# Cool Schwinn bow pedal fix



## Pantmaker (May 24, 2014)

I am giddy about this little trick but like lots of other things in life... I could very well be the only guy that didn't know this fix. 

I have a small collection of bow pedals with bearings that sound like a coffee grinder. Because this style of pedal is difficult if not impossible to take apart I have tried everything to adequately degrease and relubricate the insides of these things. Occasionally I'll get modest improvement with the coffee grinder harshness but my pile of "bad bearing" pedals has continued to grow. Until about 20 minutes ago. 

I was screwing around with my bench vise and one of my worst bow pedals and decided I was going to try to squeeze one side on the pedal and pop out the rubber blocks. I had given the vice about two turns and my hand happened to brush across the threaded end of the pedal and it started to spin freely like the first day out of the box... Wow. I let the pressure of the vice off and the coffee grinder started again... Wow. I cranked the one side beyond where I just had it and quickly did the other side and the pedal spins like new again... Wow. I just did 5 more pair and the fix worked for every last one. I apologize if this is a known cure and I have wasted precious cyberspace but if there is one other person out there that didn't know about this it was worth it.


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## GTs58 (May 24, 2014)

Interesting. Compressing the outer cage may have tweaked the bearing races slightly loosening them up or straightening them out. Pedals take a lot of abuse and they get bent causing problems. The one in your picture is a large cap pedal and those were used until 1966. The end cap can be removed so the pedal can be dismantled and serviced.


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