For those wondering whether applying all of of your force in the wrong direction might be helpful: it is not. I just ran that experiment for about 20 minutes, you know, so you don't have to. You're welcome.
A bike mechanic at MEC told me that it would be easy to remove the pedals later if you use a little grease on the axle before you install the pedals. It prevents it from seizing over the years of use. Works like a charm!
Thanks for making a potentially confusing thing simple. With your help I was able to successfully install clipless pedals on my new road bike after 30 years of not touching a bike.
Quick tip, to remove pedal regardless of side always push the wrench or allen key toward the rear wheel. and to install regardless of side always push wrench or allen key toward the front wheel. Edit: some people seem confused by “push” in my above comment. What I mean is apply force at the pedal be in Allen key or wrench so the force is always going toward the real wheel to make lose and toward the front to tighten. For example if your wrench is in low position your moving your hands away but the force at the pedal to wrench union is still moving toward rear or front.
Glad it helped, it won't help one bit getting them lose pedals can get rather tight on the crank. I usually set crank vertical place Allen key horizontal and then step on Allen key to get them loose.
Esqj Yeah if you had a bench Vice with some shop towels you can place crank arm in vice and break them lose this way. but I would take it to a bike shop so you don't damage your bike.
Esqj Also I forgot to mention some pedals have both allen key from the rear side and two flat spots on the pedal side for a pedal wrench if so you use both to lose a stuck pedal.
Great instructions! I switched pedals between bikes, one with allen fittings, one with wrench fittings. Once I collected the correct tools, it took less than fifteen minutes to do both, with periodic reference to the video. Particularly useful was the specific orientation of the pedals and tools. Thank you!
That's a very good tip - once you make the mistake of crunching your hand into your chainrings it's not something that you do again in a hurry! Another tip is if your allen key isn't giving you enough leverage an old set of straight handlebars can help to get the extra leverage you need.
Global Cycling Network - using some pipe on the allen key (or any other key/wrench) as a handle extender can be unsafe: it can slip off under load, sending parts flying around, or it can break the allen key, with the same effect. In the factory where i work, we were explicitly warned about this and to use a heavier-duty key instead (longer & thicker handle)
The part about the pedals trying to loosen themselves is incorrect. It's a bit counterintuitive, but the way the pedals thread on actually causes them to tighten them as you pedal. It's not because of friction, but something called "mechanical precession" This is very apparent on unicycles, which use the same crank interface but don't have chainrings. it's easy to install the cranks on the wrong sides (or mount the whole wheel backwards). Beginners will frequently do this, and it causes the pedals to loosen and/or fall off. If you install your pedals on your bike too loose, they will actually stay on fine (because of the threading direction), they will just make noises, and cause some excessive thread wear as it frets slightly due to the thread clearance.
You are correct nwimpney. This guy is not only wrong about the reason for the thread direction. He hasn't come back and corrected himself. It's like lets do an informational video, upload it, have people who really know what they are talking about point out an error 9a big error) and just forget about it. I'm wondering how they made this mistake, he looks like a bicyle guy, has a bike, nice shop and tools. he even has a repair stand!
@@JAMaxeRestoration The video is about how to change your pedals. If you're changing your pedals, it doesn't matter *why* they're threaded the way they are; you just need to know which way to turn the wrench. Sure, it would be nice if they corrected the error, but the error itself is completely irrelevant to the purpose of the video and in no way reduces its usefulness or credibility.
Can't believe that an incorrect statement that pedals loosen as you pedal hasn't been corrected. Really unprofessional . What is weird us that people thank him ! I guess at least he gets them off and they can mimic that. Better to watch the video where you use your foot on the wrench to loosen it.
I needed to change my pedals on my Rogue Echo Bike and your video helped when I was unable to remove the pedal bolt. I had no idea the alan wrench was on the back of the bolt. That helped alot as I now had leverage. Thank you again!
Something I've found that makes dealing with the chainrings a bit safer is to shift into the big ring before you start dealing with pedals on the DS. The chain will cover the teeth and round out the rings so if you do accidentally bash your hand, you won't do any damage beyond just bashing your hand.
Old video but still gold. Saved my hands as I was going in the wrong direction! Thanks dude! However, I don’t have a big enough Allen key to tighten my new pedals on. Off to the store I go!
It's all about leverage. If you're using allen keys then you could try using a pedal wrench. I have in the past taken the cranks off the frame and used an old set of MTB bars to increase the length of an allen key, then stood on the opposite pedal and the bar. I wouldn't recommend that method though!
Do you have a video on basic maintenance? I used to just take my bike over to my local shop as it had free labor and I generally have something to buy at the shop, but they've changed hands, and the quality has gone done drastically. If not, maybe something to consider, along with maybe a selection of tools/products to have on hand. Thanks in advance, glad I found this channel, already learned a ton.
Thanks, very helpful! I had to extend my leverage by fitting a pipe around my 15mm wrench. I pronounced lever and leverage in the British manner throughout in tribute to this smart British mechanic.
I just got a full suspension MTB from Santa Cruz and they included PLASTIC pedals. This helped me replace the pedals to some flush low key shimano flat pedals thanks
Thx for the tips. I ended up buying a dedicated pedal wrench as my pedals seized up on me. I had to step on them and use my body weight to get the pedal loose.
Thanks for putting the threading at the beginning--ive swapped out at least dozens of pairs of pedals over the years but every time, I have to remember which way to turn the wrench : facepalm:
Just wanted to say thanks for this video. I was looking for the position of the crank arm and tool to stop everything spinning and this showed me all I needed to know.
Sorry it took me so long to give this video a like. I've been coming to it about once a year or so because I can never remember which way to turn the allen key when I do maintenance on my pedals, or in today's case to install my new Assioma power meter pedals. Cheers!
Helpful video! I just replaced the regular pedals on my roadbike with clipless ones yesterday. The shop had put some type of adhesive on the thread, and I didn't have a wrench. Sure took some elbow grease...
This was a great tutorial, and really helped, even though I didn't have the actual biking tool. The simple points to remember helped me change my pedals without a problem.
When you're using the wrench, just make sure that you're well away from the chainring because if you're pushing a lot of force on the pedals to undo the pedals and the nut cracks loose, you don't want any part of your hand/knuckle to hit the chainring thereby taking a lot of skin off.
Thanks for this video, it seems obvious but every time somehow I do it the wrong way :). Just one point: at the beginning it is said that in order to unscrew the pedals it is necessary to turn the right one anticlockwise and the left one clockwise. That is true only if you are looking at the pedal with the bike behind it. But if they tell me to screw a bolt anticlockwise I usually use the opposite point of view, which is by looking directly at the bolt. With that point of view it is the left (non chain) one that actually unscrew anticlockwise like a standard bolt.
An easy way to always remember how to untighten the pedals is to sit on the bike normally facing forward and pedal backwards. Yes, that back pedalling is the motion you must apply to the wrench or Allen key to loosen it. On both sides. It's dead simple. You don't need to think about how it's threaded or which side you are doing. 😀
At 38 seconds, the statement about pedals being designed to loosen themselves as you pedal is backwards. They are designed so that the torque applied to the pedals while pedaling TIGHTENS them, to ensure they won’t unscrew themselves. It’s a very important safety feature in the design. The confusion over what is happening is natural, as you have two rotating frames of reference to keep track of. I’ve known very smart physics majors who have gotten mixed up on this, so it’s very easy to do.
I've just been wrestling with this problem because it is incredibly confusing and I think you're right but for the wrong reason. Pedals undo in the same direction they rotate, so it's not a torque force that causes them to self-tighten. If you torque them in the direction they rotate, they loosen. The reason they do in fact self tighten when you pedal is due to mechanical precession, which acts in the opposite direction. Now I just hope in right because I'll have another meltdown if I still don't understand it 😂
THANK YOU! I KNEW I WAS RIGHT (and video author is WRONG!) He's getting a thumbs down from me for this. I am more forgetful and easily confused due to a brain injury, but it makes my perfectionism stand out - and I see other people's mistakes more easily! When I assume the other person is right, I can't make their process make sense in my brain.
Thank you Global Cycling Network. Yes I was trying to do this exercise but I thought I had better check on RU-vid first, and voilà here you are.... silly me probably would have turned everything the wrong way... Ha ha ha, but it looks like I am not the only one, this video has 3,500,772 views... Congratulations, you are providing great education for all the dummies of the world.
Thank you, this is lear and easy to understand. I have no idea why anyone could possible give a "thumbs down". Sometimes it requires more force to break free. That's a possibility when dealing with threads, especially when you are removing old pedals.
Can you guys do a video on Johan Van Summerens bike? please explain how a tall man like him is capable of riding a smaller frame. Thanks much and keep the videos coming, they're great stuff.
What if you don't have a workstand? I find the easiest way to remove pedals is to turn the crank so it is horizontal with the ground and pointing towards the front of the bike. Then insert the allen key/wrench so it is also pointing to the front, stand on the pedal and at the same time pull the allen key/wrench upwards. Same technique on both sides, easy to remember.
Many thanks for excellent instructions; worked like a charm, regardless that I didn't have the special tool with a long arm for a leverage.17mm wrench was not as snag as desired, but did the job.
I dont have long allen key, i dont have pedal changer tool unfortunately. What i did, hope can help the newbies here like myself, for the drive side, step ur foot on the pedal while facing the hanfle bar, usep the no.15 wrench on the nut and pull it towards u. For the non drive side, sit on the frame while facing rear trye and pull the nut again with 15 wrench towards ur body. It aint pretty but gets the job done
