GamblerGORD53

I made a mistake and bought these cheap pedals for $26, but did return them for a refund of course. They are perfect on the outside, as with my other $60 VSixty with a sealed bearing and bushing on the inner side. I got the cheap pedal home and tried spinning them, very gravelly feel. So I took one apart and I couldn't believe my eyes. WTF, 14 STUPID 1/16" bearings in both runs. Then I spent an hour trying to put it back together, IMPOSSIBLE with no washer under the nut as what all other pedals have, new and way old. Even if you could get them to work, how the hell do you set a gap with such stupidly small bearings???

The only way I could see this might work is if the cone had a stop on the shaft and no adjustment.
I told the sale LBS and another that they are garbage and should be sent back. They have sold lots of them, and don't care much about what I said. Pffft.

My other 4 year old pedals with loose bearing design have 11 x 5/32" bearings, the smallest I can see being useful. I had to replace those balls twice already.
I then opened up another set of pedals off my new Simcoe, they have 13 x 1/8".

TiHabanero

There was a time when I did regular maintenance on pedals, but today the cost of the labor to do so is prohibitive so we no longer offer it as a service outside of Speedplay pedals. An interesting side note, I had a set of cheap Asian knock-off of the Suntour Beartrap pedals that were in continuous commuter service for 10 years that I only dripped Phil Tenacious Oil into once after it was obvious the grease was no longer working. Eventually I sold them with a bike. My guess is they are still going strong.

Andrew R Stewart 

So you returned the pedals after taking one apart? I would give the seller a thumb's up for accepting the, consumer, played with one back.

Poorly adjusted pedal bearings is pretty much the usual in the low cost arena, we see this frequently and explain it as one of the "costs" of low cost. And the trend to tiny balls in current cup and cone systems is also becoming more and more common. This aspect allows smaller, lighter and lower "stack heights" that seems to be what consumers want. Too bad this trend comes with the less efficient rolling nature, less load capacity and more difficult servicing. My personal hates are tiny balls in head sets and BBs. Andy

Troul 

were the pedals advertised as serviceable?

Crankycrank

Shimano uses 3/32" balls in at least some of their pedals and will last a very long time with little or no maintenance. 1/16" is scary-small though.

70sSanO

Is it possible to make a non-serviceable cup-cone pedal, or anything else?

Just wondering.

John

Troul 

Being able to be disassembled may not have the retailers support for ensuring the product will provide its customer with intended satisfaction.
If the pedals advertise that they can me serviced, maintained, or repaired then the warranty should honor its product if any of those claims are used without a satisfactory outcome.

Andrew R Stewart 

Millions of cup and cone pedals have been sold on bikes for decades that are of a peened over end of spindle design, opposed to a threaded cone and lock nut design. So the answer is yes (assuming you mean "can the pedal not be able to be taken apart and reassembled with common tools). Of course one can (and I often do during bike repair jobs) always drip oil through a pedal without taking it apart, but I don't really call this "being serviceable". Andy

70sSanO

Thanks!

John

ign1te

What exactly was your complaint? It seems like you took something apart and then could not reassemble it. That does not neccesarily mean the product is flawed. I can't reassemble a 10 speed shimano internal gear hub from scratch. Is that hub flawed? No.

GamblerGORD53

Pedals have 5 parts + bearings. I don't need a defaileur mechanics degree to figure them out. I know what a no adjustment pedal is, I still have some that are 30+ years old in my boxes. I did modify my 12 mm socket to be able to turn the cone with the nut also on.
I expect things to work. 99% of new pedals are too tight. These POS pedals came too tight and are too stupidly designed to work at all.

And last week I was turning 2" x 5/16" bolts into 1/2" x 6 mm fender eye bolts. After the 2nd one, they were as good as factory ones. LOL. I have more DIY handmade parts on my bikes than you've seen in your whole life.

klasse

Well, for $26 I bought Suntour platform pedals which I love. You seem shocked that you knowingly bought a cheap pedal - and discovered the pedals are cheaply made.