For those of us who enjoy American-made three speed bikes, a perennial issues is the shortage of newly made, rebuildable pedals with 1/2 inch spindles that have a generally correct, old-style look. The task is to find an affordable, but generally well-made pedal with an old style look that can be taken apart and that will give years of good service.
Pedal adapters are available for those who want to convert 1/2 inch cranks to 9/16 inch cranks, but I prefer to go straight from the pedal into the crank without an adapter.
In a nutshell:
Let's start by assuming you don't have or don't want to use original pedals. Good originals are always something nice to have, but you don't always have them.
My top pick in this category is the MKS 3000S pedal with 1/2 inch spindles. The 3000S is a classic pedal with rubber blocks and no reflectors. But these pedals can be difficult to find in the United States, where so many of these old, American-made three speed bikes reside. These pedals are affordable and an excellent value for the money.
My second pick is, if you can get them at a reasonable price, a set of the older "Torrington 10" reproduction pedals. These were well-made pedals with rebuildable bearings and quality parts. However, they tend to be difficult to find and quite expensive today.
I recently tried a set of the teardrop-shaped Persons Majestic pedals, wondering if perhaps they could supplement the excellent MKS 3000S in the 1/2 inch spindle category. These pedals are not as well-made as the MKS, but are rebuildable. Before riding these Persons reproduction pedals, they should be taken apart, inspected, and re-greased. However, with some attention, they aren't bad. The bottom line is to go with the MKS first, but if you just can't find any, the Persons reproduction may be an option for you.
In more detail:
Modern reproductions of old-style pedals with 1/2 inch spindles tend to fall into a couple of categories.
First, there are cheap reproductions that have captive bearings and cannot be disassembled for cleaning and re-greasing. They tend to spin poorly and many have reflectors in the blocks, which look out of place on a bike from before the 1970s. A survey of eBay will show dozens of these pedals. They are largely disposable items to be thrown away once they begin to break down.
The second category of reproductions are high quality reproductions, usually made in very small numbers for collectors of balloon tire cruisers, and which tend to be very expensive. These pedals usually look great, but the price is often quite high for a basic set of pedals for something like a basic Schwinn or Westfield three speed. The old "Torrington 10" reproductions come to mind here: well-made, but hard to find and expensive today.
Certainly, the MKS 3000S is my go-to, but what about an alternative? The MKS 3000S can be very hard to find with a 1/2 spindle in the USA.
So I tried a set of the Persons Majestic teardrop pedals, which are sold from a couple of a shops on eBay. I was pleasantly surprised to find these pedals are rebuildable. Assembled, they would not look out-of-place on 1940s-50s era three speed Schwinns or Westfields.
Here are the main points:
- Have the all-important 1/2 inch spindles.
- Bearings rebuildable - 5/32" balls.
- Cones need to be scrutinized and perhaps modified a bit to work smoothly.
- Clean and re-grease when you get them. Factory grease and adjustment is rough.
- Heavy-duty rubber blocks without reflectors.
- Teardrop or wing-profile end cap shapes.
- Period-type inscriptions on metal caps.
- Asymmetrical block/pin makes the pedal somewhat self-righting so that the round part is forward.
On my set of reproductions, one of the cones was mal-formed. It had excess material on it that interfered with the bearings. This was easily remedied using a Dremel tool and stone. The surface hardening on the cone was not especially good (I expected more sparks from the Dremel stone), but was passable for a mid-quality reproduction. Bearing balls of 5/32" worked fine and appear to be stock. I found a set of 3/16" balls also could work, with a little experimentation.
The Bottom Line:
The Persons Majestic Reproduction isn't a bad pedal, but it's not a stellar one either. The MKS 3000S and the older Torrington 10 reproduction are better pedals. But if you don't want to spend the big bucks on originals or Torrington reproductions, and if you can't find the MKS, this pedal beats the bargain bin reflector junk. It's nice to have a rebuildable pedal that is attractive and looks like it actually goes with your old style Schwinn or Westfield three speed.
These pedals should be taken apart, cleaned, and re-greased on receipt. I found the adjustment and factory grease were poor. But it says something that rebuilding is at least an option on these pedals today. These are not "out-of-the-box" ready pedals, but with some tinkering, they offer another option for your old American three speed bike.
