MKS Pedals...creak...creak...click...

[Robert F. Harrison]

I guess I'm not alone. My new Quickbeam (circa 12/09) creaked, groaned, and clicked a bit since I received it. Much of it seemed to do with with my Brooks B-17 Special. All of my Brooks saddles have added a bit of noise till they broke in a bit. Some of the rest I attributed to having a new bike. 

Over the course of the last few weeks it got worse so I started methodically taking things off and making sure I'd greased them up before putting them back: seat post, saddle rails, nuts and bolts, you name it, I greased or oiled it. 

And that mostly worked until my S24O to Malaekahana. The ride there (60 miles or so) was no problem. On the way back my QB  starting creaking and clicking to beat the band. I'd had a bottom bracket wear out on another bike but this was too new! Still it felt pretty much the same, every revolution I'd get a click I could feel through the whole bike, and then a bit of a groan. Often that last bit was me. Sigh.

By the time I got home I was pretty disgusted and thought I should have gotten the Phil Wood BB instead of the "whatevahs." But at the time I just couldn't drop another dime, what with Xmas coming up and all. So now I was faced with the realization that I coulda, shoulda, di'nt. 

I thought I'd take one more dive into the bowels of the net to see what I could find before pulling the trigger. I remember this from the description of my MKS touring pedals:

"They come with a  "factory/assembly line adjustment," which isn't ultra smooth."

Okay, maybe its the pedals after all...I hoped. A bit more diving and I came across this from bikeforums.net...

Panthers007 seemed to be speaking to me when he wrote: (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?576932-MKS-pedals-are-noisy-click&p=9535678&viewfull=1#post9535678)

The problem with them is you didn’t open them up and clean them and grease them. A pedal-overhaul is needed before you put most new pedals – especially with loose bearings – on the bike and use them.

I hear this complaint all the time regards MKS pedals. And it’s NOT your fault. Overhauling pedals is a dying art. One I’m trying to resurrect.

Okay, I figured, pulling the pedals apart has got to be easier than changing a BB...or at least cheaper since I didn't plan on doing the former myself. 

And...

It is really quite easy, even someone with lots of thumbs. Just do it over a bowl. A big bowl.

Once I got the pedals open I realized there was really next to no lubrication at all in there. I fixed that in short order and put everything back together. 

I didn't get a chance to ride to check things out till today (I did the pedals on Tuesday and rode another bike yesterday). I just came in from a two hour ride and my QB is...

SILENT

It's hard to believe that just a dab of grease inside a the pedals can make such a difference. Now everything, and I mean everything except the panting of the rider, is quiet and smooth. Somehow the vibrations in the pedal must have been plucking strings all over the bike as it were.

I really do mean the sounds literally seemed to come from everywhere. Mostly the BB and seat post, but everywhere else too.. Now...nothing.

The moral of this story seems to be that if you have MKS pedals (at least the touring version) and you have unexplained noises, clicks, creaks, and groans besides your own, tear down the pedals and grease those bearings. 

I'm sure lots of folks already know this, clearly the information was out there, but I didn't and now I do.

My QB is now perferct. :-) (Well there a few bags I want....)

Aloha from the suddenly quieter city of Honolulu!

Bob

--
Robert Harrison
rfhar...@gmail.com
statrixblog.statrix.com

[newenglandbike]

I've had the same problem with MKS touring pedals, but I have to say
after greasing them they are great pedals. Sometimes the BB will
creak (or click) too if you haven't bathed the threads in enough
grease. I even had a crank/chainring interface creaking problem,
which drove me nuts and took me forever to diagnose, but applying a
smudge of grease on the bolts and crank spider shoulders finally made
it quiet again.

On Jan 28, 10:58 pm, "Robert F. Harrison" <rfharri...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Panthers007 seemed to be speaking to me when he wrote: (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?576932-MKS-pedals-are-noisy-...

> rfharri...@gmail.com
> statrixblog.statrix.com

[Robert F. Harrison]

I think the reason I'd figured it was the BB was because I did just have a new one installed on another bike and some of the symptoms where identical. I'd worn that one out and couldn't for the life of me figure out how I'd worn out a new one in just a month of limited riding though. I ride another bike when I need to lock up in shadier places.

I'm glad it wasn't the BB (yet anyway). And yes, I love the pedals but I'm definitely tearing down my next set before I even put them on a bike. I'm thinking of getting a set of the Grip Kings to play with and moving the touring set to my knockabout bike. 

Eventually there be another noise I'm sure, but for now I'm drinking in the silence. :-)

Aloha!

On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 6:17 PM, newenglandbike <matthi...@gmail.com> wrote:

I've had the same problem with MKS touring pedals, but I have to say
after greasing them they are great pedals.   Sometimes the BB will
creak (or click) too if you haven't bathed the threads in enough
grease.   I even had a crank/chainring interface creaking problem,
which drove me nuts and took me forever to diagnose, but applying a
smudge of grease on the bolts and crank spider shoulders finally made
it quiet again.

[No Brakes Atlanta]

Often times the creaking isn't the internal bearings of the pedal but
a loose/dirt contaminated interface between the pedal spindle and the
flush(or sometimes in bad cases not so flush) surface of the cranks.
Not that your bearing overhaul hurt...

[Angus]

Bob,

I have also found the MKS touring pedals...and many other brands/types
of pedals...to be a bit tight and dry.

If they feel too tight I loosen the adjustment, I also do the DIY
grease guard trick (or add some Phil or other thick oil) prior to
heading off into the sunset.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16951387@N08/sets/72157623125403996/

Angus

> Panthers007 seemed to be speaking to me when he wrote: (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?576932-MKS-pedals-are-noisy-...

> rfharri...@gmail.com
> statrixblog.statrix.com

[PATRICK MOORE]

On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 6:53 PM, Angus <angus...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Bob,

I have also found the MKS touring pedals...and many other brands/types
of pedals...to be a bit tight and dry.

The best way to deal with the excessive dryness and tightness of cheap MKS pedals (for their top o' the line ones are buttery smooth; they make old Campy and modern Dura Ace look like swaged rattraps) is to dribble some Phil oil down the spindle -- set them up on end so it migrates southward -- and then ride them, using the riding action to smooth them out. They'll be just right in a hundred miles or so.