LOOK Blade Carbon Ti bearing play anyone?

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shadwell
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by shadwell

Title says it all really... anyone else had their Blades bearing exhibit a small amount of play or rock between the padal body and axle withing the forst 75kms of use (they were soid and smoth when new out of the box...)
Use was in dry road conditions, 26C, undulating not hilly.
Play was detectd after a single 75kms commute to work....

I am likely to follow up with LOOK and see what they come back with... I'll post the response in due course.

Cheers

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hockinsk
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by hockinsk

KEO's do seem to have a 'very small' amount of play. Last two sets of KEO Sprints i've bought did after first ride. Never gets any worse though. My CX7's never had play though, but they are slightly different bearing system.

butted spoke
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by butted spoke

All my Keos have had this play from new.

shadwell
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by shadwell

Cheers guys.
I have sent Look a mail to get their official line.
I'll let you know the response.

maxima
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by maxima

All of Look pedals have small amount of play. You can even pull the pedal side ways ! :lol:

This is the case since 1st generation of KEO came out several years back. I'[ve the latest BLADE as well...........same issue.

In anycase, I don't find LOOK Blade offers any improvement at ALL! The cleat design remains the same and the feel is just not SOLID enough in comparison to TIME ICLIC or even the TIME RXS Ti/Stainless Steel model.

LOOK should have redesign the cleat!!!!

Try the Shimano Dura Ace Pedal 7810 and tells me what the difference between Shimano and LOOK! I can tell you world difference in terms of feeling.........the Shimano is ROCK SOLID! The Shimano CARBON pedal should be available by Q3 to Q4 2010 base on sources from Japan.............


shadwell wrote:Title says it all really... anyone else had their Blades bearing exhibit a small amount of play or rock between the padal body and axle withing the forst 75kms of use (they were soid and smoth when new out of the box...)
Use was in dry road conditions, 26C, undulating not hilly.
Play was detectd after a single 75kms commute to work....

I am likely to follow up with LOOK and see what they come back with... I'll post the response in due course.

Cheers

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hockinsk
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by hockinsk

Fitting Shimano pedals to Campag cranks would bring me bad karma I think : )

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by BdaGhisallo

Bettini seemed to have a fair amount of success whilst dealing with the bad karma you speak of! :D
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Reason: snipped the quote

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hockinsk
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by hockinsk

?
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Frankie - B
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by Frankie - B

Please keep it on topic guys. Thanks
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maxima
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by maxima

BTW, does a little side play of the bearings and spindle impact your ride? I have a couple of bikes and I've 3 pedal system, LOOK, TIME & Shimano.

Shimano = zero side play
TIME = very little side play (1mm)
LOOK = Side play of (1mm to 2mm) => Keo Carbon, Keo Ti, KEO Blade.

I sold the rest of my LOOK and have been using TIME. The above is base on what I recalled. I sold my BLADE after a week of riding.........well, basically the cleat system is the same, there is still play in the spindle/bearing and I just don't see the improve of the design? The ride of BLADE is no different from older generation of KEO, except the clicking in and out have a different feel and the wider platform assist the ease of clicking in............well isn't the good Old LOOK already good enough in ease of engagement.

If you like the old KEO, you probably like BLADE of KEO Max. But if hate the old KEO and looking for improvement of pedal feel & fit.........I don't see any at all.........

shadwell
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by shadwell

Having run Shimano Ultegra for years, the blades primarily offer weight reduction..... isn't that that the point :D

I have 2 reservations re the Blades, the axle play I mentioned and the fact the carbon leaf spring pushes the catch plate from one side only side loading the pivots..... (you can see the catchplate not sitting squarely on its ivot bolt... i.e. the slop is taken up by the off center spring force...over time i can see the pivot face edges wearing and the catch plate developing side to side play across its pivot bolt.)

Will this matter in use... i guess only if it negatively impacts the cleat engagement or the urability of the pedal....

For the Record Look France asked me to contact the Australian distributor ref the axle play, so it seems play is not in the design spec, i.e. its created through manufacturing variance.

We'lll see how they respond.

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cogsci
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by cogsci

Play yes, I've had bad luck with local Look reps here in socal but decent customer service via phone.

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hockinsk
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by hockinsk

I wouldn't say the play is noticeable while riding but it's kind of disappointing when your expensive pedals have loose bearings/axle direct from the factory! It's clearly a 'nuance' of KEO's because every set i've looked at had this little bit of play.

I don't think it's the actual bearings themselves with play, but the axle end OD might be slightly too small for the ID of the outer bearing which is pressed inside the pedal. Or, maybe this bearings OD is too small and is loose within the body of the pedal. Ignore the arrow on this pic, it's from another thread about removing the bush holding the inner bearing on the axle.

Image

shadwell
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by shadwell

Cheers thats great info, and yes disappointing.....
Did you have a special tool for the axle removal?
or can conventional tools be made to work if you get my drift.

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hockinsk
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by hockinsk

There is a tool for removing the axle, but not the bush holding on the inside bearing. I think with the Carbon's you can use a suitably sized ring spanner though to remove the plastic nut perhaps?

I just had a wiggle of my pedals and the movement can definiatly be felt originating in the outside of the pedal. I'm pretty confident it's the pedal axle tip moving inside the inner bearing race.

by Weenie


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