Sullalto

Putting pedals on a new bike. Is there any best practice to doing so? Anti-seize compound, drop of oil, don't worry and just screw it in dry, etc. I'll be changing pedals again in the spring-this isn't a 'leave them in for years' situation. So I'd like to make any future maintenance as easy as possible.

Bike is in the PNW, and I live in a rainforest if that makes any difference. 1/2"-1" of rain a day is completely normal. So a very wet environment, and I hope to be exploring forest service/logging roads without much time on the clean environment of pavement. Not sure if that effects anything.

edit: And yes I know that the non-drive side crank arm is reverse threaded.

Andrew R Stewart 

So the big deal is to keep the threads from freezing up, from age or corrosion. Just about any preventative approach will work. Frequent loosening the tightening, grease before install, oil same, anti seize too. Andy

dsbrantjr

I use Tef-Gel TEF-GEL - Ultra safety systems - Home page on all dissimilar metal joints to help avoid electrolytic corrosion and seizing. I also fit stainless steel pedal washers as an additional seizing precaution and to avoid marring the cranks' mounting surfaces.

3alarmer 

...I would use whatever anti seize is appropriate for the materials. If you have a steel pedal spindle threading into an alloy crank, a standard zinc compound will do it. If you're involved in more exotic materials like Ti in the spindles, or CF Crank arms (those will have some sort of metal insert at the pedal eye) you need to up your game a little bit.

If you're gonna be changing them out that regularly, you can probably get away with grease. But you'll be kicking yourself if one of them does seize up a little and strip some of the threading out of the crank arm.

FBinNY 

Grease, any kind, aka whatever is most at hand. If you don' have grease, use oil, any oil, including suntan oil will do this job.

Bike Gremlin

Copper grease, or some other anti-seize compound. Works best in the long run, no need to loosen pedals until you need to change them. And they won't seize.

bulldog1935

Rivendell recommends beeswax on any thread that doesn't have anything else on it.

beeswax is actually one of the most stable organics on the planet.

man-made lubricants will eventually decompose to wax + acid - Naphtha-base is the Worst - automotive grease - it decomposes to naphthenic acid.
Lithium is added to lubricants to protect bearing steel from naphthenic acid corrosion/cracking, but with moisture, the lithium will also corrode aluminum.

I repair OPs 70-, 80-, 90-y-o valuable fly reels, and see (and smell) the worst of it.

the white chalk on the outside of this alloy bronzed finish reel is active corrosion from decomposition of naphtha grease used inside the reel (80 years ago)


it used to look like this, same age and finish (same maker) but no automotive grease

Bike tinker man

Fully agree I always use copper coat grease in these locations, marine standard, never need to keep on checking if its seized, lasts forever. Its what you use on bolts to stop them seizing, its therefore not a moving part lubricate like for bearings.

cyccommute 

Perhaps not any kind of oil or grease. Petroleum based oils have a bit more permanence and stability over vegetable and animal based oils and greases. Both vegetable and animal greases are reactive while petroleum based oils have had the reactiveness cooked out of them either by millennia of being cooked underground or by the distillation process.

Vegetable and animal greases need the reactiveness so that they can be broken down and digested...the circle of life thing.

And suntan oil will work for a while but not too long. In a wet environment, the pedals will quickly seize as the lubricant is washed out.

HillRider

Would you please detail the chemistry involved in your assertions. They make no sense otherwise.

AlexCyclistRoch

I have a big jar of Anti-Seize compound that I've used for years on automotive and bike repairs. Just don't get it on your clothing...

davidad

Don't overly tighten the pedals. Get them snug and they will add some on their own.

Dave Mayer

Use grease on the threads. The same grease you should use on hubs, seatposts, headsets etc.: petroleum-based auto wheel bearing grease. A one-pound tub will cost you $5, and last for years. Or you can buy the same formulation in little tubes at a bike shop for $5 per ounce.

You can buy new-agey, warm and fuzzy 'bio-based' or 'green' lubes, but ones we tried in our shop are useless. This is coming from a chemist..

A little smear of grease will protect the pedal threads for years or decades. You will have to grease more frequently if you play salt-water bike polo, or if you carry your bike on a car rack and drive at highway speeds in the rain, or use a water pressure-washer to clean your bike.

In those cases, you have far more problems, in that every bearing on your bike will have to be overhauled on a frequent basis.

FullGas

a tiny dab of Phil's green grease and I've never had a pedal be difficult to remove.

bulldog1935

Metallurgist and licensed professional corrosion engineer here.

Bike Gremlin

And I agree. However, copper grease has worked perfectly for me, even after several autumn rains, then salty roads, then sun again - no bolt has seized with it. The grease part is quickly washed off, but a thin layer of (soft) copper remains, which enables screws to be unscrewed easily, without sticking. Even in case of steel-aluminium connections, where, without it they would become welded together after a while (galvanic corrosion).

bulldog1935

didn't dis you at all - marine anti-sieze is a good choice.

But galvanic corrosion doesn't occur between aluminum and steel - the EMF difference between the two is not great enough.
The white chalk that forms on seatposts and stems is just because there is a crevice with water in it - it has nothing to do with the steel.

HillRider

I didn't ask about your credentials, I asked for an explanation of the chemistry you proposed. You may be a metallurgist but your chemistry is truly puzzling.

Where does Naphthenic Acid originate from a petroleum based grease? Also, lithium is used as a saponification agent in grease to give oil body and viscosity, not as a neutralizing agent.

FBinNY 

No dispute with anything here.

But the OP specifically asked for a short interim solution, with a projected life of six months or so. Had he simply asked what's best, or longest lasting, my answer would have been different.

Then again, grease threads are like chain lube threads, and we've had plenty.

bulldog1935

I actually wasn't talking to you, and don't appreciate being called out. I'll block you next time. When you oxidize the lubricant it forms acid COOH. The lithium can hydrolize and attack aluminum.
Hardening of grease is one weather-aging effect. file:///C:/Users/Administrator/Downloads/lubricants-03-00197.pdf

Automotive grease forms bricks of wax in the antique fishing reels I see.

HillRider

It sounded very much like you were replying to my question and I wasn't "calling you out". I just wanted an explanation. Most oils used in grease formulations are aliphatic, not aromatic, so "Naphthenic Acid" isn't an issue. Grease may harden over a long period, mostly by slow evaporation of the oil content. I've seen hub bearings where this has happened but the races and bearings weren't corroded, just not adequately lubricated.

That said, please do block me. No loss.

bulldog1935

Everyone will have their pet formulas and algorithms. Simply installing cranks and what to grease is a Navy Tin Can of worms.
Jan Heine and I are at exact opposite about which you grease and don't, and especially why.
Pseudo science is pretty thick in bike shop literature.
Not trying to sidetrack the thread, but to agree with you.
Look at the tire installation thread.

Bike Gremlin

Yup. For all I know stainless steel is quite resistant to starting galvanic corrosion with aluminium. It's the (salty?) water that makes the things go bad, am I right?

bulldog1935

exactly

zebede

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