I may be wrong as well, but I think that when you buy the cleats for those pictured pedals, that the package says ARC, so many of us might think of the pedals as ARC pedals.

Aren't these the ones that were more of the budget and OEM model? They came stock on many mid-range bikes, Trek comes to mind.

Why does original even matter? It is simply a construct established to make people feel a certain way about a thing. Just buy a second crankset and that has already been tapped if you feel like you don't want to tap yours. They come up on ebay regularly. No need to wring your hands over it. If your preference is for using clipless why make yourself unhappy or enjoy the very nice riding bike less for the sake of "originality?"

I have tapped every French crank I have ever come across, even if I was planning to re-sell it and not use it myself. I consider French pedal threads to be problem in need of a solution. Park tools provides me a very nice solution......

To me, it would only matter if/when I was going to sell a bike, if the buyer wanted to use original pedals (which I would likely be including in the sale).

An Ebay sale would require disclosure, which might turn off some buyers who perhaps wanted to use original pedals or who, like me, might think about the day that they themselves might sell the bike.

The bottom line is that tapping French threads to 9/16" can affect the market value of the bike, and a "second crankset" is not always an easy thing to source or to source cheaply.

So I continue to wonder if 9/16" re-tap affects the ability to fit and use 14mm French-threaded pedals, but I expect that the looser fit would at least be noticeable during installation, and perhaps not suitable for hard riding.

Impossible schmossible! It took me less than five minutes to find a handful of auctions on French ebay.

Look PP65: Pédales "Look PP65" Français REF 104 | eBay

Look PP66: Pédales "Look PP66" Français REF 105 | eBay

Look PP75: Pédales "Racer Look PP75" REF 106 | eBay

Another set of PP75's: Look PP75 Pedals Pedales Vintage | eBay

And according to this seller, at least some of the pedals in this box also have French threading: Pedales Auto Velo DE Route Look Time Shimano ETC | eBay

The pedals pictured above are the 1988 PP66.

The ARC system was introduced in 1990.

Cf. the catalogs available on the blog written by PYF, a LOOK employee https://pyfrides.wordpress.com/catal...-a-aujourdhui/

So was a different cleat required for Arc pedals than for the ones that seansmiller posted?

I would have thought that before any KEO or SPD/SPD-R/SPD-SL pedals came out, that all of the plastic LOOK and Shimano cleats were the same, or at least were compatible/interchangeable.

But I am also recalling one pair of the older pedals that I had, which would not easily un-clip as it should, using newer ARC cleats most likely.

[MENTION=46029]fender1[/MENTION] is right. The straightforward thing is to tap the cranks. [MENTION=185430]dddd[/MENTION], it is a rock solid solution.

All the other talk is conceptual. It's not practical, and it's not even æsthetic.

Moi.

Thanks to all that chimed in on this. Found out what I wanted to know...French thread clipless is a rare bird. I agree the sensable thing to to do is tap the crank....who's going to know...it's really a mind game.

Alternate ideas came to me as a result of everyone's input... 1) look at the shoe.. Can I take a contemporary shoe and mount an old school cleat to it and use an old school (and use the French threaded pedal that I already own)

2) how about taking a die to a standard clipless pedal and making it french?

When it's all said and done it's only a bike for god's sake. What makes it fun is there are multiple solutions to the puzzle. It all comes down to what fits your personal aesthetic (and circumstances).

Enough talk...bolt something on and go ride!

Yeah, if it's look/3 hole drilled.

Bicycle Shoe Cleats for Toeclip Pedals $29.95 at Yellow Jersey

Vittoria 1976 Cleat

LOL, I don't see why not, other than the risk of cutting them crooked. That'll show 'em. The die might cost more than some used Looks from France though...

BTW, you cannot use a french pedal in a 9/16 tapped hole. Don't even try.