yeah, i didn't think so. i never handtighten, and recently have been using my new torque wrench to tighten pretty much all bolts.

so how tight should pedals be?

Many, if not most, pedal nuts are blocked by the pedal, and can not be grabbed by a vice.

One would need to make something to grab the pedal nut, Just flat stock of the right thickness would do it. It still may not grab as well as the wrench. It depends on how hard the stock is, the wrench is probably much harder.

Tell me about your torque wrench? What range? How much? Thanks.

it's this one. park tools. 50 ft-lbs range. it's been very useful, and helped me realize how much i was undertightening most bolts.

the little piece of paper that came with my miche cranks says "when fitting the pedal spindle we recommend a torque wrench setting of 44.1 N" (~30 ft-lbs).

just use a good wrench.unscrew in opposite direction of pedaling...
or drill thru it

if it fits use a pipe wrench you should be able to grab the spindle.

thats last resort. it ain't budging so I'm hoping mike over at bicycle station has some trick up his sleeves on how to take them off without destroying them, they still have a lot of life left in them. I love those cranks too so I don't want those destroyed either. This is quite a dilemma...

took it to the lbs this morning and mike got it off in no time... I guess it was all about leverage. I just didn't want to screw it up and fukit up. He didn't charge me anything cuz it was so quick.

very good. that red bike is a looker.

Thanks. I may pick one up after the holidays.

Fantastico, I'm glad everything worked out for ya