07 May 2011
Not so superior after all?
I’ve now had my detachable pedals detach themselves twice. The first time was immediately after I’d been demonstrating how the pedals worked to some friends so I put it down to user error re-attaching them. However, the second time occurred after a few weeks of riding without detaching the pedals.
Both times the pedal came off as I stopped once whilst I was still moving and once just after I’d got off the bike. As I said before I never had trouble with the pedals on my Dahon, and coupled with when they came off I think it may be the twisting to get out of my Power Grips that does it.
Of course that shouldn’t be enough as you have to twist the collar as well as push it in, but close inspection reveals that the twisting spring only pushes the collar a few millimetres away from the crucial point, you can twist it a full 90 degrees away manually though. Any rubbing between the shoe and the collar during forward pedalling should actually help to secure the pedals, so I guess that I must have back-pedalled and then twisted my foot out to cause the pedal to detach.
At the very least I’m to have to be a bit more careful from now on. I am even considering sending the pedals back and getting some non “superior” ones that will be a bit more of a hassle to take off, but won’t come off by accident (due to the plastic locking ring). I’ll wait and see what my new commute is like and how often I’ll need to take the pedal off.
