I am finished with Crank Bros
 

I have regarded Crank Bros Eggbeater pedals as one of the best, and have always bought the SL (stainless steel) versions to prevent rust since I often ride in wet conditions.

However, the last set I bought for the Moulton, I discovered CB have changed the spindle from stainless steel to chromoly which is not rustproof. When I contacted them about this, they responded it is stronger. Fair enough, however I haven't seen a single one of my numerous CB pedals bend their spindles whereas many other ones do.

Now after my recent NZ tour, check this out after ONE wet ride:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...d/misc/356.jpg

Connie's Reach which as a slightly older but otherwise identical pedal, is as new.

Goodbye, CB.

Jur,

How do you tell if this is rust or just dirt? Is there an objective method to distinguish between the two?

(I have a good reason to ask. Not related to your pedals).

Thanks,

Tal

What I would do is wash it; dirt not being part of the surface material should wash off relatively easily, whereas rust requires very hard scrubbing and will leave behind little pits.

I went by the colour and what remained behind after cleaning.

looks like CB pedal quality is going down the drain.

You aren't the only one...

http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2010...l-failure.html

http://www.woollypigs.com/2010/02/fa...others-pedals/

That is odd since what appears to be rust is not on the spindle, but rather on the body. CB may have changed the spindle to chromoly steel, but the body and the "wing" portion of the SL should be stainless steel. Their website still claims this. There's no way a carbon steel Eggbeater could have been mistaken for the better models either as the carbon steel ones don't have the grooves left and right of the wings.

Here are 2 more photos.

The nice-looking pedal is my wife's bike which did exactly the same rides as me, we were touring together. That pedal is several years old. Mine is the rusty one, bought less than 6 months ago.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...img_3209-1.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...c/img_3208.jpg

My son has the following explanation:

If stainless steel is connected to a more inert material (in this case the chrome plating of the spindle) the stainless steel will rust. Connection was established with the dirty water which is an electrolyte, and/or the contact points of the bearings. He reckons making the body of stainless in this instance is rather pointless.

This makes sense to me because in my industry, there are strict rules about which metals may be used together.

don't forget the cleats are made from brass.

Galvanic corrosion, but was this salt-water? Brass has one of the higher anodic index's - just higher than stainless steel... do you have a picture of the cleats? if this is galvanic corrosion the cleats may have steel deposits on them.

I don't know if salt is used on NZ roads - my guess is no.

I just checked the cleats. They are the so-called premium cleats with a nickel-plated piece that allows sideways adjustment. I used stainless screws and these look OK. The nickel plated piece is also corroded. The brass looks OK. But a fair bit of walking has been done since so that's not very conclusive.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...c/img_3211.jpg

just think of the rust as a protective oxide coating

:thumb:

;)

Yes, that cleat looks normal... the nickel plated washer plate is corroded because you probably scraped the nickel off.

Even if it was somehow galvanic corrosion it would be quite slow since brass and stainless steel are so close to each other in terms of nobility. It still doesn't explain why your wife's pedals aren't corroded either or why the corrosion looks just like iron oxide... galvanic corrosion usually leaves pits on the anode and even if that corrosion was the case those pits should not look rusty since the stainless steel should form another layer of chromium oxide as soon as it is exposed to air.

My guess is that those pedal parts are some type of plated steel or very low grade stainless steel.

edit: if you want to test, find a magnet and see if it sticks to the rusty area... if it does you have the cheap stuff.

Better quality, meaning higher strength stainless has more carbon in it and tends to rust quicker than softer lesser quality stainless. Assuming the rusted steel is stainless, my guess would be there was something in the water that attacked the steel.

I had already done the magnet test previously - both pedals, old and new, seem to attract equally strong.

@Schwinnsta: Remember both sets of pedals on the above pics did the same ride, so it can't be the water by itself. It must be to do with the new pedal recipe.

Good quality stainless is magnetic. If you have qood quality stainless cutlery you can verify it. Magnet is not a reliable test for stainless, though some stainless is non magnetic. Also, stainless = stains less.

Your second point about the non rusted pedal, can't take issue with that or that is the recipe as you put it.

Good quality stainless can also be non magnetic, in particular if it is austentic. From what i've heard this type of stainless steel(300 series) offer's the best corrosion resitance but is softer.

Jur, have you sent these pictures to Crank Bros? Maybe we can get an official answer from them. If not, I plan on buying a few old ones from the secondary market ASAP.

Yes I have emailed them but no answer.

From a previous experience I learned from them that if you bought the item online, they regard that as second hand merchandise because according to them the online vendor had to buy it first and is selling it on. Hence they were not interested in helping me.

These are geared towards knives, but they give a very good idea of the range of materials and properties various steels can have:

http://www.knifeart.com/steelfaqbyjo.html
http://zknives.com/knives/articles/knifesteelfaq.shtml

More stainless info here:

http://www.ssina.com/faq/index.html#3

Check the FAQ about rusting. I'm guessing crank bros. may have got some poor quality stainless that was used in those pedals. Regardless of where you got the pedals, you should pursue it with them and send them your side by side pics as I'm sure they have a vested interest in product quality.

BTW, I have 3 sets of stainless Crank Bros. pedals and have never had any rusting issues on any of them (and hope I never do). Good luck.