A mechanical failure investigation into Peloton’s recalled PR70P clip-in pedals, focusing on why the pedal axle could fracture suddenly during normal riding—often within just a few rides.

Main skills:

Failure analysis • Mechanical reasoning • Load modeling • CAD/FEA (SolidWorks) • Stress validation (hand calcs) • Fatigue life estimation (Goodman, Miner’s Rule) • Crack growth modeling (Paris Law) • Hypothesis-building from conflicting evidence • Technical storytelling

What I did (high level):

* Framed the problem using recall + user failure observations (early-life failures and likely fatigue behavior).

* Built a realistic 30-minute ride load profile (forces by riding mode) and estimated cycles per ride (~2,275).

* Ran FEA on a comparable pedal axle, including a validation pass where hand calculations closely matched the simulation.

* Performed fatigue calculations (Goodman + Miner’s Rule) and used the mismatch between predicted high-stress regions and the observed fracture location to refine the failure theory.

* Proposed and justified two plausible root contributors: (1) fretting/rubbing from a harder internal component creating a notch (stress concentration), and/or (2) a fully reversed loading condition from installation/play accelerating fatigue.

* Modeled crack propagation using Paris Law assumptions to show how failure could occur on the order of ~1–2 rides under amplified local stress.