the bike control skills needed to use clipless pedals. If you know how to ride and are new to road bikes, then you should get the feel of the steering and gears before clipping in.
When removing pedals, use the longest wrench you can. But the brakes on, and the crank rotated forward, pointing up (2:00 or 10:00). The wrench is fitted pointing back, and up a little. Put a foot on the end of the wrench, and gradually apply some weight.

http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQpedls.shtml

That tells you all you need to know. If the pedal's stuck a little, either have someone hold the other side of the crank and attach a long pipe to the pedal wrench, or give it a good whack with a mallet to free it then it should come out real easy.

30 lbs?
All I know was, on the OCR2 I have, we put like, well over 60 on it and still couldn't get the pedals off so we resorted to clamping the entire crank down and taking a good whack at the pedal wrench with a huge hammer, that got it loosened. Turns out the LBS where I bought it from put something like loctite on it. The pedals on my mtb took all of 5 min cause I got it from another lbs and they didn't overly tighten or lock it down.

EDIT: 30 lb-ft. I had a foot long wrench and had over half my body weight on it, which was something like 70 lbs of force or 840 lb-in of torque and it still didn't budge. I think blowing at it with a hammer, we were putting somewhere around a 2000 lb-in. NO LOCTITE!! ARG!! I can still see the scratches on my shiny crank arm...

On most pedal spindle, there is a letter R or L, meaning right or left thread. If the pedal is French, the letters D and G mean the same (droite is right, gauche is left)

Just to clarify, the the left side is threaded "opposite", meaning you turn it clockwise to loosen, as you look from the pedal towards the crank arm.

I bought a pair of the 520's earlier this year for mountain biking and they a great pedal! If you're new to clipless, you might want to loosen the cleat tension so you can unclip easily.

Be sure to grease the threads when installing the new pedals.

I know, right. :(

thats kind of an unfair statement to make. i got my clipless pedals very soon after my bike and had no problems with them.
as for the getting the pedals off i think everybody has covered it pretty well...

No its a warning against absolute newbies clipping in just because a bike shop or magazine says they are the best thing since since sliced bread. Too many people in these forums report falling off when first using clipless and some have reported serious injuries.

So do you warn people about not using the straps that come on virtually ALL pedals on mid-lower end bikes? I've heard/seen far worse injuries from those than I have from clipless.

the easiest way to get off your pedals. if it's on a stand. put your wrench on the axel. then pedal the pedal forward (the same direction you would pedal if you were riding it). it works for both sides. it will unscrew it pretty easily.

also, when putting on your new ones, just pedal them backwards and it will put on the pedals. SOOO much faster than turning the wrench.

searching thru ebay for new pedals I was confused about what size to get for my specialized hardrock..

Enter Search function... Found this old topic.. thanks guys!