I'm pretty rubbish at picturing this, has anyone got a picture to
point me at to help me get it right?
On 12 Feb 2007, at 17:31, Sheldon Brown wrote:
> Julius Naim wrote:
>> It doesn't seem to make a huge amount of difference as long as you
>> fit them in opposite directions. I used to always fit them with
>> the pin facing down with the pedal to the front as it looked
>> neater, the last time I fitted them the other way and have noticed
>> a lot more play after a number of hard miles. I believe that this
>> is due to the predominant (driving) force being on the thin end of
>> the cotter
>
> That's false, I'm afraid. This is an error that is often found in
> older repair books/instructions too.
>
> When the cotters are installed correctly (i.e. facing in opposite
> directions) _one_ of the cotters takes the load on its wide end,
> and the other cotter takes the load on its narrow end.
>
> Note that all of the loading on both cotters occurs when you push
> on the left pedal.
>
> Sheldon "Common Mistake" Brown
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