All in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. I like to think of the design as elegantly minimalist, including the need the tighten the dustcap to secure the cage to the barrel. I still think the Berthet is the coolest pedal ever made.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Houston, TX
HM & SS Sachs <sachs@erols.com> wrote: Jan Heine made an important observation:
"In their day, Lyotard pedals were considered disposable. You rode them for a few seasons and then replaced them... Which is why the earliest models are somewhat rare today."
I hadn't thought about it, but that does resonate. Part of the elegance was their low-cost methods: cones pressed from sheet metal thick enough to thread, press-fit between cages pieces and barrel, etc. We did have a bit of a problem when a 14 mm. Berthet failed in the Appalachians in 1975...cobbled back together with a radiator clamp.
harvey sachs
mcLean va