Step by step guide; City bike pedal replacement guide

Pedals usually have a long service life, but their bearings may suffer wear over time.
You may notice the pedals starting to squeak and grind or no longer turning quite as smoothly as before.
Even if your bearings are still fine, there may be other reasons to replace the pedals, like the anti-slip coating being worn.
Tuning up a new bicycle always includes pedal work.

What you'll need

Important to know before you begin

While replacing a pedal seems easy enough, there are a few things that might go wrong. It can be especially difficult to loosen and remove the pedals on older bicycles.
It’s important that each pedal is installed on the correct side. Pedals are designed not to loosen while you’re cycling.
From the cyclist’s point of view (facing the handlebars and front of the bicycle), every bicycle has a left side and a right side.
Pedals are usually marked with an “L” and an “R” for left and right. The pedal marks are often in different places for different brands and pedal types.
95% of all city bike pedals for adults are 9/16”. Children’s bike pedals may be 1/2”.

Step 1 : Removing the pedals

There is usually either a pedal wrench flat or a hex fitting in the back side of the pedal thread. Some pedals have both. Depending on your pedal having either a wrench flat or hex fitting, you’ll need a 15mm pedal wrench or a 6/8mm allen key. Pedals can be very hard to loosen; this is why pedal wrenches have longer handles than 15mm spanners do. The longer handle allows you to apply more force.

The left pedal is going to loosen clockwise.
The right pedal is going to loosen counter-clockwise.

Some pedals can be particularly difficult to loosen. Be careful while loosening the pedal with a wrench: if you slip, you can really hurt your hands and fingers on the chainring teeth or the rear fork. Cover the chainring and fork with a towel or another type of cloth to help prevent injuries.
Sometimes pedals are so hard to loosen that you’ll need more than just the pedal wrench to get the job done. In this case, try applying penetrating oil (like WD-40) to the connection points. Wait for about 30 minutes, then try again.
If the pedal is still stuck, you could try lengthening the wrench grip with a tube. By sliding the tube over the wrench grip, you’ll be able to apply more force. Before you do though, make sure that the wrench you’re using is suitable for this. If not, you could break the wrench.

Step 2 : Cleaning and greasing

Once the pedal has been removed, you can clean the crank arm’s thread. (1)
Make sure any remaining grease and dirt have been removed, using a polishing cloth.
Then apply a little grease or assembly paste to the pedal and crank arm thread. (2)
This will make it easier to remove the pedals again later.

For hard-to-remove dirt and grease, try using a degreaser like Bionet.

Step 3 : Installing pedals

Take extra care while you’re installing the new pedals.
The pedal axle material is often harder than the crank arm material,
and if you assemble it the wrong way, you could damage the thread.
We advise first trying to carefully thread the pedals into the crank by hand.
If there’s minimal resistance, that means you’re safe to continue.
When there’s too much resistance, stop what you’re doing right away, check the thread, and start over.
If you can’t thread the pedal into the crank using your fingers, you can use the pedal wrench or allen key.
It’s okay to firmly tighten the pedals, just keep in mind that once they’re in, they’re in.

The left pedal should be tightened counter-clockwise. (2)
The right pedal should be tightened clockwise. (3)
After that, you can remove any excess grease using a polishing cloth. Now your pedals are ready for use!

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