Re: Durable Pedals?

I realy like Shimano DX pedals I have them on a couple of my unis, they
are light and gripy but not to gripy they have smaller pins than some
pedals which don't hold up to grinding on rocks, and they have good
bearings and axles that don't bend. and no end caps that allways get
destroyed. They are kind of pricy but worth it I think, full price is
like $120 but I got mine from price point for $65 + shipping

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Tellurider - Dan Wilson
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If you want something that just lasts and doesn't need too much
maintenance, buy DMR V8s with the grease port and make sure you squirt
grease in them every so often.

It sounds pretty surpising that you're killing pedals that quickly
though, pedals should last a good thousand miles or so without much
maintenance and longer if you maintain them.

Are you riding a lot in snow and ice and keeping your muni somewhere
cold? Or do you do loads and loads of pedal grabs? Or ride with a lot of
outwards pressure on your feet, or anything else that might destroy
bearings?

Joe

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joemarshall - dumb blonde
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ChangingLINKS.com said:

My pedals last less than 100 miles a pair.

I've had problems with inexpensive pedals on my unicycles, too. The
Wellgos that came on my KH24 first ate their bearings (the ball
bearings decided to leave their track), and ended up with stripped
threads shortly after being repaired. My theory is the threads must
have been stripped when the pedals were made.

Still, this pedal lasted a couple of months, far better than the cheap
pedal on my other unicycle. It didn't even last a week, and I don't
think it's worth trying to fix $8 pedals.

Quoted message said:

I started with sealed bearing Wellgo (B-36) pedals.
The left one fell off in the first 50 miles while I was pedaling.
The Wellgo pedals were soooo grippy, they destroyed my shoes.

I put old Shimano beartraps on my MUni. I like the pedals, but the
cage is bending and I'm having trouble keeping the bolts that hold the
cage to the frame in good shape. I have a set of Atomic Labs Aircorps
on order as a replacement. They weight 590g, but I've read they are
super grippy and might eat shoes, too. See John Childs' review here
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?s=72c7b9b6c4f799954815c18619d6e281&threadid=21477&highlight=aircorp

For my street ride, I bought the Shimano MX30 pedals which weight in
at a very lean 492g. I'm quite happy with them, though they are not
extremely grippy with the short pins. They come with long pins too,
which I haven't tried.

Hope that helps.

Ken

The Primo pedals can be repaired. You most likely have the unsealed
flavor Primo pedals, which means the pedals use loose ball bearings.
Take the pedal apart in a shoe box so you don't loose the bearings.
Clean out the old grease and dirt. Put in some new bearing grease. The
challenging part to getting the pedal put back together is getting the
bearing race just tight enough. Too tight and the pedal won't spin
freely. Too loose and the pedal will have too much play. It's a bit
tricky, but with some trial and error you'll get it right.

In some cases the unsealed pedals hold up better than sealed pedals.
Sealed pedals use a cartridge bearing. Unsealed pedals use loose ball
bearings. With unsealed pedals you can regrease the bearings if you
ride through water, mud, or sand a lot. With unsealed pedals you have
to replace the cartridge bearing which gets to be more expensive if you
have to do it a lot. Unsealed pedals are also better for trials where
you're doing things like pedal grabs. In trials you can blow a
cartridge bearing apart from the abuse. With an unsealed pedal you just
have to regrease the bearings and fiddle with the tightness of the
bearing race to keep the pedals in working order.

For sealed pedals I'd recommend either the 'Shimano DX'
(http://tinyurl.com/3b6mv) or the 'Atomlab Aircorp'
(http://www.atomlab.com/). The Shimano pedals have smaller diameter
pins. Some people like that and some people don't. Shop around for the
Shimano pedals. You can get them for much less than their MSRP. The
2004 Aircorp pedals are redesigned from the 2003 model. The 2004 model
is a bearingless design. It uses all bushings and no bearings. I don't
know how well the 2004 version will work. It's untested, unknown. It
may do very well. With no bearing there is no bearing to break. That
should improve durability and reliability. Someone is going to have to
try the new 2004 Aircorp on a muni and report back about how the new
design holds up. I've got the 2002 era Aircorps and no plans to be
buying the 2004 model any time soon (no need, my current pedals are
working just fine).

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Could you enlighten us as to the nature of this bushing design?

Also, I just got a used set of snafus with unsealed bearingsa, and I'm
happy, except that they have lots of play in them and I can't figure out
which socket fits the race. A 13 is too small, but a 14 is too
big😕 . Strange. So, I can't grease or tighten them, but I still
expect to get a good 6months to a year of heavy trials abuse in on them,
that is, if the cage doesn't shatter or crack. That's what happened on
my last set. I also tried the wellgo b-37s, but now they're on my muni.
They work well. I've also heard many good things aboout the azonic
a-frame, which I would buy if I weren't set for pedals for a loong time
(I hope).

My $0.02

One last thing, stay away from magnesium. It's really bad cuz you can
rip the pins right out of the body, and then all it's good for is
burning.

--
gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

Don't you think it's a cruel irony that acting like a G.I. Joe in the
army can get you a Medal, while playing with one can get you thrown out?
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gerblefranklin said:

*Could you enlighten us as to the nature of this bushing design? *

I don't know much about it, other than what's mentioned on their web
site.

The 2003 design had one DU bushing and one cartridge bearing per pedal.
The 2004 design has two DU bushings per pedal and no cartridge bearing.
I'm optimistic about the new design, but until someone gives it some
hard abuse on a muni it will be untested and unknown. A quality pedal
that will never have a bearing go "crunch" in the middle of a ride will
be well worth the cost of those pedals.

There are clipless pedals that use all bushings and no ball bearings.
I'm not aware of any platform pedals (other than the Atomlab pedals)
that have gone with the all bushing design.

On your Snafu's try an Imperial (English) socket. It may not be metric.
Also some sockets with thick walls may not fit due to clearance. There
are sockets with thinner walls, but they are usually the more expensive
sockets.

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