LOOK Keo Pedal safety & maintenance
 

The other day when I unclipped from my LOOK KEO pedals, the pedal body came off the spindle, leaving the spindle screwed into the crank arm. It slowly came unscrewed (without my knowledge) and came off.

Been riding these pedals on several bikes for around 9 years, first time this has ever happened. Needless to say, it could have been a much harder lesson.

I watched this video re maintenance and application of loctite, so I will be doing this to all of my LOOK KEO pedals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9IZ1PbQDKk

Wow I've been on various Look pedals since 1986... never had that issue. I have broken two Keo pedal bodies (cracked) but since moving to carbon body pedals, no issue.

BTDT. The first time I recall it happening was on a pre-Dairyland Dare ride years ago. JRA when my shoe is suddenly disconnected from the bike. I no longer remember all the details, but I'm pretty sure I found whatever bits actually hit the ground (I didn't, thankfully) and put it back together. I completed the Dare with no further incident, then kept a closer eye on my collection of KeO pedals after that.

I had the same happen but with speed play zeros. Body came off the spindle along with my foot and then me :eek:

A lot of older Crank Bros Eggbeaters failed like this. You could loctite down the fixing bolt at the end, or you could just keep checking that it was tight. This started to happen to my set. I think they are aware of this and they may have fixed it in later versions. To be honest, this soured me on Eggbeaters in general, so I went to good old Shimanos.

the same thing happened to me with shimano spds. been on looks for 20 years never happened but i think its just something to be aware of no matter what now i check whenever i do yearly tuneups

Ordered a 19mm Park Tool socket, hope it fits and works okay with my Spin Doctor torque wrench. Also ordered Loctite 480.

You guys can send me your KEOs for overhaul. ha

Update: I bought a bunch of new Ultegra and DA pedals (plus one lightly used DA pair from a forum member) and am retiring all of my LOOK pedals. A bit of research (internet, conversations with mechanics and shop owners) suggests that this incident is not nearly as uncommon as LOOK would like us to believe.

Early KEO pedals were recalled: https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2008/cy...clists-to-fall

The recall concerns spindle breakage, which I have not experienced. The issue I had was the pedal body coming unscrewed from the axle, then eventually separating when I unclipped from the pedal. Older thread about a broken LOOK spindle causing a crash: https://forums.thepaceline.net/showt...ht=keo+failure

I have been in communication with LOOK about this for a few weeks and never once has LOOK mentioned the recall. Yesterday, for the first time, someone from LOOK acknowledged failures of the type I described in the OP.

Maybe someone can chime in: If a right pedal unclips and your right foot hits the ground, it will send you (quickly) to the left into oncoming traffic. Fairly dangerous if you ride canyons.