Originally Posted by stronglight

later Lyotard pedal axles were commonly so carelessly manufactured (or was this really intentional?) that the thread size on the French and the British were often virtually the same and in fact almost a compromise between the two diameters. So, some folks have noticed that a US market pedal axle (marked L and R) may really be a bit loose on 9/16 cranks and may even fit snugly onto French 14 x .125 cranks with out damage - the thread pitch was extremely close anyway.