today i was riding. i stopped at a light. when i started to pedal again, i heard a snap. nothing seemed to be broken, so i checked once i got to where i was going. this little piece of the pedal had snapped off



(this is obviously the good pedal)

now, i have had the bike for a week and have been pretty happy with it. initially, the seat was broken (it felt like one of the rails was too short, and not touching the back of its hole, so it would flex and squeak). i took it to the bike shop, and they said 'no problem' and swapped it for the seat of a floor model. i thought this would be a similar case, so i went in and asked. i was basically told the piece was useless and the pedal was a cheap part and they would not warranty it. hmmm, i thought this piece helped flip the pedal over to get my foot in. its on all other clip pedals, and makes sense to me.

so i figured the mechanic was just being a dick, and i called raleigh. i explained the situation and the guy didn't quite seem to know what i was talking about. he put me on hold for 10 minutes.

when he came back, he informed me he had talked to the bike shop and that the piece was just a left over from the injection of the plastic into the mold. they normally would not warranty it. he then told me that a bike wouldn't stay together forever and it needs some service and care. he told me that in this case, the bike shop would warranty it, but it would probably just break off again and then they wouldn't. through the whole thing i was normal, but this just pissed me off. i told him i never plan on taking my business to that bike shop again and hope to never have to deal with raleigh again and hung up.

so does this piece actually serve the purpose i thought (helps flip it over to get my foot in)?

yes, i know its a cheap pedal, but i like them. they still work fine, it just pisses me off that i wasn't taken care of. and get this, the whole reason i went to this bike shop was because the owner convinced me they offer better service than their budget bikes competitor and that was why i was paying $50 more for the bike there (he ended up getting down closer to their price, but it was still more).

anyways, thanks for reading my rant

what do you expect from plastic pedals?

they are totally scamming you about it being a piece that is left over from the platic mold injection. it's definitelty used to flip over the pedal.

that being said...i would get metal ones, then you won't have to deal with it again

yeah they are ****ty pedals, you can't really expect that much from them
i got new ones coming and you should do the same

haha you're using plastic pedals!

dude...you cant be pissed at that...they expect you to replace them

plastic pedal are only suppose to last the trip from the bike shop to home. But they were shady about saying that piece is leftover from the mold. Just go and get some sylvans and clips, should run about 40 total depending what kind of clips you get.

alright, i understand if these pedals are cheap, but heres 2 ways the bike shop could have kept my business:

-tell me they can replace the pedal, but it probably wouldn't be worth the trouble since it will likely break again. offer me a nice discount on a new set of pedals that will work (since these ones aparently aren't worthy to be on bike...)
-tell me they'll talk to raleigh about replacing the pedals with better ones, since these ones aparently suck so much.

i forgot to mention how strong the bike mechanics "better than thou" attitude was. he told me the best way to fix it would be for him to break the other one off and assured me it was nothing important.


the time when the raleigh rep just called the store was what really got me pissed. i was holding back the laughter when he told me (probably coming straight from the better-than-thou mechanic) that it was just from the plastic mold.

I don't think they should offer to replace anything or offer you a discount on anything.
They might have been rude to you, and clearly lied to you about the mold, but the pedal broke by no fault of anyone at Raleigh or the shop.

They are pretty crappy pedals...I replaced mine immediately so they only were on it for the test ride. They are in my extra parts bin at home. I would be glad to send them to you if you want them, just PM me. The offer's really not that generous since I don't think they are worth the postage.

from Raleigh's warranty:

i had the bike for 10 days, so it is still covered under warranty. the failure occured during normal usage and there was no abuse or normal wear and tear. the pedal should be covered under the warranty.

thanks for the offer chuckfox. i just wrote a letter to raleigh, so i want to see what they'll do first. even though these pedels are aparently pieces of crap, they're pretty much what i was looking for. until they don't spin like they should, i really don't have much to complain about (apart from the snapping piece, which really didn't anger me as much as the poor service). they are compact, light, and connect my foot to the crank. i might take you up on your offer, but i'm going to see if raleigh feels like keeping me happy first.

i think people are arguing 2 completely separate subjects in this thread.

i agree with you that they should cover it. i also agree with the forum members that you should consider getting better pedals.

I think the failure of those pedals falls under section 2 of their warrenty exemption:
This warranty does not apply to damage or failure due to:
1. Accidents, alteration, abuse, neglect
2. Materials Fatigue, normal wear and tear.
3. Improper assembly, mainenance, or installation of parts or accessories not originally indended to be compatatble with the bicycle as sold, including but not limited to power accessories, forks, brakes, or tires different from the original specification


How long did you expect plastic pedals to last? I think 10 days is enough time for material fatigue under normal wear and tear.

No problem, zip22. If you decide you want the pedals, I'll be glad to send them. Just PM me with your address info and I'll ship them out. BTW other than the pedals, I love the Rush Hour.

I expected to last at least a year. so did Raleigh, or else they would not have warrantied them for a year.

I'm astounded that the Rush Hour even comes with plastic pedals. This isn't a damn Ameri-Mart bike. Metal cages aren't expensive - even the Pista comes with clipless.

And definitely get metal pedals - plastic pedals will break. You're fortunate they didn't break in half as happened to a friend of mine on a cruiser. The extra backpedaling action will further quicken their demise.

Let's put it this way - you want to trust a company that actually outfitted a fixed gear bike with plastic pedals? Sounds pretty damn cheap on their end. I'd go further and request metal pedals.

Or maybe they knew that they were crap pedals and added the material fatigue provision in their warrenty exemption to cover themselves.

It may be one of those cases of no good deed goes unpunished...many bikes don't deliver with pedals at all. I think Raleigh may have stuck them on to make it easy for the bike shops to allow people to test ride them. They certainly could have done better with some cheap metal platforms.