Originally Posted by
Kontact
This is either a joke or just really questionable advice. "A lot of force" is what leads to "I stripped my vintage crankset". If your threads are tight (or French) - they should be cleaned up with a tap. That extra material in there is just as likely to make the threads blow out as anything else.
All advice is questionable I guess, so maybe you
weren't being needlessly insulting to an esteemed member of the forum?
Makes me think
Kontact hasn't assembled many Campy-equipped bikes. It might be different now, but when I was a mechanic ('70s-'80s), Campy pedals almost always fit really tight in Campy cranks. I believe it is a feature, not a bug. Nary a one of them ever stripped the crank threads, so the fear-mongering may be a tad overdone.
Thread clearances can vary quite a bit from one maker to another, but there's a strong correlation between tightness and cost, with the pricier ones being the tighter fit. I think a pedal that fits tight in the crank will experience less movement and the associated fretting, which is what causes cranks to break at the pedal hole. It's not an ideal design, but good enough for most people who aren't named Jobst.