brand new bike, pedal feels bent



Vladimir2007

New Member
Oct 27, 2011
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Hey guys.

So I got a new MTB yesterday (I mentioned I was getting it before on the forum it's a specialized rockhopper comp 2012).

anyway so I'm riding it home yesterday (and also to work today) and the left pedal feels like is bent (i.e. my foot thinks it's not parallel to the ground).

When I came home yesterday, I was pretty beat up about my brand new bike having a bent pedal. I took out a couple of spirit levels and placed them on the pedals to check if they were parallel to each other. Long story short, when I have the bike perpendicular to the ground and the bubble on the spirit level of the right pedal (which feels perfectly fine) is smack bang in the middle, it's in the exact same position on the spirit level on the left side! To me this suggests that there is nothing wrong with the angle on the left pedal...but is this an accurate test?

One of the explanations that is being suggested so far is that the left pedal on my old bike (which is a cheap piece of junk, and never really had the pedals set up correctly) was not level in the first place; and I'm used to that now; whereby my left leg has a skewed view of what parallel to the ground feels like... it seems like a feasible explanation to be honest, but I would like to say that I have no problems whatsoever when I'm walking.

I haven't had the bike for long enough to test whether it's something to do with the trainers I'm wearing (I used the same trainers both times I felt the problem).

Do you guys have any ideas about what it could be?

Thank you

Vlad
 
Did you check your left pedal with the crankarm in ALL possible positions?

Regardless, you probably won't be satisfied with the status of your pedal -- or possibly, the crankarm -- until you ride another bike other than the two you own ...

So, you should probably go back to your LBS for a test ride on another bike.
 
unfortunately the bike was delivered to me, as opposed to being picked up from an LBS (which I can only assume stands for local bike shop).

is it a common phenomenon? i.e. people thinking the pedal isnt level? or just me? :p
 
You mentioned that the bike was delivered to you. I would assume that it came boxed and partially assembled. Therefore you had to do some of the final assembly. Did you mount the pedals yourself? Was the left pedal difficult to thread all the way on? If so you may have crossed the threads and the pedal stem is is not parallel to the threaded hole.

The threaded hole in the crank arm could also be out of perpendicular.

Either way I agree with alfeng you should try another bike and have yours checked out at the LBS. A new bike regardless of delivery still has the manufactures warranty. If this is a defect it will be fixed free of charge.
 
good point!

yes I did mount the pedals on myself. crossed threads was the first assumption I made. when I got home, the first thing I did was take the left pedal off. it was smooth coming off and it was just as smooth going back on.

Im pretty sure that I can rule out corssed threads.
 
Are the pedals brand new, or did they come off another bike? Some pedals bend out/down a little, then if they're put onto another set of cranks they can feel weird, coz pedals don't always screw into different cranks the exact same way, if ya know what I mean....

It could be the thing you said about being used to your old pedals. Which way does it feel like it's bent?

There's a nifty little device that shows if a pedal is bent, but I can't find a pic or video of one. It's just a small (about 4" in diameter), flat, round piece of metal (usually) with a pedal thread in it. You obviously screw the pedal in, lay the pedal on the edge of a table, then spin the wheel. As you can imagine, if the wheel wobbles as it spins, the pedal is bent.
 
the pedals are brand new (they look/feel/smell brand new).

in which way does it feel bent? well, it seems that it is bent as though someone heavy stood on it and bent it down. also, it only feels bent on the outside, i.e. if I press with the arch of the foot, it feels fine. maybe that's cause the arch in my foot has some space under the trainer, which would "eat up" a slight bend on that side? but then again if the pedal is at an angle, the effect would be smallest closer to where the pedal screws in and exacerbated away from that point?
 
Hmm, that sounds odd. Sorry, but I'm out of suggestions, other than it might be a lemon
 
my bike arrived yesterday and as I finish work at 17:30 and am in the UK, it was already dark by that time. I had forgotten my lights, so I went into the nearest cycle store and spent £60 on lights. The salesman was pretty friendly. I think I will make a quick pit stop in there tonight after I finish work (in 6 min!) and see if he can shine any light on the issue (no pun intended, but I might make that crappy joke when Im in there!).

Thanks for trying guys!
 
Find friend with lathe. Lightly clamp pedal threads in lathe. Turn lathe hand and measure run-out of pedal axle end with run-out gauge. You can compare this to the known run-out of the lathe, and if you want to be really precise, you can clock the run-out to angular position. It's easy. It's fun.