The wrong way and Wright way to unscrew bicycle pedals

Here's an interesting connection to ponder the next
time you remove your bicycle pedals to box up your bike for air
travel:

Either you already know or you'll soon learn
that while the pedal on the right side is threaded normally, the pedal
on the left side is threaded in reverse with left-hand threads.

So turning the right-side pedal bolt in a
counter-clockwise motion will loosen it, but doing the same on the left
side will further tighten it.

Falling pedals

This wasn't done to
confuse and confound home bike mechanics. It was developed because the pedaling action caused right-threaded pedals on the left side to inadvertently become unscrewed and fall off.

That's a pretty good solution, developed way back in 1900, and one that's obviously still in use today.

Who came up with the idea? Two bicycle makers in Dayton, Ohio, named Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Of course, they're better known for inventing and building an airplane and successfully flying it for the first time at Kitty Hawk, N.C. That invention is the whole reason you're dismantling your bicycle.

At top is a photo of a St. Claire bicycle in the collection of the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. It's only one of five Wright bicycles known to be in existence today out of some 300 they built beginning in 1895.

There's much more about the Wright Brothers bike manufacturing business online at the Smithsonian website and a virtual Wright Brothers museum.

Pedal help

Meanwhile, the Bicycle Spokesman has a tip on removing bicycle pedals — “back off” … always turn the wrench toward the bike of the bike to take the pedals off. It works for the right and left pedal.

Jim Langley's website also gives pedal removal guidance in “Pedal Basics.”

The memory tool I used when I flew out to Kansas City earlier this summer was “right is the right way, and left is the wrong way.” In other words, the right pedal is removed and replaced the standard way (counter-clockwise untighten / clockwise to tighten), while the left pedal is removed and replaced the opposite way.