Yea a new set of bearings can be had inexpensively if the originals are pitted or flattened in any way. New grease and a proper adjustment should result in a smooth wobble free spin. You might be able to fashion a better seal somehow also. The dust caps could even be machined out of metal if they are not already. This assumes a friend with a lathe and a gift of beer. Along with inflatable tires and linked chain the simple ball bearing revolutionized the world.
On May 22, 1:46 pm, Mike S <mikeshalj...@gmail.com> wrote: > After pondering some more and reading your all's opinions, I've > decided I'm going to forego my usual route of just buying something > new and shiny and instead tinker with the GK's a little more, being > that they are such a sweet pedal, despite the flaws. I think my > problem may be an overly tight outermost nut as mentioned, as my main > objective in doing this was to eliminate the substantial play that was > in the pedal, while also getting a fresh greasing in. > > I'm not sure that they even needed new grease, I just wanted to see > what the innards looked like and how they worked, and once I had it > all apart a full overhaul seemed like the best thing to do. As Grant > P. says somewhere, "you will learn about bikes when you learn about > bearings, and loose balls allow you to actually work on them". I'm > happy to gain some competence in more sophisticated mechanics, but I > really am bummed about the crappy dustcaps on the GK's and the less- > than-great seal on them generally. > > However, I do think it's the most comfortable/best performing pedal > for ME on the market. I tried the White Industries, but I found them > too small and disliked clips a lot, so I sold them to a member of this > forum. I'm starting to see that it's better to fix it and make do than > spend obscene amounts of money on an activity that is supposed to save > you money and increase joy, not drain your funds and increase stress. > > TL;DR: I'm going to try some more with fixing the GK's rather than > buying something that has the unrealistic promise of being > "maintenance-free". & The universe tends toward equillibrium, not > disorder! > > On May 22, 10:30 am, Lee <leec...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > On May 21, 8:33 pm, Mike S <mikeshalj...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > I recently overhauled the bearings on my Gripkings (first time messing > > > with ball bearings ever) and they are not spinning quite like I'd want > > > them to. The right pedal, which I did second and I think put more > > > grease on and did more carefully, is having a bit of a click from time > > > to time, which I've seen mentioned in other posts here. It took my two > > > hours to do the whole procedure, and I just don't have the time/ > > > patience to mess with these anymore. > > > Hi Mike. If you haven't already checked on these issues in regards to > > the clicking, you may want to double-check that the pedal threads are > > well greased and securely wrenched into the crank arm. Also, the > > bearing cone that secures down onto the outboard bearings shouldn't be > > tightened too much or that will lead to friction. Just thought it'd be > > worth a mention > > > Coincidentally, I just spend some quiet time yesterday morning > > greasing up a pair of MKS Sylvan Lite pedals for the Quickbeam, which > > needed some work after our rainy winter: > > >http://tinyurl.com/3vbx7x2 > > > If the MKS/VO pedals don't work out for you, and you have some spare > > change lying around (a lot of spare change), you may want to try the > > White Industries platform pedal. They follow a great design in the > > form of the Lyotard Berthet No. 23 pedals. I have the latter on my > > derailleur'd bike and they are a sweet pedal. You'd probably need some > > sort of foot retention, like the Power Grips that Riv sells. I would > > think those would make for a great combo. > > > Best of luck on the pedal search, > > Lee > > SF, CA -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
