Adjusting Bearings in Cheap Pedals

Adjusting Bearings in Cheap Pedals - Intro

My right hand pedal was feeling a little loose so I thought I'd try to adjust the bearings. The pedals cost about £5 ($8) about 1 year ago they are resin body wellgo pedals, and I have the sneaky suspicion they were never intended to be serviced!

Adjusting Bearings in Cheap Pedals - Cone Problems

Taking the pedals apart was easy, no problem. It was the putting back together that caused problems. When you tighten the lock nut (the outer most nut) you also as a side effect tighten the cone. If you are using a socket to tighten the lock nut you will not have room to "hold" the cone using a screwdriver or similar.

Adjusting Bearings in Cheap Pedals - The Solution

The fact that this nest step involves using a drill should give a hint as to the gorilla tactics coming up!

In order to prevent over tightening you need to be able to stop the cone from tightening, when tightening the lock nut, to prevent this drill hole the size of a bicycle spocket or a small screw driver that lines up with the cone inside the pedal. If you are using clips / toe clips you can drill the hole in the underside of the pedal.

Step One - Drill a hole that lines up with cone inside the pedal.

Step 2 - Use a spoke or a thin screwdriver to hold the cone whilst tightening.

!!!!- You end up with a big hole in your pedal.

Adjusting Bearings in Cheap Pedals - Alternatives

Instead of fiddling about for hours to extend the life of £5 / $8 worth of hardware, why not bodge a little. Use a small grease gun to inject fresh grease in to your pedals.  Drill a hole in the centre of the cage body so you can inject grease in to the axle and out through the bearings.

Grease those pedals!

You can get a grease gun pre-loaded for a few pounds / bucks, and you will extend the life of you pedals 3 fold. Example below.


Sunlight and Daylight Assessment