Raleigh71

I have some low-end pedals on one of my bikes that seem non-user servicable. Plastic and metal. The plastic pedal end cap is hermetically sealed as best I can tell. They're really too tight.

Any fix?

JohnDThompson 

For this type of pedal, usually not. Replace them with better quality pedals with user-serviceable parts.

Panthers007

Do know: Most mid-price pedals will also require servicing-overhauling before installing and using them.

fuzz2050

chances are they will break in. With time they will get a little smoother, but next time, spend the money on a nice pair of MKS

LarDasse74

Are we talking about $6 pedals here? I'll bet with some creative prying and elbow grease you can get that end cap off.

Usually there are two nuts on the end of the axle under the cap. THe outside (smaller) nut should be removed with a small socket and you can jam a screwdriver between the inner (larger) nut and the pedal body and turn the spindle to adjust the bearings... the re-tighten the outer nut. It will probably take a few tries to get it smooth and with no play but it usually can be done.

If you screw up you are out $6.

Another thing to do is ask at the LBS to see a bunch of identical pairs of pedals and feel for roughness in the bearings on easch one, then buy the best one. Cheap pedals have very poor quality control and there are good ones and bad ones.

Panthers007

A properly overhauled and adjusted MKS set of pedals are one of the few real bargains out there.

This was in reference to another OP that was having problems with their (un0overhauled) MKS pedals. The method remains the same. To my knowledge, there are very few written instruction for overhauling pedals out there any more. It's a dying art - I'd suggest making a copy for future reference:
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The problem with them is you didn't open them up and clean them and grease them. A pedal-overhaul is needed before you put most new pedals - especially with loose bearings - on the bike and use them.

I hear this complaint all the time regards MKS pedals. And it's NOT your fault. Overhauling pedals is a dying art. One I'm trying to resurrect. Here's what you do:

Working over a bowl, and the pedals removed from the bike, gently pry off the dustcaps at the end of the axles.

Now take a Y-Wrench socket-wrench and, while holding the flat where you screw it into the crank-arm with a box-wrench or pedal-wrench, remove the locknut under the dustcap. Then remove the cone under that. The bearings will pour out - into the bowl if you remembered.

Gather all the balls - 1/8th inch - and let them soak in a solvent such as charcoal-lighter fluid. Don't smoke - yet.

Now clean the insides of the pedal, the cone, the locknut, etc. with a rag soaked in the solvent. Allow to dry/evaporate completely.

Apply good-quality grease to the races where the balls ride. And begin the slow, tedious process of placing the balls back into the races - starting on the side closest to the crank-arm. Needle-Nose Pliers, or tweezers, work well. Then insert the axle to hold the bearings in place and repeat placing the balls on the other race - furthest from the cranks.

Screw the cone down slowly to hold the bearings in place. This will take several, or more, attempts your first time out. You want them to have no play back & forth - but you don't want them tight (like they are now before you began). Then replace the lockring and torque it down firmly. As I said - this will take a few tries to get it so there is no play, or tightness. It requires finesse. The second time you overhaul a pedal is much easier. It's an art.

Now you should understand the principal and the goal. Go for it! Congratulations! You will be a true artisan of a dying art!

Happy 40th Anniversary - all those who remember Woodstock!

JohnDThompson 

If you're lucky, that's what you'll find. Not so with these pedals:


"No user-serviceable parts inside."