Fastest speed on a bicycle — details from the cycling land speed record of 183mph | Spd Pedals

Tension is adjustable, though accessing the 3mm hex bolt is awkward. The level varies from tight, to really-friggin-tight. I certainly wouldn’t put a new rider on these pedals, because their tenacious hold can be intimidating. As the cleats wore in and I got used to them though, I steadily increased the tension to about halfway. Any more than that and you might dislocate your knee trying to unclip.

The rounded underside looks sleek, but it makes for a sketchy surface to stand on if you try to rush away from a stoplight without being properly clipped in.

Look created the clipless road pedal market in 1984, and remain a strong competitor to Shimano, especially by users of other groupsets. The Keo platform – essentially a downsized version of the original Delta format – launched in 2004, and the current Keo Blade faithfully uses the same cleat design that Look debuted 14 years ago, but with a carbon fibre leaf spring in place of a wound steel spring to hold that cleat in place. Replacing that chunk of steel with a thin sliver of carbon fibre leads to an impressively low weight, as low as 248g (including cleats). There’s no traditional tension adjustment as a result, but Look at least offer three different Blade stiffnesses that can be swapped to provide the same functionality.

“I wanted somebody who could fix the bike locally,” Grall said. “I knew these guys (at Camas Bike and Sport). I knew they’d be available to help me if I needed something.”

The cleat is one of the biggest on the market, so offers a very supportive platform to push on. They’re also quite cheap to replace, which is always a bonus.

“The Nano-X is one of Superstar’s most recent pedal designs. It used to be they’d badge generic components, such as the old style Nanos that are so familiar are a mainstay of budget mountain biking – I have a pair that still run okay after six years. The Nano-X is an altogether shinier beast though, made in house on Superstar’s own CNC mill. That they sell direct rather than through distributors…” Read the full review here.

Our official grumpy Northerner, John has been riding bikes for over 30 years since discovering as an uncoordinated teen that a sport could be fun if it didn’t require you to catch a ball or get in the way of a hulking prop forward.

Still, there’s a small learning curve — especially for those used to orienting road pedals before snapping in. But once you’ve mastered pushing forward into the pedal, it’s easy. And because the pedals are round, riders can virtually always engage the pedals without looking down.

A good pair of cycling shoes can make or break a ride. They help keep your feet comfortable, improve power transfer, let air in to cool your feet on hot days or keep elements out during the winter. Mountain bike and gravel shoes have various features that make them better suited, or not so well suited, to different cycling disciplines. Here we run through the individual parts of the humble shoe to help you get the one that is right for you. 

Agree, I use these for all my riding and find involuntary unclips are exceedingly rare. They really are a cake and eat it solution, you get the advantages of clipless with no risk of getting it wrong and going splat.

Sounds like a bit of creative accounting occurred before the sale, with a load of “assets” now written off

I don’t find they’re particularly expensive considering how much I love them either. And definitely haven’t found anything weak about them mechanically. They’re rock solid.