Look Keo Blade pedal broken

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kac
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Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 5:31 pm

by kac

Those are worrisome developments...the failure rate is too high for it to be chance alone (it seems).

In the old locked thread on this topic, RustyChain wrote, "I had a two sets of Keo pedals with each having over 10000 miles on them and working great. Look recalled them and replaced the spindles and bearings free." Perhaps Look fixed the problem(s) in the 2012 model. I'm guessing that might be the case as, according to the blurb for the pedal on the CC web site, "(Look)...redesigned (the) composite pedal body. It's quite different than the Keo, utilizing the new Keo 2 design...The result of the design change is 31% greater surface area than the old Keos...The axle is new as well..."

However, based on the description, its hard to tell if this refers to a re-design of an older model pedal (the Keo) or a re-design of the Keo Blade. Any comments or insights on that? My use, so far, is too limited to reach any kind of conclusion.

KAC

neomoz
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by neomoz

goodboyr wrote:Pedal bodies are weak and crack, bearings develop play and need work............other than that, they are great pedals!

:roll:

My Keo Max pedals developed bearing play, would squeak a lot and I tolerated them until one day I went to sprint and my left foot aggressively unclipped, my toe smashed into the road taking out a big chunk of my shoe and I was lucky to keep the bike upright and not crash. I noticed the rear plastic clip/spring area had worn enough to let my foot unclip. Pedals were only 12 months old.

Gone back to shimano pedals, Durace carbon ones, perfect bearings, tight engaged clip in that I can hammer with confidence and the cleats last for ages.

Not sure why people put their safety on the line with look pedals, they're not safe imo and can't take the abuse, unless you're a pro rider who can get new pedals every few weeks.

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Zachariah
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by Zachariah

Why would you buy anything Contador has his hands on?
Due to the urging of all the ladies...I do NOT shave my legs!

PoorCyclist
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by PoorCyclist

But to be fair, you can find the Keos for fairly cheap..

DA pedals cost more and it is better to buy it from an authorized retailer to get the 3 year warranty.

blee
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by blee

Hi folks - I just stumbled across this thread. I too am a victim of Keo Blade failures; in fact, I've had the same failure occur twice within the past year. Both of the failures occurred in the carbon "tension spring"...similar to what some others have also pointed out. Both times this occurred on my right pedal, which makes sense since that's the side I click out of when I come to a stop. The only other thing that makes me different from most riders is that I release via "toe out" vs. "heel out"...a little hard to imagine why that would make a difference, though. Has Look officially acknowledged to anyone that they have a quality control issue here?

gitsome
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by gitsome

Hi

When mine broke at the back end and I contacted LOOK they replied without hesitation to return it to the dealer for replacement and that yes, this was indeed (if not common) a known issue and that theyd replace them without question. I inquired firther about it and I was told that the newer versions (2012) were "reinforced" to avoid such failures, no idea of that is actually true or not but thats what I was told. The "newer"/reinforced version are those without the LOOK logo on the bottom, the previous versions all have LOOK on white on the bottom of the pdeal-body. Again, no idea if this version was actually reinforced, but they did change something I think or else why would they stop stamping the logo... I told the rep I like the logo and he concurred and said there was some dispute within the company about the aesthetic change. Thus, my belief (pure faith) is that they did something to correct the breakages at the back of the pedal and also changed the "look" of the pedal or else why would they just stop printing their logo? Corporate-branding seems to be at least as important to a company as function so to me one-less LOOK logo must signal SOMETHING... lol.
Lastly, my dealer at the time did not hAVE the newer versions so my replacement was the same version of pedal as the one that broke, been riding it since then with no problems but I switch between 2 bikes now so maybe less time on it and will take longer to fail again. Would love to keep using them as I really do like the way they feel and function overall... fingers are crossed.
My wallet is the lightest thing on my bike.

blee
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Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 7:48 pm

by blee

Okay, after another 4 months I've now suffered this problem for the THIRD time in the past 18 months...WTF? Gitsom, mine still had the Look logo stamped on the bottom, so I'll be interested in seeing if the replacements are "new" version. Love these pedals, but thinking I may need to switch back to the older (non-Blade) Keos.

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coloclimber
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by coloclimber

metanoize wrote:Around 2000 miles, mine, the left blade cracked and and the right rear had a piece fall off. I got a replacement from Look and immediately put them on ebay. I moved to the blades after a disastrous experience with Time iclic. I only weigh 130lbs!

Looking at the Shimano 7900, after 11000 miles, they still look like new!


I am back on Shimano DA after failed experiments with Look ti blade and Time Iclic2 ti's as well. Such a pity as the weight savings is significant- but you cant ride without functioning pedals. The the DA pedals and install and forget for years.
-Deacon Doctor Colorado Slim

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stella-azzurra
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by stella-azzurra

I said this years back when they first came out. Bad design on those blades. Carbon is not meant to be used in that manor for that application.
I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree

jooo
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by jooo

@stella-azzurra - can you elaborate more?

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Rick
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by Rick

I have designed numerous products using carbon fiber, and while I would admit that a "leaf spring" is probably not the optimum use for CF, I wouldn't think that it should not be used in that application. I think this is a quality issue, or perhaps the wrong fiber orientation or bonding matrix. There are a lot of variables in carbon fiber materials. You could probably take a blow torch to an old tee shirt and mix it with 5-minute epoxy and call it "carbon fiber", but it wouldn't hold up well.

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stella-azzurra
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by stella-azzurra

jooo wrote:@stella-azzurra - can you elaborate more?


I think Rick said it best

Rick wrote:I would admit that a "leaf spring" is probably not the optimum use for CF
.

I do not think that the leaf should be made of carbon for this application.
There are a ton of failures as a result of this.
If it is a quality issue then it's been there since the beginning but I think the design needs to be looked at first.

Are they still making the Keo blade for 2013?
I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree

blee
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Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 7:48 pm

by blee

I wonder if the 12Nm tension model (vs. 16 Nm that I've been using) is less prone to this failure.

jooo
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by jooo

Composite leaf springs are widely accepted and fairly common in transportation. What's wrong with using them in a pedal?

I'm not trying to say there is nothing wrong with the LOOK design, but stella-azzurra, your comment is really not the same thing as what Rick said.
stella-azzurra wrote:Carbon is not meant to be used in that manor for that application.

Rick wrote:I would admit that a "leaf spring" is probably not the optimum use for CF, I wouldn't think that it should not be used in that application.

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stella-azzurra
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by stella-azzurra

Why would there be common leaf spring failures on the keo blade?

A. Is it the thickness of the leaf?
B. Is it the type of carbon being used for the leaf?
C. Is it the design of the leaf?
D. All of the above
I never took drugs to improve my performance at any time. I will be willing to stick my finger into a polygraph test if anyone with big media pull wants to take issue. If you buy a signed poster now it will not be tarnished later. --Graeme Obree

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