bicycle pedals!

[Steve]

I have a raleigh bike (excellent quality, i thought).

Its been a couple of years since I used it, so thought I'd get it out and have a ride. However I soon realised why I stopped using it. The left pedal wobbles. On taking off the bolt securing the pedal (which was tight), it appears the pedal and the "hub" interlock by a square peg in a square hole. But the edges of both the hub and the pedal squares have worn away, causing the wobble.

I dont know how this happened, it seems very odd (though I recall having some problems making the centre bolt remain tight, it kept loosening off by itself, perhaps the loose pedal caused it to wear down the squareness?)

How do I solve this? If I have a welder could I weld it up? Or would it be more sensible to buy a new pedal? Do they sell pedals?

I have uploaded photos at
//www.diynot.com/network/Steve/albums/3160

 

[Diyisfun]

Pedals are sold in pairs

 

[Steve]

I just looked online at bicycle spares shops, it seems the part i need is a chainset - the whole lot that rotates to move the chain. Dont seem too expensive either.

 

[Diyisfun]

THey were called 'crank' in my young days

 

[RigidRaider]

You have goosed the square taper in your crank. It's scrap now. Take the bike to your local bike shop and ask the mechanic to fit a new bottom bracket and crankset.

Better still, throw that bike in the canal and buy a decent one, second hand, without all that heavy suspension that you don't really need.

 

[gregers]

iirc it was called a cottle pin???

 

[Trazor]

iirc it was called a cottle pin???

Cotter pin.

 

[Alastairreid]

iirc it was called a cottle pin???

Cotter pin.

split pin

 

[gregers]

iirc it was called a cottle pin???

Cotter pin.

well i was nearly right

all i remember was they were a pain in the wotsits

 

[Stivino]

Definately a cotter pin, I've never seen a split pin on a bike.

 

[mattylad]

I can remember wonky pedalling because of loose cotter pins...

 

[xerxes]

Some confusion here.

Cranks are part of the chainset, not the whole chainset.

Stivino is right. Split pins (split cotters) are not used to secure cranks to bottom brackets (axles); on a cottered chainset a solid cotter pin, with a nut, is used.

Cottered chainset bottom brackets don't have square ends; they have round ends, with a flat machined on them against which the cotter pin sits. Cotterless chainsets commonly, but not always, have square-ended bottom brackets.

Cottered chainsets haven't been fitted to quality bikes for many years. I agree that repairing this may not be worth doing. When I looked at fixing my daughter's bike recently (stripped pedal thread) the cost of the replacement pedals and chainset meant the bike was beyond economic repair.

 

[RigidRaider]

As I wrote above the OP would do better to fit a modern "Hollowtech" style crankset, in which the right hand crank, spider and hollow axle are one piece. The axle fits through a pair of sealed cartridge bearings which are outboard of the frame and the LH crank fits on splines on the end of the axle and is held with a pinch bolt. This setup is lighter and significantly stiffer then the old square taper design, which is rapidly becoming obselete on all but the cheapest bikes.

However from the pictures it looks as if the OP has one of those terrible steel bikes overburdened with rear suspension, which doesn't work anyway. It probably weighs 35 to 45 lbs. I don't know why shops like Halfords keep foisting these bikes on the public; they must be doing more then even the British weather to discourage cycling. It wouldn't be worth spending any money on a bike like this and a good bike shop shouldn't recommend that he does so. He would do better to go and buy a new or second hand hardtail (no rear suspension) where his money would go towards some reasonable quality lightweight components, which might include a modern crankset. A steel or ali hardtail could weigh 25-30 lbs and would be a much nicer ride.

If this is beyond the OP's budget, a new square taper axle or sealed BB (the axle & bearings) and steel & ali crankset could be picked up from Ebay (or, God forbid, Halfords) for a few quid. He's got to make sure he gets the right length axle though.

 

[gregers]

thatll teach me to look at the piccys before posting,now i see that there are no COTTLE pins and it indeed does have a crank set,the only thing i could suggest is take a looksie in your local free paper to see if anyone is giving any bikes away and see if you can cannibilize it to mend your own bike,that way you could get a repair done at no cost,in my local friday-ad there are peeps always wanting rid of bikes that they cant be ar5ed to give a bit of tlc too.

 

[Steve]

This bike was actually one sent to me by the insurance, the old one got nicked (it was falling to pieces anyway, and was lacking a left pedal). Jackpot. Its probably not the one I would have chosen, but didnt have any choice in the matter.

I'm not looking to replace this bike, but it would be nice to know whats involved in replacing the parts that need replacing.

I noticed on the spares sites that "cottered" and "cotterless" varieties of chainsets were available - whats that about?