pedals: relube or replace?

[spokewrench]

After 150 miles on my Aventon Abound, I started hearing a brushing sound when the right pedal passed bottom dead center. I imagined maybe there was runout on one of the chain wheel guard wheels and it was brushing something at that point. I removed the chain guard and found a pin oak leaf at the bottom bracket. That's what it sounded like. The guard wheels didn't come suspiciously close to the chain guard or anything else.

Removing the leaf didn't stop the noise. I removed the chain guard for further study. Nothing. Besides, if something was rubbing, I would have been able to hear it turning the crank by hand. The pedals turned smoothly on their spindles but with a lot of resistance as the lube were viscous like cosmoline. I thought it might be a creak in my shoe. Changing shoes didn't help.

In fact, it's silent when I set out. On a test, I went 500 feet up the street. The hardest pedaling was when I set out, climbing a 2% grade while getting up speed without shifting down. Then over the rise, down a 2-to-4% grade, and a u-turn, all silent. Then the brushing noise started, up the grade, over the top, and down the grade to my driveway. I think it has something to do with the thick lube: a bit of hard pedaling squishes it away from where it's needed.

I swapped the new metal pedal with the plastic right pedal from a Radmission, is service 16 months. The plastic one spins with no lubricant drag. It was too dark and cold to test immediately, but I assume now the Radmission will have the brushing noise.

I've never taken an old pedal apart to clean and lube, much less a new one. With maybe 26 eighth-inch ball bearings, it sounds like a headache. Does anyone do that to inexpensive pedals? Are there other pedals with lots of lube drag?

 

[6zfshdb]

In my case, I don't lube, or mess around with pedal bearings. I replace them when they start making noise or become stiff. I don't use high end expensive pedals, and stick with quality brand name mid grade products. Infrequent replacement doesn't cost much and it's insurance against a bearing failure during a ride.

 

[mrgold35]

I would replace with a higher quality aftermarket brand that supports my riding style. I replaced my original pedals on my two 2016 Radrovers with larger aftermarket MTB brand. The aftermarket brand I have are larger, smoother operation, maintenance free, sealed against environmental elements, stronger construction, and shock resistance (crap load of crashes/scrapes/bangs against the pedals with zero effect with operations).

Doesn't seem cost effective to repair the old lower quality pedals just to end up in the same place months later.

 

[indianajo]

Low end pedals are plastic ferrule on metal pin. No ball bearings. I have lubricated the ones on my yubabike, when they started squeaking about 4000 & 8000 miles. You have to turn the bike on its side, squirt some 5w or 10 w oil in the pin-plastic annulus, then wait several hours for it to sink in. Then turn on the other side and repeat. This made my pedals last 10000 miles. When oiling did not stop the squeaking, I replaced them with ones the parts shop said had ball bearings. The crank brothers stamp ones had 1/8" tall metal spikes, which I had to unscrew a little to avoid damaging my shoes. They cost $41.

 

[spokewrench]

In my case, I don't lube, or mess around with pedal bearings. I replace them when they start making noise or become stiff. I don't use high end expensive pedals, and stick with quality brand name mid grade products. Infrequent replacement doesn't cost much and it's insurance against a bearing failure during a ride.

The new Abound Pedals are Feimin FP-913 ZU. Boron spindle. Aluminum platform. ZU bearings. I wish I knew about ZU bearings. I've read that some good pedals have bushings. Bushings could be why lube viscosity keeps them from spinning freely.

Of Feimin's 104 pedal models, 22 have ZU bearings. Some ads call ZU bearings "machine sealed." If they're bushings, I've read that plastic ones don't last, but elsewhere I've read that metal pedal bushings will outlast balls.

A car uses multiweight oil to be thin enough to lube its plain bearings on winter startups. Maybe the lube in these pedals isn't ideal for winter. If it's bushings, maybe relubing would be easy. I'd just have to know a suitable lube.

Maybe the brushing sound doesn't mean any damage is occurring. I was afraid the mystery sound meant the mystery torque sensor was coming apart.

Well, the temperature is up to 40. Time to find out if the Abound pedal brought the sound to my Radmission! I hope the cops don't catch me pedaling without a permit!

 

[sc00ter]

Porkchop BMX, the online bmx store, sells Free Agent sealed bearing platform pedals for $49.95. I know several people who use these on bmx dirt jumping bikes and they are great quality. I personally use Odyssey Twisted PC pedals. If they get messed up or fail I just order a new set in a hideous color.

Welgo, the pedals that come on 99% of ebikes, have come a long way in quality since they started. That being said I rarely use them on a long term bike, unless it's their higher end pedals. Oh, rebuilding a pedal can be done but its tedious.

 

[harryS]

I'll generally re-lube noisy pedals. If any bearings are missing, I got an assortment of new bearings I bought on amazon. Might as well use them. I don't like buying new pedals if the olds can be refurbished. If I only had one bike, sure, but I have this N+1 affliction,

 

[spokewrench]

Good news! The Aventon pedal is silent on the Radmission!

Bad news! Changing pedals did not cure the Abound. It must be the Aventon torque sensor. Bottom dead center is the the point of least torque. It's also the point of shifting my weight (radial force) from my right foot to my left.

Gosh, I don't know anything about the Aventon torque sensor!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Good news! The Aventon pedal is silent on the Radmission!

Bad news! Changing pedals did not cure the Abound. It must be the Aventon torque sensor. Bottom dead center is the the point of least torque. It's also the point of shifting my weight (radial force) from my right foot to my left.

Gosh, I don't know anything about the Aventon torque sensor!

My non-Aventon ebike developed a noise very similar to one you're hearing on the Abound. Drove me nuts.

Hard to localize but from somewhere near the bottom bracket. Always started after a mile or so of riding, always with the left pedal at about 10 o'clock as viewed from the left side. Present when pedaling with just the left foot, much fainter with just the right.

Turned out to be a bad bottom bracket cartridge.

The silver lining: Love the new pedals I bought trying to get rid of it.

 

[spokewrench]

My non-Aventon ebike developed a noise very similar to one you're hearing on the Abound. Drove me nuts.

Turned out to be a bad bottom bracket cartridge.

I haven't detected any radial play by pushing and pulling the right crank arm at various positions of the clock, but that doesn't mean it's not there. I guess a torque sensor has rotary movement between two parts of the shaft, and torque is relaxing at 6 o'clock. I guess I'd better ask Aventon. Hope they aren't too busy!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I haven't detected any radial play by pushing and pulling the right crank arm at various positions of the clock, but that doesn't mean it's not there. I guess a torque sensor has rotary movement between two parts of the shaft, and torque is relaxing at 6 o'clock. I guess I'd better ask Aventon. Hope they aren't too busy!

Some torque sensors are in the bottom bracket, but mine's on the right rear dropout, and I think that's a more common arrangement in lower- to middle-tier ebikes like ours.

 

[spokewrench]

This guy replaces an Aventon sensor in the bottom bracket.

Pretty involved!
To be sure it wasn't external, put a band around my cuff and rode with no chain guard. it took 300 yards to start. It could progress from sounding like brushing a leaf to a more metallic tone. If I pedaled lightly, it would continue. If I coasted, it would be temporarily absent when I resumed pedaling.
I think it's grease related and they all do it. I like to pedal without PAS and with long power strokes. That would tend to squeeze lubricant from between surfaces. At lower temperatures, the lube would be slower to return when the pressure was off. If it couldn't keep up, the film would get thinner until metal was brushing metal. The vibration would be transmitted through the right shaft to the chain ring and guard wheels.
Today, when the bike had been sitting in the sun at 50 F, the brushing took 300 yards to begin. Colder grease could explain why it took only 100 yards last night, when it was 45.
Maybe I should use lower gears and more PAS at colder temperatures, or maybe it's harmless.

 

[nutdriver]

Pedals that come as the original equipment tend to be of low quality. Rather than trying to lube or rebuild those, I would recommend replacement. There are many excellent examples, depending on your riding style. Replacing your pedals with something more appropriate will eliminate one cause of drive train noise.

 

[m@Robertson]

Lubing the pedals works fine if thats your actual problem. After the recent torrential rains mine got a good dose of water splashing and I have a squeak on the drive side. I remove them from the crankarm, disassemble and grease them with Mobil red grease. That stuff is highly resistant to water breaking it down. On a bike I ride daily in all weather I usually don't have to do this more than once a year.

 

[spokewrench]

Lubing the pedals works fine if thats your actual problem. After the recent torrential rains mine got a good dose of water splashing and I have a squeak on the drive side. I remove them from the crankarm, disassemble and grease them with Mobil red grease. That stuff is highly resistant to water breaking it down. On a bike I ride daily in all weather I usually don't have to do this more than once a year.

My grease gun has Lucas Red n Tacky. I wonder if I could use a plastic syringe to inject it into a sealed bearing cartridge. I've discovered that when the temperature is below 60 F, the section of the left bottom bracket bearing race that takes to load, runs dry. It didn't happen in December and January, so something must have happened to the lube.

 

[m@Robertson]

Maybe try prying off the plastic covers on the bearings and then load them up. Hopefully the covers replace firmly.

 

[spokewrench]

I got a look. The seal reminds me of the sidewall of a very-low-profile tire. Under magnification, I prodded with a tiny screwdriver but couldn't find any way past it. The bottom bracket was 60 F when I finished, and it pedaled silently. Half an hour it was 55, and I heard a faint brushing sound.

Thickening is a big reason to change conventional motor oil. It's a mix of what gets distilled in a certain temperature range. If the lighter stuff evaporates, motor oil gets thicker. It gets even thicker if some components oxidize. The sensor seems to be a Bafang under the Aventon brand. It may be a scheme to make Aventon customers a captive market for repair parts.

Bafang may not like rebranding because it makes Aventon the parts middle man for shops and consumers. So Bafang uses bearings lubed with 10 W oil that's 30 W thinned with kerosene. New, they perform fine, but the following winter, consumers begin having trouble because the kerosene has evaporated past the seals. Aventon has to ship a lot of sensors for warranty work. Nobody but Bafang makes sensors that fit. In the end, Aventon, dealers, and consumers decide that the trusted Bafang brand is the solution.

I guess I need a lube that won't react with what's in there and is thin enough to inject with a steel needle through a pinhole in the seal. I have a 16 gauge needle that I use for 5 W, and 10 W would probably be fine. Silicone oil is inert, I think. It comes in different viscosities, but I don't know how to translate those to the viscosity of motor oil at room temperature. I've ordered Liberty synthetic oil for RC bearings. It's applied with an 18 gauge needle, so it's not too thick.

 

[indianajo]

When I lubricated my pedals per post #4 the effect lasted a 18 months or 2 years. Only at 10000 miles when it started squeaking again after a week did I replace the pedals. If you do not intend to ride through high water, bicycles do not need sealed bearings. I have lubricated the crank bearing on various bicycles by turning upside down & dripping 5 w non-detergent ol through the hole in the bottom, or on one bike, drilling a hole in the bottom. Type F or A ATF or non-compliant tractor hydraulic fluid SUS 48 to 68. If the bearing is unsealed the water runs out again after immersion. I have lubed various bicycle crank bearings after immersion, never had one fail. Or in the case of the generator on my car, those bearings. I had the water over the drive tunnel in a 15" rain in 2 hours in Houston once. Lubed all wheel & driveshaft bearings as well as generator after that. I still have that car.

 

[spokewrench]

These bearings don't seem to be removable from the torque sensor, and the one I saw looks well sealed. IIRC, wheel and BB bearings used to be maintained by a few drops of oil.

Time to run an errand. Rather than heat the BB to 60 F, I'll take another bike.

 

[spokewrench]

If you had 1950 Serbian Dinars, you could buy some like mine.

PEDALE MTB ALU 9/16" black FP-913DU

PEDALE FEIMIN FP-913DU ( PED-032 ) Aluminijumske pedale za MTB / BMX bicikle. FP-913DU pedale su napravljene iz jednog dela aluminijuma. Osovina napravljena od Cr-Mo čelika i konus i kuglice obezbeđuju nisko trenje, precizan rad i mali otp

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