Hotel gym bike power pedal drama

So on the forum I heard Nate talking about bringing power based pedals to get in workouts on the gym bike, and thought “wow!” That would be great!

Bought some faviero Assioma Uno pedals, a pedal wrench and two Allen pedal wrenches and headed out to a conference in San Francisco.

Went to the ritzy hotel fitness center, and they had a bike with a lever to adjust friction. Took off the pedals (threads a tad bit rusty) and out on the Unos.

But I noticed that with all the plastic around the frame of the gym bike, I wouldn’t be able to get an Allen wrench behind it to take them off- so I hand tightened them lightly.

Of course after an hour workout, I could not loosen the pedals by hand, try as I might. The crank arms had the same Allen thread as the peals so I went to loosen them to remove. The loosened easily but then got really tight as I kept turning… so… stupid me I thought maybe the were pressed on.

So I went and asked the gym boy for some pliers, thinking I could get a grip on the Unos and start them. Nothing doing.

So I asked for a screwdriver thinking I could remove the plastic fairing to get behind the pedals. He rolled his eyes a bit but gave me one. 20 minutes later I realized without getting the crank arms off, the fairing was stuck.

So I went back at the crank arms and used all my cyclist upper arm strength and they actually came off. Got the pedals off. Gym boy comes by an asks grumpily if he needed to get someone. I told him I got it. Put the bike back together and gave him back his tools. Mumbled something about rusty threads and that I fixed them so “tomorrow when I come back” it would be fine. He looked at me and said “ok” finally.

Other than realizing the cranks would
Come off- any suggestions for me? I think I’ll bring some lithium grease next time- but what do y’all do to avoid this? Beyond the fact that the little friction knob made it super difficult to meet the over under power numbers on Carpathian, it was nice to not totally miss a workout.

Oh, and I also realized Carpathian +2 is not To be a fasted workout!

Thanks!

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I do not have any helpful advice for you, but I did enjoy your story! :smiley:

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Maybe bring a cheater bar? I tend to use the spare seatpost in my tool box for taking pedals off if I need the extra leverage.

It would be kind of an odd/annoying item to travel with though.

The problem with the Uno pedals is that the only way to get at them is with the Allen wrench on the inside of the crank…

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Some of my pedals are the same. A bit of extra leverage on the allen wrench is helpful to be able to rotate it at all (or just start the rotation in a more controlled manner instead of punching the chainring/floor/etc when it breaks free). Or just get a larger wrench.

Gotta use Garmin Vectors for this application.

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Following - just ordered a pair of duo’s for a new bike party for this exact application!

I’m understanding the problem as there wasn’t enough room to fit a hex wrench between the crank and the “frame”. Try cutting a hex wrench shorter so you have just enough to go into the pedals. I can’t imagine the space would be too small for that.

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I like that idea! I’ll take a small hex wrench and cut it down - for that occasion…

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I travel a ton for business so much of my training is on whatever gym bike I can access (except recumbents, I’ll never use a recumbent gym bike).

I do have favero pedals but most gym bikes look like they have never been serviced. There is no way I’m messing around with tools trying to get pedals on or off. I have limited time as it is.

Instead I’ll bring a chest strap heart rate monitor and do Workouts involving longer intervals by heart rate. For short intervals, I’ll use RPE.

Having used favero pedals on my own spin bike previously, the power output read higher than what I can do on my trainer so I don’t see any benefit in trying to attach pedals to different bikes where the variability is going to be different each time. It’s similar to gym bikes that have their own power value but the number isn’t meaningful unless you are using the same bike consistently.
RPE and finding the humour in how much hotel gym bikes can suck is the way forward in my opinion :laughing:

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A small bottle of lube or grease for your threads might help before you put the pedals on.

Same here. I would worry I would get in the exact situation that occurred here.

I have brought a small bottle of penetrating oil with me when traveling to a hotel that I know has spin bikes. Chances are high they are rusted on, so I put the penetrating oil on the night before and let it soak in.

Next AM the pedals usually come off pretty easily and the threads should still have enough on there to easily install / remove your pedals after your ride.

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Maybe bring these: Amazon.com and a set of cone wrenches Amazon.com

Note - I’ve never handed Assioma pedals.

Several gyms I’ve been to have bikes that don’t have a hole on the back of the cranks or the crank has no space behind it to put an Allen wrench in.
This is something that sounds good in theory but it’s a PIA in real life to do. I don’t even bother. I just go by feel.

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