While riding her bike my daughter's pedal came off. It appears to be stripped. This has happened to her with a total of three bikes. What could be causing this to happen?
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A total of three bikes, meaning three different bicycles have lost a pedal? Are these bicycles being put together by the same person?– WTHarperCommented Jun 7, 2013 at 23:39
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Yes three different bikes and they were assembled at the store. All bought at different stores at different times. Two of the bikes were one year old and the other was new.– LyndaCommented Jun 7, 2013 at 23:41
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Is there any chance that some mechanically inclined person is giving the bikes a tune-up that involves tightening the pedals?– WTHarperCommented Jun 7, 2013 at 23:44
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1I don't think it likely that these bikes were of such poor quality that the pedals just shear off spontaneously. (Though, I find it less likely that some vandal is targeting just the pedals of your daughter's bicycles.) Even cheapo resin pedals will go four or five years before breaking... and even then it takes a special dedication to strip a pedal out of a crank. Is it always the left pedal, or the right pedal?– WTHarperCommented Jun 7, 2013 at 23:58
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1Even bikes from big box stores shouldn't have pedal problems like this. They're more likely to have problems with things that have to be finely tuned like bearings and spoke tension. Since they're being assembled by different people, I think it has to be something that you or your daughter is doing, although I have no idea what it could be.– jimchristie ♦Commented Jun 9, 2013 at 16:22
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2 Answers
The only time I've seen pedals in a newish bike strip out of the crank was when the mechanic who assembled the bike overtightens the pedals (the mechanic was a younger me, but you live and you learn.) Often, people will forget that left pedals are left-hand threaded and will strip them out when they try to remove them.
The mechanical motion of pedaling causes metal-metal mating surfaces to fret - microscopic motion back and forth causing noticeable wear. If this were a bike from the 70's with aluminum cranks it wouldn't be a surprising failure mechanism. However, since these are new bikes, the most likely explanation is that who ever assembled these bikes tightened the pedals too much. There is no way a child could be riding the bicycle enough to cause a pedal to strip out. To have it happen three times is incredibly unlikely, though.
I'd avoid buying department store bikes and refer to your local bike shop for any repairs or replacements.
I think it is a matter of how well the person that assembled the bikes tightend the pedals. Sometimes, assemblers do not tighten some bolts enough, for example, or they may tighten them unequally. So accidents occur while riding...
Please check the whole bike before getting out of the store, because sometimes, they think that we are completely stupid and do stuff like this. Majority of them only care about our money. There are some exceptions, but sadly they are very rare.
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Welcome to Bicycles! We recommend that new members take the tour to make best use of the site, and since you're answering see How to Answer also.– andy256Commented Oct 28, 2016 at 10:46
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When it happened multiple times with multiple stores, a generic bit of advice like "check the bike" isn't an adequate answer. The rant part is irrelevant.– MóżCommented Oct 31, 2016 at 1:01