Unpopular opinion: I hate that whole 'grease the pedal threads' thing everyone does

I was at a group ride in Portland last summer when some guy insisted I was wrecking my cranks by not greasing the pedal threads. I've been installing pedals dry for 10 years across dozens of customer bikes at my shop and never once had one seize. Has anyone else actually had a pedal thread strip from going dry, or is this just bike shop lore?

2 comments

2 Comments

jenny_carr521mo ago

Wait, have you actually seen a seized pedal in those 10 years of shop work, or is it just something people warn about but never happens? I've pulled apart old bikes where the pedals were dry as bones and they spun right off with a normal wrench. Makes me wonder if the greasing thing started because people were using cheap pedals with bad threads in the first place. What kind of bike frames are those seized ones coming from?

baker.simon29d ago

Hold up, dry threads are fine most of the time, but it's not totally bike lore. The real issue is when you get a steel pedal in an aluminum crank, leave it dry for years, and then it can cold weld from corrosion. Seen it happen a few times on older mountain bikes that sat outside. Grease is cheap insurance, not a rule.