How to fit & remove pedals — 10 easy steps to pedal happiness

I always grease the threads liberally when installing new pedals.  And I'm always suffering and cursing  + spraying WD40 all over the place and swearing I'll get a 2 foot long wrench next time to get them off.  Usually takes me 2 days.  

Where the cranks are fastened to the BB, there' s a nice indication of the direction in which to turn and the torque.  Why doesn't a single manufacturer indicate the same for hole that the pedals screw into?  Every single bloody time I need to look it up and things are not helped by a couple of websites getting it wrong.

I wonder whether the pedal threads were designed more with a view to ensuring they unthreaded in the event that the bearings seize solid. With your feet clipped in on a penny farthing, that would have been the greater imperative.

It's 50 years ago now, so I can't remember how I managed to let it happen, but I lost a pedal on my first cycling trip to Ireland. How could I not notice, and go back to get it? Anyway, a cycle shop sold me a single pedal, at half the price of the pair- I think it was in Cashel

In my many years of biking never run into undertightened pedals.. Overtightened all the time! Saying that I would allways just go with wrist tight (I only use hex wrenches)

I run powermeter pedals so swap them probably 3 times a week.
Easy way that I started rembering which way to turn is: thread in to front of bike unscrew to the rear.

I must be honest - I used to get my LBS to fit new pedals on my commuter (paying them to do it, obviously!) and then one of the guys there said - off the record - "You know this is a piece of p***, right?  Just buy a pedal spanner and you can do it yourself."  So I bought a pedal spanner from them, and discovered he was right.

(I still take the bike to them for cassette/cables/shifters etc, but bit by bit I'm expanding the range of bits on my bikes that I can do for myself).

Easiest way to destroy a crank is to not tighten the pedals enough. Seen it happen - lad ignored a 'funny pedal' and stripped the thread.

Easiest way to take pedals off is to face the front of the bike, hold the drop in one hand, spanner/hex in the other, and press down and forward. Repeat on other side.

I disagree with the article and comments above advocating minimal tightening of pedal this is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS ! I used to hold the same view, that the pedals would self tighten and used to commonly swap them between bikes when by kids were racing until my son's pedal came off in a circuit race causing him to crash. The self tightening relies on mechanical precession (google it) from pushing down on the pedal, if you just rotate the pedal (high cadence 'spinning') any friction or sticking in the pedal bearing will cause it to unscrew.

That is a great tip HG

Acetone for the carrier, and ATF as it is basically extra-slippery oil.

Have also used PB Blaster which just smelled like petrol, and XCP, to good effect.

Anything is better than WD40 in this application.

Tip I read somewhere is to fit the spanner such that you put the ball of your foot on the pedal, and then push the spanner with your heel.  Handy for stiff pedals, and a useful way to remember which way to turn it.  Works on both sides.

Looking at frame 9 in the article, that operator is asking for whacked knuckles! The best way of undoing that pedal is to wrap your hand around both the crank and the spanner and squeeze them together. That way there is no sudden release, therefore no knuckle damage.

I knew all of this already but decided it would be a good idea to check the pedals on all my bikes. They all came off fairly easily but on three of the four bikes the pedals looked like they were on the brink of seizing into the cranks. So thank you for the timely prompt.

Incidently, I was also reminded that with copperslip type grease, a little goes a long way. Especially when you get it on your hands and leave brown fingerprints everywhere.

You're almost certainly right but I don't think it's intended for use around CF, it's more a metal on metal penetrating fluid to free up stuck parts.

May I ask, why ATF?

And doesn't acetone harm some plastics and maybe the resins used in carbon fibre.

In the lab it is my cleaning solvent of last resort, only to be used after everything leading up to it, it will clean up everything but destroys some thing too.

As a slight aside, I made some acetone / ATF penetrating fluid recently and ended up making two 500ml bottles. If anyone in the 'between Liverpool and Manchester' area wants a bottle, I'd be happy to meet up. Often known as 'panther pee' for some reason, it's alleged to be the best penetrating / release agent known to humankind .

Anti seize for installation, a mixture of ATF and acetone for removal of stubborn ones.

If you've stripped the thread, local machine shop will put a helicoil or steel insert in.

Indeed. You just need to remember which side has 'normal' threads. Drive side for pedals, non-drive side for bottom brackets.

I found it very important to be sure which direction is which when removing pedals. I was struggling with a really tight pedal and putting lots of force on the spanner before realising that I was an idiot. Stripped the thread and had to buy a new crankset.

I have to agree that grease, preferably copper grease, is the key take out from this article. An ex-colleague of mine once had to buy me a new pedal spanner after his LBS managed to wreck mine, which he'd borrowed, getting the pedals off his commuter. His pedals had been fitted dry and were completely welded into the cranks. 

I'm with KiwiMike in that 30-40Nm is generally too tight.

To me, that's a full sized pedal spanner on the spindle flats and and a slight "nnnngh..." Whilst holding the other crank.

If you do that and ride for a few months in shitty weather, you might be lucky and get it back off without a hernia... but maybe not...And I speak from personal experience!

I'm not sure 10Nm is enough, but 20 is probably plenty unless you really don't care.... 20 Nm is roughly a Full-sized pedal spanner to where it feels tight without straining or a standard length Allen key to the inside of the spindle and a little bit of "nnngh" up to elbow level... If you're using your shoulders, it's too tight.

Using a torque wrench is not essential when it comes to fitting pedals as the acceptable range is pretty wide.

Pedals are the one area of bikes where I’d proactively advise you can safely ignore the manufacturer’s torque recommendations. Typically between 30 & 40Nm, with Shimano in the middle, they are huge overkill. I only ever snug my pedals hand-tight, probably about 10Nm. Never used a torque wrench on them, never had a pedal come loose or need a bit of pipe or mallet to loosen one in 30 years of riding and frequently swapping between bikes.

The one exception to this rule being Powertap pedals - they need to be torqued to make the wee power pod thingies  work. 

I had to borrow a hollow pipe off the local builders merchants to fit on the end of a spanner to get the pedals off my wife's bike. Also required standing on the pipe.

Probably not recommended!

Take big care when installing the pedal into the crank, cross threading is too easy, it should *feel* right, steel pedal bearings into often very expensive weak ali crank threads, almost asking for trouble.  Learned early on myself.