xiaoman1 

Hello,

I was (trying) to replace the pedals on my bike (Campy Record 165....etc.) the crank arms are stamped 9/16x20 BUT the pedals I am removing have french markings on them WITH a 9/16x20 stamp as well. The Campy pedals I want to install thread well on my other bikes but on this particular crank they only thread half way.....

I am wondering why the LOOK pedals have both 9/16 and the french markings stamped on them.....they thread EASILY into the crank in question but not on my others.

1. If some one did install the wrong thread size pedals on the crank is it possible to "re-tap" to the correct size or am I stuck with finding french stuff?
2. Did Campy ever make french thread record cranks?

French
9/16

Thanks, Ben

AnkleWork

Is LOOK a French company?
Does "G" refer to the threading?

Homebrew01

I have not heard of French threaded pedals. I suspect it's just a slight manufacturing difference between 1 company & another, either the pedals, cranks or both.
Grease the threads well, thread by hand as much as possible, then use a wrench if you are sure you are not cross-threaded.

xiaoman1 

Threading
G, Left side
D, Right side

xiaoman1 

Not cross threading....Just not sure why one set spins on by hand and the others stop after a few turns and the french markings are confusing to me.....I am not afraid to apply force but it just seems strange that the pedals from other setups won't switch easily....I don't want to "wrench" if there is something I am missing. Bottom Bracket Campy Italian thread.
Regards, Ben

Homebrew01

Pretty sure it's just manufacturing tolerances. 1 batch made with sharper tools, then they dull a bit and cut a tiny bit less metal until they're replaced.

Matariki

There is not much difference between French threads 14 mm x 1.0 and English 9/16 x 20. I've retapped French thread cranks to English without issue. A French threaded pedal would probably thread in easy enough but its very slightly smaller diameter would make it a bit dodgy to use. If your pedals say 9/16 x20 I would believe it, but if you really want to make sure, get out your calipers and thread gauge.

AnkleWork

So "G" is the side OR the threading (diameter, pitch, chirality)?
[confused] You seem to say it's both.

xiaoman1 

hello, the french thread pitch is different and there is also a letter designation on each pedal the indicates left or right side ..thus G is the left pedal and D is the right side....I dont know where look is made...but curious as to the threading and left right designation...french and not threading on my other cranks.
.

xiaoman1 

hello, what i am saying is the pedals will only thread on this particular crank....they will only go on part way on my other bikes....and they are labeled 9/16x20 so should be interchangeable but they are not. the french marking D and G is the confusing part....

JohnDThompson 

Look pedals are made in France. G refers to the French word "gauche" which means "left." The pedal with this mark has 9/16" x 20 tpi left hand thread -- the non-drive side pedal with standard English thread. "D" refers to the French word "droit," or right, and would be the matching drive-side pedal with standard English thread.

Homebrew01

If the cranks and pedals both say 9/16 x 20, then you are ok.

prathmann

As others have said, this sounds like a minor difference in the machining tolerance so the threading that should fit is just a bit on the tight side. Sure there were french pedals made with 14mm threads, but there were also many made with 9/16" threads which is how yours are labeled. The 'D' and 'G' is a separate issue - just standing for the french words 'droit' and 'gauche' for right and left. But the letters say nothing about the thread size.

Do your other pedals thread reasonably well into this crank?

HillRider

The diameter difference (9/16" = 14.29 mm) isn't huge but the thread pitch difference (20 tpi vs 25.4 tpi) is 27% and is a major mismatch.

Dan Burkhart 

On the rare occasions that I encounter pedals that are reluctant to thread into the crank arms, and once I've ensured that they are indeed the correct threading, I haul out the taps and run them through the cranks to clean up the threads.
Rather than force anything, I would find a shop that has the correct taps do do just that.

AnkleWork

OK, so why not just measure the diameter and pitch of the threads on your French pedals, and post the results? Sorry, I still don't get why this is so complicated and confused.

xiaoman1 

Well let's see ...maybe the background was confusing the issue, if so very sorry but I felt someone would ask for info...I thought I asked simple questions ....

The 3 questions were:

1.Did campy ever make a french threaded record crankset....
2. Has anyone ever seen a 9/16 x20 marked pedal (standard thread) with the typical french markings for left and right...I don't have a thread pitch guide and hoped that the experts could inform me if they campy ever made such an animal. My suspicion is that some one used the wrong pedals at some point in time thus the reason the look pedals only work in this crank and my other pedals will no longer thread.
3. I also asked if installed wrong could I tap them again to get back to the standard with no problems.
Maybe this is clearer....if not I will got to the hardware store in the AM and buy the metric and standard pitch gauges and see what I can discover...just thought I could get some insight here as to what was going on

Thanks for the responses

xiaoman1 

will do...

AnkleWork

Yes, see photos above.

You could use a ruler carefully. It seems so strange that people entertain unlimited guesswork and avoid the slightest first hand experience. If you will take a few measurements you will quickly find that all your pedals and cranks have 9/16-20 threads, as obviously marked.

prathmann

The French standard pitch is 1.25 mm/thread which is equivalent to 20.32 tpi - so it's still a pretty small difference compared to the 20 tpi pitch of the English pedal standard.

Jeff Wills

When I've put Shimano pedals on my Nuovo Record cranks, they take a great deal of force to thread all the way down. I can't thread them by hand- it takes a wrench to keep them turning. However, they eventually go on all the way. In researching this, I've found that the threads are the same, but the thread shape is slightly different. This leads to a bit of interference between the pedals and the crank. IMO: use grease and keep cranking until they bottom out.

I believe you would not be able to get a 9/16 x 20 pedal even started on a French 14 x 1mm threaded crank. If you got halfway, put a wrench on it and keep going.

xiaoman1 

I would imagine that trial and error will sometimes lead to error I would like to minimize it....thats why I came to the forum and asked the questions...we all started some where...maybe some on the forum have been experts all along

Any way thanks for the advice........asking why and how makes sense to me, I have seen too many things ruined with the heavy hand or the bigger hammer or I can make it fit. so the reco. would be since its 9/16 wrench away.

Regards, Attaching my cheater bar to the park pedal wrench and going out to the shop to get my first hand experience

Matariki

Pitch is 1.25 mm. My mistake in trusting my memory. Mismatch is small.

Also, I would recommend to anyone who works on bikes to get a set of thread pitch gauges. They're cheap and give a lot of comfort when you encounter an issue like this. Add a cheap digital caliper and you're in business.

fietsbob

Now actually, even the French don't thread often, in their 14.0 x 1.25 Tpmm, individual pattern in order to have a slice of the world Market.

AnkleWork

You measure thread diameter and pitch with a cheater bar and hammer? That's bizarre.