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The Best Tip For Removing Bicycle Pedals
By spokesman | August 20, 2008
Many bicycle tourists need to remove their bicycle pedals either to box their bike or to bring their pedals on a trip when they are renting bicycle. Additionally, sometimes it is necessary to remove pedals for maintenance or to replace them.
The difficulty in removing pedals is that one of the pedals (the left one) is reverse threaded so it is loosened or tightened by turning opposite to the normal direction. However even that knowledge leads to confusion. Pedals are often very tight and if they don’t come loose immediately, you may wonder if you are turning in the correct direction.
The best tip to remember which direction to turn the wrench to loosen the pedals is:
Back-off - Always turn the wrench towards the back of the bike to take the pedals off of the bike. This works on both the right and left pedal
Other tips for changing pedals include:
- Placing a block of wood or a brick under the pedal that you are removing will allow you to get more leverage
- If you can’t loosen the pedal, spray some WD-40 by the threads and let it soak in for a few minutes before trying to loosen the pedals again
- If you still can’t loosen the pedals, slip a pipe over the wrench handle to get a longer lever arm or tap the end of the wrench with a hammer (I use a rubber mallet)
- Pedals are usually marked left and right. If you are unsure if you are installing the correct pedal, slowly try to thread one of the pedals on the bike (remember to turn towards the front of the bike to install a pedal.) If you have the wrong pedal, you will not be able to get it started. Don’t force it, try the other pedal.
- Always clean the pedal threads before installing the pedals.
- A good bicycle specific pedal wrench (such as the Park Tool Home Mechanic Pedal Wrench
) rather than a crescent wrench is better to use. It will fit on the pedal easier and has a longer arm to give you more leverage.
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Topics: Maintenance and Repairs |
August 20th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
This tip is great and easy to remember, back-off to remove pedals. I can’t tell you how much trouble my husband and I were having removing our pedals for an upcoming backroads trip. I found the tip on your blog just in time - we were about to go to the bike shop. Thanks - by the way have you ever done a Backroads trip?
August 20th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
[…] Excerpt: Many bicycle tourists need to remove their bicycle pedals either to box their bike or to bring their pedals on a trip when they are renting bicycle. Additionally, sometimes it is necessary to remove pedals for maintenance or to replace … […]
August 25th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Good tip. beside doing as you say, I will try to align the wrench at a slight angle to the crank arm, so that when squeezed together like a scissors, the pedal unscrews. I find that I have much more leverage if I can control the crank arm and the wrench with the same hand.
October 1st, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Pre-treatment with a little penetrating oil and then using a short piece of 2×4 and a 15 mm open-end wrench and a rubbber mallet, it was a easy!
I agree with debbi - your “back-off’ insight made all the difference.
Thanks
April 13th, 2011 at 7:11 am
Thanks for info
July 29th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Thanks for the info! Unfortunately I just spent 10 minutes trying to get the left pedal off by cranking the wrong way, in effect tightening it even more.
Also to point out, if you’re like me and you flip your bike upside down (for a novice like me, harkens back to when I was a kid and that is the only way you’re allowed to work on your bike) to remove the pedals, the ‘back off’ mnemonic doesn’t quite work. I’m going to put some graphite lube on the threads, give it a bit for the threads and my hands to relax, then try again.
July 29th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
Just to clarify, I spent the 10 minutes going the wrong way BEFORE coming across this website. All my own fault for my confusion. Thanks for turning me the right direction!
August 14th, 2011 at 10:06 pm
back-off! this is great thanks for the tip
I just exerted huge amounts of force in the forwards direction….
here goes nothing!