The MKS copies in comparison to the Lyotard 460s are rather crude. Now I have both pedals on my bikes so I'm not just making this up. The big difference is that when you spin a Lyotard pedal, it spins fast and long. The MKS will stop in a few rotations and does not improve with break-in. To get around some of the crudeness of the MKS appearance you can get the premium version that has polished anodized plates. One thing you have to remember about the 460 is that it was in production for close to 50 years. I have seen them as standard gear on pre-war high end French machines and they were still in production in the 70s. Some of the later examples are anodized in different colors- I have seen red, gold and blue. But the earlier ones were not anodized at all. However all of them that I have seen have had excellent bearings, surpassing even Campagnolo.

So its my guess that the examples you have seen were in desperate condition. I know of a set of pedals on a friend's Trek, that is a bike I built up with used 460s in 1978. That bike was my main ride for 15 years, despite the frame being a touch too tall. I sold it in the 90s to a friend and have regretted it ever since- and the pedals are one of the reasons. I don't think the bike has seen much in the way of service in the last 20 years although it clearly is being ridden hard- and yet the pedals still spin quite freely, without end-float. I know *I* didn't service the pedals when I owned the bike (being a stupid kid and they never gave me any reason to) so its a safe bet that they have been in service now for over 40 years.

I expect that the MKS pedals will hold up just fine but I go with the Lyotards over the MKS in a heartbeat. However in that regard I am limiting these comments to the model 460- I've never messed with their other pedals.