Bicycle Pedals Left Hand Thread

Although the left pedal turns clockwise on its bearing relative to the crank and so would seem to tighten a right hand thread the force from the rider s foot presses the spindle against the crank thread at a point which rolls around clockwise with respect to the crank thus slowly pulling the outside of the pedal spindle anticlockwise.

Bicycle pedals left hand thread. The left hand non drive side pedal is left hand reverse thread. Another theory behind the left hand threads is that the ball bearings typically used in bicycle pedals cause a torque on the pedal spindle that is opposite the rotation of the pedal since the inner and outer races of the ball bearing turn in opposite directions due to the balls inside of the bearing as long as the balls are properly loaded. To loosen pedals using an allen key you will. It unscrews in the opposite direction to most threads to unscrew it you have to turn it clockwise.

The left pedal for left foot has a left hand thread i e. Left and right side pedals have opposite threads. Before removing the pedals protect yourself from possible injury by placing your chain onto the big ring. The right hand drive side pedal is right hand normal thread.

Unscrewing occurs from precession in which a round object rolling inside a circular ring in one direction will itself turn in the opposite direction. When undoing a set of bicycle pedals you ll be faced with both a right and left hand thread pattern. Left hand threads slope up to the left while right hand threads slope up to the right as seen below. Many pedals are stamped l and r for left and right.

If the bicycle is going to the left and that is the left pedal it should have a right hand thread on it to tighten it if it has a left hand thread it would tend to unscrew since he is showing the left pedal we assume the pedal is going to the left therefore it should have a right hand thread that is my comment by experience. So let s take a look at a set of bicycle pedals and. Turn it clockwise to remove the pedal when facing the crank arm. There is a technical reason why this is.

The left side pedal has a left hand thread removes clockwise installs counterclockwise. Left pedals however have a left hand thread so they go righty loosey lefty tighty. Additionally the thread will appear to slope up toward its tightening direction. The right side is normal so turn it anti clockwise to loosen it.