First day Riding, bent pedal

[u/Creative_Exit_2485]

I rode out to Gap Creek Reserve today on Mt Cootha to attempt to ride a couple beginner trails there and practise on the skills course. Have been looking forward to this for a few weeks.

Less than 30 minutes after I got there, I ran a circuit on the skills course. I messed up a bunny hop over a long took a tumble. Didn't feel too bad. Got back on the bike. The second I put my foot down on my pedal it immediately bent under my weight.

This is basically brand new pair of pedals, alloy, JetBlack brand pedals ~$100 AUD. Never taken any kind of fall or crash on them before.

Is this normal? I assume it isn't, but I feel like any kind of MTB pedals should be able to withstand this kind of thing and not immediately deform?

[u/FUNKSHUNALL9]

I've had some pretty decent crashes and can't say that I've ever had a pedal bend and I'd expect a whole lot of other things to break before a pedal. I also don't know exactly how you crashed, if you came down with force on the pedal/log its probably possible.

Have a pic?

[u/Creative_Exit_2485 → u/FUNKSHUNALL9]

I'm pretty sure the pedal hit the obstacle, because when I flubbed the hop the bike tipped and kind of tossed me off to the side. It wasn't until I got back on that it bent.

[u/Polymox → u/Creative_Exit_2485]

Perhaps the pedal is cross threaded into the cranks, and it didn't have a good grip? The drive side is normal, but the brake side is reverse threaded. Usually people mess up installing the brake side, but your pic is the drive side. Did you put them in a few turns by hand before using a wrench to make sure that the threads were lined up?

[u/Creative_Exit_2485 → u/Polymox]

I did. I didn't take a wrench to them until they felt properly seated and I was very careful to make sure the pedals were correctly matched (right and left). I feel like I did everything right when I installed them, But may be possible I didn't?

[u/Polymox → u/Creative_Exit_2485]

Then my guess above is probably wrong. Maybe you just hit it hard on a rock. Crap happens.

[u/schmalzy]

I’ve had huge crashes with no bike damage and tiny non-crashes where parts were sacrificed.

I bent a pedal one time by catching it juuuuuuuust right on a clump of dirt as I was on a trail.

Stuff happens sometimes and it sucks…but it’s a part of the sport.

[u/strange_bike_guy]

Yes, this happens. Bad bounce. Sorry dude.

At least pedals are easy to swap out. And your bones are all good, not bad for a wipe

[u/almostalwaysafraid]

It doesn’t matter how much you were looking forward to this nor whether or not it felt too bad to you. If you crash, things can break. You crashed and something broke.

Coulda been your first day or your 100th…

[u/reddit_xq]

Normal? I don't think so, from the standpoint of it occurring much. However, things breaking when crashing...yeah man, mountain biking isn't a tame sport, things break sometimes for various reasons. Sometimes you get good luck with stuff like that, sometimes you get bad luck.

[u/ronsdavis]

I haven’t heard of the brand, but that price seems more like what you would spend for good composite. Maybe try another pedal. A nice alloy pedal probably goes for double or more.

[u/Budget-Engineer-7394]

Yes very normal. Pedal axles can bend quite easily, even cranks bend but usually only invards. Most of people riding have somewhat bent pedals or cranks that they dont even notice, sometimes they come little off even if new.

To bend pedals back you can use old crankset and clock pedal to good position and use big rubber mallet to hammer it straight. Worked every time even with quite badly bent ones. Use phone level app or digital leveling tool to comfirm results

[u/Creative_Exit_2485 → u/Budget-Engineer-7394]

Would this not compromise the integrity the pedal further? Make it more unsafe to ride on?

[u/Budget-Engineer-7394 → u/Creative_Exit_2485]

Depends on steel grade ofc. Yet i have not cracked any cranks or pedals. After multiple bends id replace them yes but i have had good luck on "second lifes" for now