I bought a Wilier Cento 1 with SRAM-Red components. To make the test ride I had brought old pedals to my dealer which I wanted to change afterwards at home. Foolishly, I was a little confused when tightening the right hand pedal with the Allen key. I started tightening the pedal, instead of loosening it. When I noticed my error, I could loosen it without problems. What I fear now is that the carbon crank was damaged due to the wrong direction of tightening. Nevertheless, I did not apply force when tightening in the wrong direction by using a standard Allen key and applying pressure from the top. I could neither hear any cracking or the like. The threaded sleeve did not show any signs of damage, hair cracks were not visible from the outside. The pedal fits perfect and tight, there is no play perceivable during the ride. How can I check, whether everything is all right?
Reply by Dirk Zedler, TOUR technology expert and bicycle expert
Confusing the rotational direction when screwing in or out the pedals is something that happens quite often. In most of the cases this remains without consequences, as long as you haven’t applied excessive force. But this is actually the point that we cannot judge from a distance. One important thing is the length of the tool, as the leverage multiplies your force, thus increasing the torque value. In most of the cases the manufacturers indicate 40 Newton metres as maximum torque value for pedals. This is quite a high value – with a usual L- or T-Allen key such a torque value cannot be achieved. Even with a longer version of the L-key it is hard to achieve 40 Newton metres. Therefore, consider yourself and find out whether you’ve worked with an overly long lever and/or by applying too much force. The major signs which would indicate a damage were mentioned by yourself and could not be found by you. For a detailed analysis the crankset would have to be tested thoroughly.
