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citternmaker

Just curious if any of you have run into this before...my Stronglight '93 cranks on my early 70's TdF are marked 9/16 on the inside (presumably indicating the pedal threading), but they in fact have 14mm French threads. I'm currently using Maillard 700 (Spiedel?) pedals, which are really nice, but they seem to be made out of some sort of soft cheese, requiring frequent straightening. I found out the about them being French threaded while trying to mount a set of modern clipless pedals. Fortunately, I didn't try to force the fit and didn't mess up the threads.

greyhundguy

Ron,
Here's a link to Robert Broderick's Wooljersey page with info on the pedals. See last paragraph.
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/broderir/Catalogs-Posters/Road-Tests-Reviews/Bicycling-1976-07-B/Page+02.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1
Guess you are not the only one with the pedal problem.

Jay

citternmaker

Jay,

That describes them pretty well -- the 700's are wonderfully light and very comfortable, but I suspect some of the comfort is coming from the cages bending. Smile

My thought at trying a set of clipless pedals on my TdF was mostly to try and preserve the 700's for vintage-only rides. Since I don't want to change the threading, I guess I'll need to live with it and try not to abuse them too much (or get a more robust set of french-thread pedals for everyday use).

Ron

greyhundguy

Ron,
Here's a link to VeloOrange and their offering of Atom 700 French thread pedals. I've been told that these are more sturdy than Maillard's but still not for the cyclist who is heavy or a hard rider. Further research may help.
http://www.velo-orange.com/at700pefrth.html

The other option is rethreading to 9/16 (since you have that marked) and you can find most anything your feet desire.

Jay

greyhundguy

Ron,
I was looking at the VO Atom pedals and it appears the cages are attached differently from the Maillard. These might be Steel cages? Maybe shoot them an email with that question.

Jay

citternmaker

Jay,

Thanks for the link to VO -- I can always use a new excuse to spend some money there. Smile

The peened-over areas on the ATOM 700's looks a lot more substantial than those on the Maillard 700's. I'll e-mail VO and ask them...they might just be the 30+ year old solution I'm looking for.

citternmaker

Also FWIW, this site says they're steel cages:

http://www.bicycleclassics.com/pedals.html

I'll still ask VO to confirm.....

verktyg

Atom was one of the brand names used by Maillard. They also made Normandy hubs and Atom/Normandy/Maillard freewheels.

The Maillard brand name was usually reserved for their better or best quality components and 700 series components were their top of the line offerings. Here's some examples of different versions of the 700 series pedals:

Atom 700 pedals:

http://velobase.com/ViewSingleComponent.aspx?ID=73b22e42-2b05-46a2-b03c-6c3843cba996&Enum=109

Maillard 700 pedals:

http://velobase.com/ViewSingleComponent.aspx?ID=9808ebbb-1b08-4fa9-a650-f18d0970bc95

Spidel/Maillard 700 pedals:

http://velobase.com/ViewSingleComponent.aspx?ID=4cc081f5-1574-4d7f-bafc-ef35f0221e17

Spidel was an ill fated marketing consortium that lasted from 1978 through the mid 1980s. It was made up of Maillard, Stronglight, Simplex, Mafac and a number of other French component manufacturers.

Some of these pedals were also private labeled with the Milremo brand.

There were also 600 series components which were slightly lower priced with a lower quality finish.

I have a number of pairs of model 700 pedals. I'll have to check them out and compare the differences.

BTW, "French" 14mm x 1.25mm metric threaded pedals have been obsolete probably since the late 1980s. Spain used the metric standard threads too. Zeus and several other Spanish component makers produced metric threaded pedals.

Metric 14mm x 1.25mm threads are just slightly smaller than 9/16" threads and can be tapped out to use the current "standard" size pedals??? Rolling Eyes

It's a simple job but takes quite a bit of effort.

Chas.

citternmaker

Chas,

Thanks for the low-down on the Atom, Maillard and Maillard/Spiedel pedals! I've got definitely got the Maillard 700's (in black, or what's not scraped off, that is).

I took another look at my crankset this morning, and sure enough it's marked 9/16 on the drive side...but the modern 9/16 pedals weren't going to thread on without serious leverage. Do you think there's a chance that one of the following happened at some point in the past?

1) The crankset was marked wrong at the factory, and is actually French threaded, or:
2) The previous owner installed a set of French threaded pedals into a 9/16 crankset

If #2 happened, should I leave it as is, or chase the threads with a 9/16 tap?

Thanks in advance,

verktyg

citternmaker

Chas,

Thanks again for your help -- that's also a good point about the left hand threads on the left crank.

I do ride clipless on my newer bikes, but I really don't find them any more efficient/safe/comfortable than clips and straps. I also don't notice clips/straps any more on a long ride than a set of clipless, and actually find them a bit easier to get in and out of.

My pedal woes really just came about due thoughts about the longevity of the Maillard 700 cages, but I guess since they've lasted 30+ years, they'll probably last a while longer. Since there's a chance that the threads might just be tight (for what ever reason), I might just keep them as is for now, buy a backup set in 9/16, and have the threads chased at the LBS down the street later.

Take care,

verktyg

14mm is .551 diameter, 9/16 is .562 which is .011 larger. These are nominal sizes. I've seen British thread pedals that were undersized and metrics that were oversize.

The only way to tell for sure is to measure the threads with a thread pitch gage.

Chas.

vanhelmont