KyleOndy

So I bit the bullet and purchased a bike off of ebay. Gut instinct told me to stay away because of the broken English listing. But he had a decent seller rating, a liked the color scheme, and I really really just wanted a bike because I had been looking for so long and finally had some money to spend.

So I payed fangjoe1688 and got conformation of shipment, everything is all ok. After buying I notice the pictures are without the pedals. So I email the seller, and he forgot to ship them, but said he sent them out the day after.

Come Tuesday, the UPS guy delivered my bike and I wasted no time in unpacking and assembling. I learned a lot from trying to put the bike together, being my first real build of any caliber. After it was all done and freshly tuned I was bumed because I didn't have the pedals. I knew they were coming in the next day so it was ok. It was dark, and like 20 degrees out.

Today my pedals some in. SPD, not SPD-Sl. My fault for translating the listings broken English and assuming that the pedals were typical road pedals. At this point I also noticed that the cranks were Ultegra, and not Dura Ace like listed. Upon further inspection the pictures of the listing showed ultegra, but listed something else. To top it all the threads in the left side crank is messed up because the pedals won't even thread into them.

Long sotry short, I'm a poor college kid with my first road bike ever, sitting without cranks and pedals. I've emailed the seller asking to exchange the cranks to what was listed, but I'm still without pedals. I can only hope that this all works out in the meanwhile.

I know this had no real point i just needed to rant. Actually, I do have a question. I had buyer's remorse after buying the bike, did I pay to much for it? I feel like I did.

sstorkel

You realize that the pedals are threaded differently on each side of the bike, right? One side is normal threading, the other side is reverse threading. If you try to screw in both pedals using the "righty tighty" rule, it won't work.

Also: how do you know it's the crank that's messed up? Perhaps the threads on the pedal are screwed up and the crank is fine?

KyleOndy

Yea, I knew that. The pedal won't actually begin the thread right. The pedals want to screw in real skewed.

hammy56

you deserve it for trusting "broken English"...

FreddyBoy

I think the thread/pedal/crank issue will resolve itself.
As for the price, you got a decent value.

sstorkel

Which tells you that either the threads in the crank arm are messed up, or the threads on the pedal spindle are messed up, or maybe that's just the way things are normally. One of my cranksets, can't remember if is was the Shimano Ultegra or SRAM Red, seemed to make really easy to cross-thread the pedals. But with a light, careful touch it was possible to get the threads to engage properly.

I'd suggest you examine both the crank arm and the pedal for damage to the threads. If the pedal was cross-threaded in the past, you should see obvious damage to the threads. In both cases, the threads should be smooth and continuous. If the threads are cut, lumpy, missing, etc. then they're damaged. Best option at that point is to get a new crank arm or crankset.

garysol1 

Trying to put the wrong side pedal on the wrong side crank arm will mess up the crank threads really easily. Trust me, I know.

sideshow_bob

eh? damaged crank threads = new crank? take it to a competent mechanic, first they'll inspect it and see whether or not there is any actual damage. second if there is damage they'll have a 9/16 pedal tap and it'll take all of 5 minutes to chase the threads out.

the difference between 9sp da and 9sp ultegra cranks are about nil, i wouldn't worry about it, unless you feel like hassling the seller.

kwrides

Sweet! 9 speed pedals!

Seriously, I hope it all works out for you quickly.

KyleOndy

I know! 18 speed bike with 9 speed pedals, 162 Speeds!!!!!!!! I'll be unstoppable.

mattm

this is why i stay away from ebay..

i have trust issues, even in real life, much less on the net.

hope it works out for ya!

coasting 

until very recently i had never bought anything from ebay. although my first buy turnd out to be pretty good, i would only buy a simple item and would be too nervous to buy a complete bike

sstorkel

As a trained machinist, I cringe when I hear advice like this! Definitely not the recommended way to repair damaged threads, especially in a soft metal like aluminum. If the area of damage is small, you might get away with it, but it's definitely not The Right Way.

stedalus

Do this. In the unlikely event that it can't be fixed, you can get a new left arm or maybe the whole crankset online for $60-$80. If you end up paying more than a couple bucks then I would politely ask the seller to refund you some money to cover the costs.

I don't think you got ripped off, but I don't think you got a steal either. Water under the bridge though, forget about it (until next time you're in the market) and go ride your bike. I've bought two bikes and one frame off ebay. In one case the bike was actually in better condition than described, but in two cases there were minor but undisclosed issues that I had to fix. I usually assume there will be something screwed up and bid accordingly.

stedalus

Maybe the machinists I work with like to live dangerously, but this is a fairly common practice where I work. I think you could tell easily if you were left with too little engagement after the repair.

powerglide

Hate to see a fellow Hokie get screwed...I hope it turns out well for you!

leakysieve

Sounds like the pedal is going in cross-threaded. If this is caused by more than just a bur, I would have a machinist tap the hole to 11/16, and put in a 11/16 to 9/16 helicoil insert. That would be the best way to do it, though I've never seen a left hand thread helicoil....

KyleOndy

So I'm getting a $50 refund. More then fair I figure. I'm going to take it the the lbs tomorrow to take a look at it. I figure I've got nothing to lose and trying to get it retapped. It doesn't work now, so if it breaks I havn't lost anything. Its actually the left side, so its just the arm, I'm not sure how hard they are to replace. . I also have someone on my team hooking me up with pedals for $15.

I love to see a fellow Hokie.

KyleOndy

So today I went to the LBS. The crank arm was not cross threaded. They were able to screw a pedal on with no problem. I cam home again and tried to put the pedal on again, no luck. I don't get it. Both pedals will go on the right side, albeit one is backwards, yet they won't go into the left arm. I'm hopping that my pedals at school will go on right.

merlinextraligh

I'm trying to wrap my head around this. A pedal can only go on one way. It only has a spindle with thread sticking out of one side.

Am I missing something here?

Perhaps at some point the pedal was rebuilt with the spindle for the wrong side being put in it.

KyleOndy

I'll post pictures in a minute...

bostongarden

Sounds like all is well...enjoy your new ride and have a great season...thread closed?

Homebrew01

Sounds like operator error. Let the bike shop do it before you ruin it, if you haven't alreay.

KyleOndy

So I conferred with my dad. I have two right handed spindled pedals. Sigh. So what the availability of singular spindles?

127.0.0.1

bike shop junk bin


or just get new pedals