Rebuiding Nashbar/Wellgo cheepie pedal is possible...

[maxo]

I think someone had mentioned that the Nashbar/Wellgo pedals weren't user
serviceable a while back in a "new to clipless" type of thread. Turns out
that this is untrue.

My Nashbar pedals are a year old now and never really "loosened"
up so I decided to crack 'em open.

The nut you see when removing the dustcap is a 9mm jobber. Most sockets
are too thick to get in there, so your best bet is to grind down a cheap
socket with a bench grinder (or dremel) till it fits. I made my crankbolt
wrench the same way. Cost me three bucks for a socket instead of 15 for
the Park tool.

Anyhow, it was pretty gunky so I cleaned it up and regreased. Here's the
deal: the crank side is simply a greased bushing, but the outside is
served by a really nice tiny and sealed cartridge bearing. It was fine and
far from the contamination. If yours is crunchy, you can probably whack it
out with a screwdriver and put a new one in with a small block of wood. I
buy such bearings at my local industrial bearing supply, but Phil Woods
are better (if they even make this size). You'll probably wear out the SPD
mechanism before this little sealed bearing though.

Super quick and simple as there are no cones to adjust. Just tighten the
nut so that there's no slop, but it's still buttery.

After experiencing how simple these are to service, I heartily recommend
them to the cheapskates out there.

Here's a picture of the pedals in question, after disassembly:

http://photos16.flickr.com/20330265_156bdc3113_o.jpg

 

[[email protected]]

maxo wrote:
> I think someone had mentioned that the Nashbar/Wellgo pedals weren't user
> serviceable a while back in a "new to clipless" type of thread. Turns out
> that this is untrue.
> ...
> Anyhow, it was pretty gunky so I cleaned it up and regreased. Here's the
> deal: the crank side is simply a greased bushing, but the outside is
> served by a really nice tiny and sealed cartridge bearing.

I didn't realize one side was a plain bushing. Is this typical of all
similar clipless pedals? Seems primitive.

- Frank Krygowski

 

[maxo]

On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 21:07:09 -0700, frkrygow wrote:

>
>
> maxo wrote:
>> I think someone had mentioned that the Nashbar/Wellgo pedals weren't
>> user serviceable a while back in a "new to clipless" type of thread.
>> Turns out that this is untrue.
>> ...
>> Anyhow, it was pretty gunky so I cleaned it up and regreased. Here's the
>> deal: the crank side is simply a greased bushing, but the outside is
>> served by a really nice tiny and sealed cartridge bearing.
>
> I didn't realize one side was a plain bushing. Is this typical of all
> similar clipless pedals? Seems primitive.
>
> - Frank Krygowski

Seems primitive, certainly, but I think the outboard bearing does most of
the work anyway. All I can say is that after cleaning and regreasing, they
feel great. These are also the same pedals as some Ritcheys, also made by
Wellgo--seems that even the cheapest Ritchey stuff I've bought, like their
cheap and wonderful "true-grips", are well designed. Can't tell you if
other makers use this bearing design, but this pedal consistently gets
good reviews for durability.

Of course the smooth factor is nothing compared to a pair of MKS quills I
recently repacked with loose bearings and grease...but that's due to the
grease seals on the outside of the pedal and the two little ones on the
"sealed" bearing cartridge causing a bit of drag.

 

[John Everett]

On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 05:56:11 GMT, maxo <[email protected]>
wrote:

>On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 21:07:09 -0700, frkrygow wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> maxo wrote:
>>> I think someone had mentioned that the Nashbar/Wellgo pedals weren't
>>> user serviceable a while back in a "new to clipless" type of thread.
>>> Turns out that this is untrue.
>>> ...
>>> Anyhow, it was pretty gunky so I cleaned it up and regreased. Here's the
>>> deal: the crank side is simply a greased bushing, but the outside is
>>> served by a really nice tiny and sealed cartridge bearing.
>>
>> I didn't realize one side was a plain bushing. Is this typical of all
>> similar clipless pedals? Seems primitive.
>>
>> - Frank Krygowski
>
>Seems primitive, certainly, but I think the outboard bearing does most of
>the work anyway. All I can say is that after cleaning and regreasing, they
>feel great. These are also the same pedals as some Ritcheys, also made by
>Wellgo--seems that even the cheapest Ritchey stuff I've bought, like their
>cheap and wonderful "true-grips", are well designed. Can't tell you if
>other makers use this bearing design, but this pedal consistently gets
>good reviews for durability.

The above got me curious, so down to the garage for a little research.
I knew that a some point I'd bought a pair of the Nashbar/Wellgo
pedals, but I think they're now on my girlfriend's MTB. In any case I
found a pair of Ritcheys on my MTB and a pair of Bontragers on my
touring bike. I pulled the dustcap from one of the Bontragers and
found an 8mm nut holding things together. Turns out a common ordinary
un-ground Craftsman 1/4" drive 6-point socket works a treat.

(Later) So after typing the above I got more curious, so back to the
garage. The Ritcheys have a 9mm nut, and an unmodified Craftsman 3/8"
drive 12-point socket fits just fine, as does a 1/4" drive 6-point.
I'm wondering what brand socket the OP used, as the Craftsman brand
aren't particularly thin-walled.


jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

 

[[email protected]]

John Everett wrote:
>
> The above got me curious, so down to the garage for a little research.
> I knew that a some point I'd bought a pair of the Nashbar/Wellgo
> pedals, but I think they're now on my girlfriend's MTB. In any case I
> found a pair of Ritcheys on my MTB and a pair of Bontragers on my
> touring bike. I pulled the dustcap from one of the Bontragers and
> found an 8mm nut holding things together. Turns out a common ordinary
> un-ground Craftsman 1/4" drive 6-point socket works a treat.

Did those pedals have plain bushings too?

- Frank Krygowski

 

[maxo]

On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 14:27:08 -0700, frkrygow wrote:

>
>
> John Everett wrote:
>>
>> The above got me curious, so down to the garage for a little research. I
>> knew that a some point I'd bought a pair of the Nashbar/Wellgo pedals,
>> but I think they're now on my girlfriend's MTB. In any case I found a
>> pair of Ritcheys on my MTB and a pair of Bontragers on my touring bike.
>> I pulled the dustcap from one of the Bontragers and found an 8mm nut
>> holding things together. Turns out a common ordinary un-ground Craftsman
>> 1/4" drive 6-point socket works a treat.
>
> Did those pedals have plain bushings too?
>
> - Frank Krygowski

I bet they do, heck, even the not-so-cheap Eggbeaters have inboard plain
bushings. I'm not saying that it's the best design idea, but a
bushing/sealed bearing combo beats badly adjusted cups/cones any day.

 

[maxo]

On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 16:08:50 +0000, John Everett wrote:

> The Ritcheys have a 9mm nut, and an unmodified Craftsman 3/8"
> drive 12-point socket fits just fine, as does a 1/4" drive 6-point. I'm
> wondering what brand socket the OP used, as the Craftsman brand aren't
> particularly thin-walled.

I usually buy "Great Neck" cheepie sockets for $3 or less at the local
Autozone when I need to mod something up with the grinder. The quality is
perfectly decent.

When I was looking for a thin wall 14mm I actually stopped by Sears and
compared one of those cheepie GN sockets to the Craftsman model, same wall
thickness pretty much.

I could see the 1/4 drive being a bit thinner though. Come to think of it,
I think I have a 1/4 9mm socket I could have used--I only use it to
install my old Shimano 600 Brake levers so it's in a secret location in
the garage.

I had to grind down about 30% of the existing steel to get the
socket in there btw. Easy enough to do

So, are the old Ritchey's indeed of the bushing/outboard sealed bearing
design?