Bicycle Mechanics - Pedals with no dust covers?

I got a set of KKT Vic II pedals from a friend and I'm thinking of putting them on my bike. Trouble is they are missing the dust covers and so the bearings are exposed. This is a huge no no, right? The pedals I have now are the same style but slightly heavier. One of the pedals currently on my bike has a click. I want to at least try these to help figure out what the noise can be.
Thoughts?

Thanks,
Joe

Well...

Exposed bearings will get contaminated a lot faster, and wear a lot faster. Either accept an intense cleaning & regreasing regimen, or treat them as consumables. If you got them at no cost you won't lose anything from running them into the ground. And it's real unlikely that you'll do any damage to the bike by using them.

Or get creative, maybe you can transplant the dust covers from your current pedals, shape some out of silicone or hot glue, repurpose a bottle cap etc etc.

Buy replacement dust covers. http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/383682-Pedal-Dust-cap-resource

or

Shove grease in after every rain

or

Duct Tape or other home made /adapted cover (as suggested by dabac)

or

Do nothing and ride till they break.


Good pedals are worth buying new caps for and rebuilding (replacing balls and regreasing) Its not hard and you will be glad you did.

IMO, Cheap pedals are worth rebuilding if they can be.

Pictures would get you More informed and focused responses.

Nothing to add regarding the dust cover issue, but you are looking at one of the less likely source of BB/crank click. Pedals themselves typically are the source of a click only when the pedal cage/spindle interface is not secure. It's possible I suppose but I don't recall ever seeing a pedal bearing cause a clicking sound.

In case you have not looked at other causes yet the very first thing to check is the crank arm fixing bolts and tightness of the pedals on the cranks. For older bikes or those exposed to a lot of weather it can be helpful to remove and clean the mating surfaces and then retighten (greasing pedal threads of course). Next are chainwheel bolts if you have them. The bottom bracket itself can be a source, but typically BB noise is lower pitched and more drawn out (creak, rather than click). For more info on diagnosis see http://sheldonbrown.com/creaks.html

"it can be helpful to remove and clean the mating surfaces and then retighten."

it can be helpful to remove and clean the mating surfaces. regrease and then retighten.

Thanks everyone.
Cnybikeman, I have actually already started another thread about the noise I'm hearing. After all the things you mentioned it still happened, at the same point of rotation, under heavy load. I greased the pedals and it went away. Has since come back a bit. Of the "problematic" pedals I noticed that one had a bearing less than the other. I may get new ball bearings and try again. I've gotten pretty good knowledge of bike mechanics with this bike but should the cones on the pedals be tight or loose?

The current dust covers won't fit on the new pedals.

I once had a set of those pedals and never could find caps for them. MKS caps almost fit but are slightly loose. I wound up gluing them in with a bit of silicone.

"it can be helpful to remove and clean the mating surfaces and then retighten."

it can be helpful to remove and clean the mating surfaces. regrease and then retighten.

Uh, in your haste to post a correction you missed "(greasing pedal threads of course)" and the crank flats are not greased.