re: [CR]lyotard bearings and collecting

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Cinelli)

Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:27:48 -0400
From: "Harvey Sachs" <hmsachs@verizon.net>
Subject: re: [CR]lyotard bearings and collecting
To: lyonstrings@yahoo.com, Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>


I really like the Lyotard Berthet, too, but it is perhaps the most "idiosyncratic" pedal around (except the Phil platform?).

--> Darned near unique, first platform pedal I ever saw. --> Like things Huret, predominantly sheet-metal, cheap to fabricate and even to assemble. --> Easy to use, just kick the kick plate and foot is in. --> Works better than anything else of the era for those of us with wide feet.

BUT: --> it was a disposable pedal, not particularly easy to work on, or made with very durable cones and cups. Indeed, as I've recounted on these pages before, we came to grief touring with these when one loosened up badly (at aluminum plates pressed to steel barrel) on tour in the Appalachians. 14 mm, not 9/16th. We held it together with radiator clamps for the rest of the tour. --> Poor standardization. I've seen at least 3 different axle lengths - and that's just from the inner cone to the end of spindle. I can think of two lengths of pedal threading (short for steel cranks, long for aluminum), and the late ones (?) used a forged (?) hex hex attachment instead of the slots of the earlier (?) ones.

To summarize: a great cheap pedal, but far from my first choice any longer for a decent riding pedal.

harvey sachs mcLean va usa.

John Strizek wrote: Bearings for #23: I went to the garage to check. I did not feel like removing the outer cone to accurately check the number of balls in the outer race. It is at least 9, it may be ten, however the majority of the time the balls are of an odd number. This is my favorite pedal of all time. You can imagine my joy yesterday when I discovered I had an extra set, still new, I had forgotten about. <snip unrelated>