I'm building up an old frame from scavenged parts. I'm using an old (70's?) Campy crankset stamped "Strada" that had some rusty campy pedals on it too. The crank and pedals are both stamped "9/16 x 20", which I thought was standard size and pitch. . But I can't get any other pedals to thread onto the cranks! The rusty pedals will fit easily on an SR crank, but the pedals from the SR bind up on the campy crank. Anyone know what's going on? FWIW the crankset is a 53-45 with a C-C bolt distance of 89 mm.

First off, Strada means "road," meaning the cranks were part of a road-racing kit. If the cranks were for track, they'd say "pista." In any event, I still use a set of circa '73 Campy Nuovo Record Strada cranks, and they are indeed stamped 9/16 x 20. I currently have a set of cheap, recently built rubber Taiwanese pedals on the cranks, which means the pitch of the screw threads is still the standard. I must tell you, though, that Campy cranks in the Seventies were made to such insanely tight tolerances, the installation and removal of pedals from the beasts was an exercise in masochism - this even using Campy pedals and loading the surfaces with genuine Campy grease.

In other words, if pedals don't seem to fit, keep trying. With prayers and patience, you might be able to mount one (or maybe both) of them. You also, of course, might bugger up the threads...

"I must tell you, though, that Campy cranks in the Seventies were made to such insanely tight tolerances, the installation and removal of pedals from the beasts was an exercise in masochism - this even using Campy pedals and loading the surfaces with genuine Campy grease."

Only a Campyphile would refer to this as "tight tolerences". - TF