Bending the Pedal cranks

[potatorage]

So in a small oversight, I made my battery box a little large and my pedal hits the bottom of the box... but just barely...
I think I was about 1/5 inch off.
The right pedal looks like it's bendable. But how would I go about and force it about 1/5 of an inch out?
Or is it too much trouble and should I just make an ugly hole in the box?

Any suggestions?

 

[neptronix]

How about a wider bottom bracket?

 

[aroundqube]

what kind of crank ? one piece or 3 piece set ? a shorter crank arm might be an option.

 

[Drunkskunk]

Bending it would be problematic for a lot of reasons. You might be able to grind, cut, or file 1/5 an inch off of it. You could even do it with sand paper, although that will take hours of work.

A wider bottom bracket is probably the best answer.

 

[Dauntless]

So in a small oversight, I made my battery box a little large and my pedal hits the bottom of the box... but just barely...
I think I was about 1/5 inch off.
The right pedal looks like it's bendable. But how would I go about and force it about 1/5 of an inch out?
Or is it too much trouble and should I just make an ugly hole in the box?

Any suggestions?

I don't see anything to suggest this is a 3 piece crank as the others believe. The problem with "Bending" is that it is indeed bent. That pedal isn't going to feel right when you pedal. A normal pedal assembly should break before the shaft bends if you don't take it apart. You can't take a bite out of the battery box?

If it's a single piece crank you probably don't have the shortest cranks available, so you could swap that out. If it's 3 piece they're pointing out that there are broader center shafts available, but we don't know how wide your battery box is.

I just think that if it's just a 5th of an inch, you keep riding and it'll chip away a solution of its own, at the risk of a big crack in the battery box. No idea what that is made of either.

 

[-dg]

How about a wider bottom bracket?

+1

To the OP: If it is a three piece crank with alloy arms you can replace the bottom bracket with a wider one. This will also affect the chainline, but since its electric you will be using the small outer cogs most of the time anyway so it might be ok. You may also be able to find a crankset with wider arm spacing, eg swap mountain bike cranks onto a road bike

Do not attempt to cut a notch, grind a recess, bend, or otherwise molest an alloy crank arm, they are highly stressed and safety critical. It will quite likely fail suddenly when you are standing on the pedals (eg over bumps) and cause a very nasty accident where you spike your leg into the ground while moving full speed. Even if you don't crash immediately you will swerve wildly which can be deadly in traffic.

 

[John in CR]

+ another 1 on the wider BB. I've bent steel cranks before to get clearance like you want, and you need 2 bends in order to get the pedal back to parallel with the BB, which is critical. I've also shortened steel cranks as part of the same process, and I find it easier to get right by cutting and overlapping the 2 pieces to weld back together giving me shorter and wider spaced cranks.

 

[dogman dan]

I'd be looking more at shaving the box myself. But that would depend on what that is made of.

Take some metal off the box, and some off the pedal? Then it's just a few mm off of each.

 

[aroundqube]

If it is a standard american 1pc crank 24TPI, there are aftermarket cranks available that are wider.They are used by those who install the chinese gasoline kit motors in the triange. They are available 7",6 1/2", 5 1/2" from custommotoredbicycles.com

 

[Rassy]

If your problem is truley just the pedal and not the crank arm, they make dandy little pedal extenders that work pretty good. I use them because I have a big foot and just find it more comfortable to have the pedals out away from the crank a bit:

http://www.amazon.com/Sunlite-Pedal-Extenders-Crank-27-5mm/dp/B000QDGJVU

 

[Dauntless]

http://www.gasbike.net/Wide-Pedal-Crank-Kit-with-Conversion-Bracket.html

Still no new message from the angry spud. Nothing but guessing on what his real problem is. Note that not only is the shaft wider, but the arms curve out. A lot of space opens up, but the case could still be wider.

 

[potatorage]

I took the box back to the machine shop to do some angry filing... and when I finally get back I hear a clunk... still too wide... cause I filed in the wrong places -.-
But I think I can make the box fit.
Unfortunately the other problem is that my A123 pack can barely fit in my triangle, and I have to do some squishing to make everything fit (that can't be good).
So what would be a thin, yet strong solution to protect my expensive battery?
Fiberglass? Carbon fiber composite?

 

[skyungjae]

I took the box back to the machine shop to do some angry filing... and when I finally get back I hear a clunk... still too wide... cause I filed in the wrong places -.-
But I think I can make the box fit.
Unfortunately the other problem is that my A123 pack can barely fit in my triangle, and I have to do some squishing to make everything fit (that can't be good).
So what would be a thin, yet strong solution to protect my expensive battery?
Fiberglass? Carbon fiber composite?

I think you're on the right track modifying your battery box. It may help the more experienced members on this forum if you could provide pictures.