pedals: relube or replace?

[m@Robertson]

I still have the squeak, its still pissing me off and now its raining again and will rain the rest of the week. And today I just finished an errand that was over 20 miles in rain. The bike looks like I threw dirt all over it thanks to what it picked up off the ground. Pretty soon here I think I am going to have to dig into the pedals. Just checked and they have a service kit so maybe thats the route I will go.

Ripper | Funn - mountain bike components

Funn Ripper Mountain Bike CliplessPedal is our World Cup used-and-abused, tested and proven clipped downhill and enduro pedal.

funnmtb.com

 

[spokewrench]

So "DU" seems to mean a bushing! I thought mine must have bushings because they don't spin like ball bearings.

My chain lube sheds dirt, which I don't understand.

A few weeks ago, somebody left a bottle of this in a church parking lot 300 yards from my house.

Amazon.com

If was upright, not as if it had been dropped, but I can't imagine anyone detailing a car there. It was likely to be run over the next time there were services, so, when nobody claimed it after a couple of days, I picked it up. I haven't tried it, but it looks like a good dirt repellent.

I still use some F40 T12 fluorescent tubes. The last ones I bought are Phillips, and they didn't come with a coating to repel dirty and humidity, which can prevent starting. I use Rain-x. I wonder if it would keep a bike clean.

 

[seebol]

I'm following this thread as I have a creak somewhere near my right crank when under load, once per revolution (when the crank is halfway between straight ahead and straight down). I'm afraid it's the torque sensor bearings. Aventon support unhelpfully asked me to take it to a local bike store and get the chain regreased, despite my sending a video of the creaking sound

 

[spokewrench]

I'm following this thread as I have a creak somewhere near my right crank when under load, once per revolution (when the crank is halfway between straight ahead and straight down). I'm afraid it's the torque sensor bearings. Aventon support unhelpfully asked me to take it to a local bike store and get the chain regreased, despite my sending a video of the creaking sound

I'm glad you asked! I was sure I wasn't the only one!
M&S E-Driving Systems makes the torque sensors for Aventon, and it looks as if they cut corners and greased the right bearing with grease that soon becomes too stiff to keep the bearing lubed.

For $20 I bought a crank arm puller and a 20-tooth bottom-bracket removal tool (a socket). The puller gets the right crank arm off after you unscrew the screw with an 8mm allen bit. The socket removes the nut (lefthand thread) holding the chain wheel on. Then you can see the bearing. A couple of small screwdrivers can pry out the circlip. What looks like a rubber seal is a soft metal washer. I coaxed it out with a pointy tool. The first time, I added a gram of synthetic oil. The noise went away for two weeks.

When it came back (worse than ever), I opened it back up, wiped away as much grease as I could, and packed in Lucas Red 'n' Tacky, known to be a good bearing grease. That was 3 weeks ago, and the noise is still gone. What's more, I can pedal up hills where I used to need PAS. Pedaling with a badly lubed ball bearing is like pulling the lever on a disk brake; the harder you pedal, the more drag you get.

For a permanent solution, I want to use brake cleaner to get all the old lube out. The photo shows the unit after I removed it. The chainwheel splines on the right still have Red 'n' Tacky that I didn't wipe off after I packed the bearing 3 weeks earlier. I removed the unit following the youtube instructions from a certified Aventon mechanic. Those instructions were wrong. Consequently, I scraped the insulation from three of the six conductors in the cable. On the cable is a lump of flexible cement I put on to protect the bare conductors and insulate them from each other. It worked. The next time I remove the unit, I'll dissolve the bad grease with brake cleaner. If a torque sensor from another source would work, I'd use it!

 

[CanNik]

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.

Unless you have expensive ones why bother, I agree buy new.

 

[seebol]

I'm glad you asked! I was sure I wasn't the only one!
M&S E-Driving Systems makes the torque sensors for Aventon, and it looks as if they cut corners and greased the right bearing with grease that soon becomes too stiff to keep the bearing lubed.

For $20 I bought a crank arm puller and a 20-tooth bottom-bracket removal tool (a socket). The puller gets the right crank arm off after you unscrew the screw with an 8mm allen bit. The socket removes the nut (lefthand thread) holding the chain wheel on. Then you can see the bearing. A couple of small screwdrivers can pry out the circlip. What looks like a rubber seal is a soft metal washer. I coaxed it out with a pointy tool. The first time, I added a gram of synthetic oil. The noise went away for two weeks.

When it came back (worse than ever), I opened it back up, wiped away as much grease as I could, and packed in Lucas Red 'n' Tacky, known to be a good bearing grease. That was 3 weeks ago, and the noise is still gone. What's more, I can pedal up hills where I used to need PAS. Pedaling with a badly lubed ball bearing is like pulling the lever on a disk brake; the harder you pedal, the more drag you get.

For a permanent solution, I want to use brake cleaner to get all the old lube out. The photo shows the unit after I removed it. The chainwheel splines on the right still have Red 'n' Tacky that I didn't wipe off after I packed the bearing 3 weeks earlier. I removed the unit following the youtube instructions from a certified Aventon mechanic. Those instructions were wrong. Consequently, I scraped the insulation from three of the six conductors in the cable. On the cable is a lump of flexible cement I put on to protect the bare conductors and insulate them from each other. It worked. The next time I remove the unit, I'll dissolve the bad grease with brake cleaner. If a torque sensor from another source would work, I'd use it!View attachment 172619

Thank you for the photo! Do I have to remove the entire torque sensor/bottom bracket from the frame to pry off the circlip and apply grease? Or can I leave it in the frame and not worry about damaging the cable?

 

[spokewrench]

Thank you for the photo! Do I have to remove the entire torque sensor/bottom bracket from the frame to pry off the circlip and apply grease? Or can I leave it in the frame and not worry about damaging the cable?

You can get to the circlip without removing the torque sensor. I deformed the seal the first time I removed it. I flattened it before reinstalling.

Now that I've seen how it's made, I see how to remove and replace the BB with no risk to the cable. I intend to do so in order to flush out the old grease with brake cleaner. I don't know the name of the part at the lower left. I'd call it a threaded cup. It holds the BB on the left. See the metal fingers in it? The BB has 4 bars that can slide into the slots; two are visible, just this side of the left bearing. If you don't try to unscrew the left cup, those fingers will protect the cable by preventing the BB from turning when you unscrew the right "cup" (left-hand thread). Then you pull the BB out of the left cup, after unplugging the cable in the controller compartment. (Naturally, you remove the crank arms first.)

It's a neat design. Too bad Tech Support doesn't seem to know about it. If someday you want to remove the BB, the right cup takes a 44mm, 16-tooth wrench.