unc99

I have a normal Sugino crankset that I would like to use in the front/captain position on my tandem. I use Speedplay pedals, so as between the pedals and my cycling shoes, I don’t think it makes any difference if the pedals themselves are reversed from one side to the other.

But, the pedal threads in the crank arms will be reversed. Is this the only issue, or am I missing something? I haven’t tried it, but it seems like it wouldn’t be a big deal to double check to make sure the pedals aren’t loosening themselves since the threads will be reversed, Although not looking to do some thing that could create a safety issue. Any thoughts or insight are welcome. Thanks!

headasunder

I once installed the bb wrong way round in the adjustable it unwound itself about 30 km from home I was stopping every 2km or so to curse and semi tighten it, as to the pedals i would use loctite thread locker on the threads and report back.

bwebel

In my experience, this will work fine...I have several thousand miles on such a set up. But, you absolutely have to use loctite on the pedal threads. I forgot once after switching pedals and they unscrewed within about 10 miles.

tandem rider

This is an interesting website that may help you.

​​​​​​https://www.bikesmithdesign.com/Short_Cranks/

conspiratemus1

Gravity is the force that holds the universe together (OK, the strong nuclear force, too!) Precession is the force that makes it want to fall apart.

Darth Lefty 

I’d do it for a kid stoker setup but the captain on a tandem I wouldn’t screw around. The correct Sugino crank arms are not expensive. At least compared to most tandem stuff. Less than your pedals.

diabloridr

A well-equipped bike shop or machine shop could install helicoils in the arms to avoid this issue, if you wished to make it a permanent modification.

MikeAndJean

Back in the old day, when pedals could be disassembled, it was common to switch pedal axles to allow the reversing of the captain's cranks (and the stokers left crank) on tandems. As several have mentioned, Loctite is useful but not essential if the pedals are properly tightened. More recently I learned that a very experienced tandem owner I know simply re-taps the threads in his cranks so that he has a broader choice of options for his cranksets. Of course, cutting a right-hand thread over a left-hand thread does not leave much metal so over tightening becomes a concern. But this rider probably has accumulated as many tandem miles as anyone on this thread (pun intended) with this usual approach.

rocknrollin

For most shimano pedals, spindles can still be bought separately for about ~12 Euros a piece.
But if I understand it correctly, it would not solve the problem of the spindle unwinding from the crankarm, since the thread on the crankarm still has the wrong handedness, right?
The trick with the spindle would then mainly be useful to set up the stoker crankset with 2x right crank arms (incl. spider, for both drivetrain and timing chain) and use one pair of pedals with a swapped out spindle on one of them, instead of buying 2 pairs of pedals.

CaptainHaddock

This is the route I've gone. I run 165 cranks as captain, and they just don't exist for LHD tandem cranks.