Originally Posted by moleman76
Park Tools' site says
"The threads of the adjusting cone and locknut are right hand-threaded on both left and right pedals."
When I wrote 'the pedal doesn't know what the thread is at the crank', what I meant was that the part of the pedal which contacts the cleat should be flippable from one side to the other.
It will be interesting to hear what does/doesn't work.
Let me truncate this discussion and make a simple observation about bicycles and the concepts of "compatible and incompatible":
1. Right-hand and left hand pedals, along with just about anything else that rotates about an axis on a bicycle, often times have right-handed and left-handed threading to mitigate the problems that occur with
precession. In some cases, you must take time to fully understand how each component on a bike that you plan to modify actually works before making your modification. Just because something may "seem to fit" does not necessarily mean that it was designed to work that way. Pedal axles can fall into this category as different parts of the axle may have different threading depending on how precession acts on them. In fact, if you ever overhaul a set of Campy shifters to replace the hood or worn shift disc and springs, you'll find the internal retention bolts on the right hand shifter are left-hand threaded, whereas those on the left-hand shifter are right-hand threaded.
2. There are, in fact, many things on bicycles that aren't supposed to work but that do... go figure. Steerer tubes that are too long or too short have been "made to work", certain Campagnolo and Shimano drivetrain and shifter components can be intermixed, rear wheels often times can be "made to fit" between rear drop-outs that are too wide or too narrow, tires that are either too wide or too narrow for rims will still fit on those rims and, yes, some folks have successfully put cranks on bicycles backwards and not had any problems with pedals coming unscrewed. However, the amount of variability that exists with regard to individual success with these scenarios is wide and the implications of falling outside the margin for success can impose anything from inconvenience (losing a pedal and riding home with three legs) to injury (hurting yourself when a pedal comes off while standing on the pedals under a heavy pedal load). Do your homework and know the pros, cons, risks and rewards.
3. I don't claim to have all the answers; I've just made a lot of mistakes and otherwise learned many things the hard (and expensive) way. By all means, push back if I get off base.