A Tale of Two (pairs of) Pedals

About 2 years ago my MTB Shimano LX bear cage pedals started to make grinding noises - past time for a bearing rebuild.

After 2 weeks and another ride looming, they still weren't sorted so I was on ebay and found a pair of cheap replacements to make sure I had good pedals available in case the apathy towards pedal maintenance continued.  Just as well, and as it turns out the new Wellgo pedals went on the bike and stayed there.  Two years later and the Wellgo pedals started to make grinding noises, so before it was too late, I set to the Shimano LX pedals for a rebuild.

And this is where it gets a bit more interesting.  I stripped off the toe clips and the outer cage to discover a plastic moulded main frame.  Unfastening the bolt that retains the shaft in the main body I find no seal on the outer bearings, and when the shaft came out, and very thin and clearly worn rubber washer (it wasn't substantial enough to call a seal) on the inner bearing.  Both sets of bearing cups were shot, but that could've been as much to do with sitting on a shelf for 2 years as it was to do with the materials. Bearings apart and I discover that the balls are a tiny 1mm in diameter, any wear on anything so small is going to have a large %age effect - 0.1mm of a 1mm ball is 10%, but only 5% of a 2mm ball.  And that's as far as it went before I threw the shaft and cages into the box where I collect metal for recycling down at the local tip, as the balls were beyond cleaning and the cups were very corroded.

So, back to the Wellgo (i.e. cheap brand) pedals for their rebuild.  The cages came away easily enough (although I preferred the positivity of the Shimano's allen bolts over the Wellgo's crosshead screws). Nice to see the main body of the pedal is a cast alloy material. Then I had to prise out a pretty well fitted plastic cap from the outer bearings to get to the shaft bolt.  When pulling the shaft out of the body I find a decently thick inner bearing rubber seal.  Although 3 out of the 4 bearings were clearly suffering from prolonged use and were running dry, there was no sign of emulsification that you might see if water had entered the bearings.  And the balls were a decent 2mm diameter - much more substantial.  Thoroughly cleaned out and fresh purple mountain grease installed and the pedals were soon back together.  Getting the play just right was a bit tricky as there are two nuts on the end of the shaft which have to be locked against each other - not the easiest thing to achieve when they're partially buried down the inside of the pedal body.  Once set correctly and installed back on the bike I found them running smoothly again and they've performed perfectly on the Llandegla Red twice now.

So, what I'm not saying is that all Wellgo pedals are better than all Shimano pedals, but just thought it was worth reporting back on this experience based on a statisically pointless sample of 1 pair of each - it might not always be wise to assume that a well respected brand is going to be the best.  I didn't weigh them, but the Wellgo pedals felt marginally lighter in the hand.

Shimano
Steel cage - good
Allen cage bolts - good
Plastic moulded body - not very strong looking
Bearing seals - no outer seal, thin inner seal - not good
Ball bearings - tiny (possibly inadequate) - not good

Wellgo
Steel cage - good
Cross head cage bolts - not very positive, good that they weren't partially siezed
Alloy moulded body - substantial but still light
Bearing seals - good outer plastic cap, good deep inner rubber seal
Ball bearings - decent size

Build Observations

Upper Tyre - 2.1"  Lower Tyre - 2.3"

Upper BB bearing - Shimano Octalink.  Lower BB bearing - Shimano tapered.  Tapered design much heavier.

Shimano LX triple chainset before cleaning

The same chainset - and just why I like to use Fenwick's FS10 bike cleaner

Both completed bikes clearly demonstrating the difference in frame sizes.  The Medium (smaller of the two) frames suits me much better

Strip and Build of Medium Frame

Stripped Medium Frame

BB Area

It's just about possible to see the top tube profile here.  The Large frame has a round top tube, the medium frame has a round top, but a U shaped lower half

Cockpit installed

Rear Hope Mono Mini caliper

Details are important!

BB installed - Shimano Octalink.  Old inner tube initially fitted to protect chainstay from chain slap damage.  Later in the build this was replaced by a LizardSkins protector - more expensive, but a much smarter result

Ready to roll - first time out was the next day at Llandegla

Very happy with the resulting look

Shimano LX triple chainset

Shimano XTR rear mech

Pace RC39 carbon forks. Hope Mono Mini disk brake, Mavic X317 rims. Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1 tyres

Cockpit looks complicated - the Hope brakes are provided with very long hoses, which you have to tidily route best as possible

Cockpit

Strip down of the components took about 90 mins.  However, the importers had fitted some low rent www.bianchibikes.co.uk stickers down the seat stays and they took a painfully slow 2.5 hours to remove.  Grrr.
All the components off the large frame needed a thorough clean down before they could be fitted to this frame - I think it was about 90 mins.
Assembly was under 60 minutes - I must be getting quicker with the practice.
Only new part was the chainstay protector from LizardSkins.
Adjustment of the gears took about 20 mins and everything went perfectly well on the first test up and down the street - except I didn't have the handlebars perfectly aligned, but a couple of mins with the 5mm allen key had that sorted quickly.
First ride at Llandegla the next day.

Strip and Build of Large Frame

Fully stripped - bottom bracket area.  Hydroformed shaping can be seen just below the B on the downtube

Removing the bottom bracket bearing requires specific Shimano splined tool, and suitably butch 32mm spanner.  Spanner this size isn't really needed to apply large amount of torque, but the removal tool is 32mm A/F

Front end installed

 

Shimano triple installed - good view here of hydroforming on the down tube

Rear end installed

End result - large frame with all the components swapped over from the smaller frame

Stripping down the Desert Bronze large frame took about 90 mins, removing the components from the black and silver medium frame also took about 90 mins.  Cleaning took another 30 mins (the components from the medium frame were already very clean).  Assembly about 60 mins then another 30 mins to make sure all the adjustments were OK.  Only 2 x new gear cables were needed.  All runs well and looks great.

Time to get started on putting all the components from the larger frame and onto the smaller frame.

Bianchi Mutt

Spec details:

• Frame Material: Bianchi 7000 series hydroformed aluminium
• Fork Material: Pace Carbon, aluminium and magnesium casting
• Suspension: Front Pace RC39 XC air sprung, oil damped, adjustable rebound,remote lockout
• Approximate Weight (KG): 11.5
• Chainset: Shimano LX triple octalink
• Frame Size: 18.5"
• Frame Colour: Desert Bronze
• Front Brake:Hope Mono Mini hydraulic disk with braided hose, 160mm rotors
• Gear Shifters: Shimano XT 9 speed
• Handle Bars: Bontrager Race Flat Alloy OS 31.8mm with stubby bar ends
• Headset: Semi integrated cartridge bearing
• Hubs: Shimano Deore
• Number of Gears: 27
• Pedals: Shimano LX cage, toeclips and straps
• Quick Release Wheels: yes
• Rear Brake: Hope Mono Mini hydraulic disk with braided hose, 160mm rotors
• Rear Mech: Shimano XTR
• Rims: Mavic XC317
• Saddle: San Marco
• Seatpost: FSA Alloy 27.2mm
• Stem:Bontrager Race 90 mm  Alloy OS 31.8mm
• Tyre size: 26" x 2.1"
• Tyres: Panaracer Fire XC Pro

Added Accessories:

• Computer: Cateye Micro wireless
• Saddle pack: Topeak

 Piccies: 

 
Service History:

• Original Continental Gravity tyres 26" x 2.3" swapped for Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1s - a revelation
• Original Avid Juicy Five hydraulic disks dumped after finding them a nightmare to adjust every 5 miles or so.
• (Shimano) Chain snapped twice on first two outings so swapped for SRAM which has given no problems at all
• Originally fitted with riser bars at a 130mm(!) stem
• Originally fitted with Shimano M442 chainset (the LX saved 0.5kg!)
• Purchased second hand from ebay with 50 miles on the clock
  

Holdsworth Hybrid

Will post information and photos of the Holdsworth hybrid here soon.