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This is the least expensive of the three pedals in the Xpro range and it’s comparable with the price of Shimano Ultegra (second from top in the range) and Look Keo Blade Carbon pedals with chromoly axles (also second tier) – so they are comparably quite expensive.

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.

The sole reveals a similarly relaxed design, with a carbon fiber-reinforced nylon construction that rates a 7/12 on Shimano’s stiffness scale. Keeping the sole covered is a tread from Michelin, a company that knows a thing or two about rubber tread and off-road traction. Provisions for toe spikes are provided, but the optional 18mm toe spikes themselves are not.

You also win on battery life. In 3 years with EPS, I charged only every  2000 miles, & it wasn’t screaming to be charged even then. I’m currently running Di2 & you need to be much more vigilant as to the charge level. I get about 800 miles before I lose the front mech, which is my reminder!

After cobbling together a few hundred quid during his student days off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story), Jack bought his first road bike at the age of 20 and has been hooked ever since.  He joined road.cc in 2017, having previously worked for 220 Triathlon magazine. Jack’s preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking (the latter being another long story), and on Sunday afternoons he can often be found on an M5 service station indulging in his favourite post-race meal of 20 chicken nuggets, a sausage roll, caramel shortbread and a large strawberry milkshake. 

While it may not seem like it at first glance, the platform width of the Shimano PD-A600 is actually better than many dedicated road systems out there. There isn’t much support lengthwise, though, so it’s still important to pair these pedals with stiff carbon-soled shoes.

In the box you get 4° and 8° float cleat options. Release angle is 13° and they’re supplied with plastic shims, and metal shims for use with carbon soles. A nice touch is that HT includes an 8mm socket in the box so you can pull them apart for routine servicing. After a wet winter of abuse, I did just that. Five minutes and some fresh grease later, they were feeling nice and smooth again.

Not the cheapest or the lightest flat pedal, but the grip and durability on offer make the Specialized Boomslang’s well worth the trade-off. At 439g a pair, they’re not the lightest pedal in the playground, but who cares when they’re this good. Strength and durability come at a price, £125 to be precise. But for that, you get a durable pedal with spare pins carried in the pedal itself too, they’re ‘weathering’ well too we are happy to say. 

And those CLICK’R pedals have a lower spring tension, too.  Great for a clipless beginner, and great for commuting.  

At just 354g for the pair, it is one of the lightest trail clip-in pedals on the market thanks to its weight-optimised design. The pedals use an SPD-compatible mechanism for cleat engagement, and allow for 8° (+/- 4° from the neutral position) of angular float. Compared to smaller bodied pedals, the Vertic platform has a large surface area for more contact between pedal and shoe. Sixpack claims the Vertic have been tested and optimised for many pedal/shoe combinations.

Campagnolo EPS has a similar colour-coded system and the indicator lamp will light up red every five minutes when the battery charge falls below 6%.

It’s an issue also reported by James, and one that he has remedied in the past by changing to aftermarket cleats from Exustar.