So I got my Torker lx 24" less than a month ago. My first unicycle and I’m still learning the basics from it.
So finally got a day off to ride it and I noticed the left side felt wobbly. Thought it was my shoes since I just use regular sneakers so I thought I was losing some grip and it was sliding. I stopped and noticed the bolt/screw section that connected my left pedal to left crank was out a bit.
Brought it inside and took a wrench but it wouldn’t come out so the pedal seems to be loose, but stuck in there. The threads seem to be worn/damaged and the pedal can wobble a bit around. Loose enough that I can push the pedal all the way back in but of course it won’t stay. The pedal seems really dug into the crank parts, which wasn’t so when I put it together (I avoid overtightening stuff). The right side seems perfectly fine. [B]The right pedal unscrews clockwise and the left pedal unscrews counterclockwise, but I heard some people mistake the left pedal with right pedal (I would think if the pedals wouldn’t screw in at all if it was on the wrong side right?)
I’m a light 150lbs so what happen - bad torker LX, user installation fault, how do I prevent this from happening again and what parts do you recommend to fix this? 152mm is considered 5" or 6" since 152mm = 5.9" ? [/B]
Fortunately I have an Nimbus Oracle arriving as I’m typing this, I hope I don’t screw up the cranks on that ($120… ).
I think I installed the torker correctly, the sticker on the front shows left pointing to left side of unicycle. Cranks came already installed, but left crank with the L is on the left. But there’s nothing on the pedals to show which is left and which is right so I just screwed them in gently until they went in. I’ve been trying to learn to idle and I put most of the weight on the left pedal. Been trying to learn to bunny hop in the house as well.
Okay so I thought about it a bit, feel free to chime in.
I was reading this:
Rowan
Because I did sorta notice that the wrench was a bit tight fit inbetween the pedal and the crank…maybe I pinched it?
Tell me if this is possible but I also read that the pedals become tighter as you ride it, what if it was already tight, but after I rode it, it became so tight that it dug into the crank (as noted in the top post) and the threads became damaged and loose without me noticing it and since I didn’t notice it and continued riding it, it just became worse?
Am I suppose to loosen up the pedal (bolt?) every so often so it won’t dig into the crank or something? I hear about people having to tighten up their pedals every so often but not untighten it?
Hmm…about the pedals being on the wrong side. I just looked and at the very end of the thread portion (what’s this called? trying to look up the term) and one says G2 WR and the other one G2 WL so I’m guessing R is right and L is left. Didn’t notice this before. But it also means I did put the pedals in right.
No, it should be the other way: Normal threads on the right pedal (clockwise to tighten, counter-clockwise to loosen) and reverse threaded on the left.
That would explain why the left pedal unthreaded. Two ways that could happen: The cranks arms were also installed on the wrong sides, or else everything’s fine down there but the seat is turned around and you’ve effectively been riding it backwards.
Luckily pedals are cheap, and square taper cranks are too in case you’ve damaged the pedal threads in them.
Cranks are the weak spot on torker lx’s, I don’t know what got into torker but they decided that they should make them out of aluminum instead of steel. If you ride them with the pedals loose at all they will strip out. Also, if you install the wheel backward in the frame they can strip out.
Yeah but the right side seems perfectly fine. I just unscrewed it and checked out the threads on it and it seems okay too.
From what you said about the seat being backwards…
Just checked, the sticker that says R <-- and L—> also says "This is the front of the unicycle and the seat is pointing away towards that side. The warning label is in the back of the unicycle. Right crank says 4R so and left says 4L so I’m guessing that’s also correct.
So it seems like it was put together right…right?
I also have another theory in terms of the pedals digging into the crank. It probably wasn’t because of overtightening (lower quality crank had me questioning this). But because the pedal came loose and me not noticing and while I rode it, the piece used to tighten the pedal to the crank (that piece that you use the wrench on to tighten), rotated around and around and pushed itself into the crank wall which caused it to dig away at the crank itself.
Yeah but it seems like the ISIS cranks (the default venture2 and dual hole spirit crank which I’m getting) is also aluminum, isn’t that a bad thing since from your comment, steel would have been better?
Oh yeah someone help me with this one: 152mm is considered 5" or 6" since 152mm = 5.9" ?
I could be incorrect but I believe that venture ISIS cranks have steel inserts for the pedal threads. Roger could say for sure though.
I consider 5.9 to be 6"…
One of them had to have been marginally tighter than the other to start with. It’s fine now. If the left one hadn’t come out first and you had kept riding it like that, it wouldn’t be.
I can’t say I follow your description, or that I understand why there’s only one quotation mark there. But very simply if the right pedal unscrews clockwise and the left one unscrews counter-clockwise, that’s the wrong way. They really will screw themselves out.
As Shmolagin says, it’s close enough to 6". But there’s good chance you’d like 5 1/2" (135mm, 137mm, 140mm, whatever) better on it.
And since he mentioned thread inserts, a good bicycle shop should be able to repair that crank arm by re-tapping it and putting in an insert. It a common job and might be cheaper than replacing it, especially after shipping is added.
I can’t find 6" torker lx pedals though that’s the problem…
I see the 4" and the 5", sent the seller a message, guess we’ll see.
Yeah the quotation mark suppose to be like “This is the front of the unicycle”. I dunno the pedals are marked L and R and they seem to be in the right spot.
Thanks for the tip on re-tapping. I’ll ask them about it.
I wouldn’t by lx cranks again, they are faulty as you have found. I would buy cranks here or post a wanted add on the trading post. Or I would buy cx cranks.
Edit: Oh wait, it looks like there’s nothing in stock that is the right length from that link. Try this instead.
First of all, if you “unscrewed” the cranks in the directions you indicated they were on the wrong sides. I can’t say without seeing the uni how, why or what happened there, but LargeEddie is correct in his assessment. Maybe your description was off?
It seems that they may have been on the correct sides, but that the left one was too loose to start. It could easily have been because your wrench was pinched between the pedal and the crank. Maybe it didn’t happen on the right side. Anyway, even if you got it snug it should have been good enough to tighten as you rode. Since it didn’t that makes me think it was either too loose, or that you were riding with it on the wrong side.
I have worked on bikes, and many different sorts of pedal powered machines for decades. From my experience I can say that it is unlikely to be an inherent quality control problem with the crankset itself. Almost all pedal/crank interface problems are the result of user error. Not al, but mostly.
The CX cranks are steel. The LX cranks are aluminum. The aluminum cranks are an upgrade. Cheap steel cranks are terrible. They are heavy, they break, they bend easily, and they are heavy. Not that weight is a deal breaker, but why would you go for something with all of the problems inherent with cheap steel cranks? There are quality steel cranks, but they aren’t easy to find, and many haven’t been made for years.
It may be that the threaded part of a steel crank is more durable than the aluminum counterpart, but in practice this isn’t a real problem. As long as the pedal threads are greased and tightened securely there shouldn’t be a problem. I can say that in all of my years the only pedals I’ve ever seen rip the threads out of cranks were due to improper installation. I’ve never seen even a cheap plastic pedal pull the threads out of cheap aluminum cranks when they were correctly installed.
Yeah maybe it was off with my description on the pedals. I’ll try again:
I’m standing to the side of the unicycle, the front is pointing to the right of me.
To screw in the right pedal, I have to turn the wrench to the right, clockwise and unscrews counterclockwise.
Still standing on the same side, the left pedal nut I’ll have turn clockwise to unscrew and counterclockwise to screw.
So it does match up with what eddie said, guess there was a confusion going on in which end was pointing to my right.
But yeah I just probably need a pedal wrench (flat type) instead of an adjustable. Probably the pinching.
Was I suppose to put grease into the pedal thread before screwing them in? I didn’t do that, I just opened the packaged and screwed them on (fortunately I got the right side, didn’t see a label or anything that said left or right).
Next time I install a pedal I’ll make sure the nut screws in very smoothly and with a pedal wrench. I checked the right side and it seems like the pedal has slightly dug it’s way into the crank as well, is this normal? It screwed in smoothly. I think from what I remember, the left one, the one with the issue, I had a bit of a harder time screwing it in.
You should grease the pedals. It is normal for the pedals to mar the surface of the cranks. They make pedal washers to prevent that from happening, but I rarely see them in use. I know that some riders who ride backwards a lot use blue loctite instead of grease. You should use something to inhibit corrosion though. There’s nothing worse than getting a torch out to remove pedals.
Good point about the corrosion caused by the pedals digging into the crank, haven’t thought about that. Would Finish Line dry teflon bike lube work for that? Says it helps prevent rust because it creates a wax like film.
I’m going to check target tomorrow and see if they have the universal sunlite pedal wrench. It has 15 to 17 mm size, not sure which the nimbus oracle uses (I hear most use 15 mm).
I have always just used lithium grease on pedal threads, but the finish line stuff may work. I wonder if it would prevent the galvanic corrosion from the dissimilar metals. As for the pedal wrench you will almost certainly need a 15mm open end wrench. You can get one at any hardware store. 17mm pedal wrenches are mostly for old French pedals, and some random exceptions (trailmix come to mind). If the pedals have an Allen wrench socket on the back that is all you need.
Have fun with the Oracle. It looks like a sweet uni.
Is that to say that lithium grease won’t prevent galvanic corrosion? That may explain my issues with my ventures. I’m going with cranks with thread inserts from now on either way. Seems to me that any sort of heavy riding will damage alu threads.
Anything that acts as a barrier between the metals will work. Grease works, loctite works. I’m not sure about the finish line lube since it seems more like an oil, and may not be there for the long haul.
I know there were some issues with the original ventures and stripping threads. Still from everything I was able to get from various form posts it sounded like when they were installed correctly there weren’t any problems. I’ll have to look it up, but I seem to remember cross threading being the issue.
The only way the aluminum threads will be damaged is if the pedals are loose. So, if you do your heavy riding with loose pedals, steel inserts may solve the problem.
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(wish this was a joke too…)