Winner Of ‘Most Durable’ – Time ATAC DH4 Pedals | Spd Pedals

Speedplay’s ‘lillipops’ are road specific pedals that gain their power-transfer-platform from the cleat, as opposed to the pedal. This means the cleat needs looking after as it’s integral to an efficient pedal stroke.

Or, if you simply must hear music while riding on trails, perhaps someone will invent some sort of high-fidelity apparatus that allows you to play your favorite band as loud as you’d like without anybody else around you being able to hear it.

Most flat pedals run on a cromoly steel axle, though fancier ones may come with titanium ones. Between that axle and the body will be an assortment of bearings and bushings, plus a load of grease. Most modern flats run a combination of one bushing near the crank end and a bearing or two on the outside end. While there are exceptions, more expensive pedals tend to run fully on bearings, and cheaper ones might run entirely on bushings.

The hubs roll well and feel incredibly smooth. These have the latest Mavic freehub design too, which promises greater durability than the nylon bushing they used to use and more rapid engagement as well. I thought the freehub mechanism was very quiet (not silent, but unobtrusive). I also like the Mavic skewers very much. They have a predictable, positive action and hold the wheel well.

Mat has worked for loads of bike magazines over 20+ years, and been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. He’s been road.cc technical editor for eight years, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a past winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer.

Shimano’s cheapest carbon-bodied pedals have an old-school steel spring for the retention plate, but are nevertheless reasonably light. The SPD-SL design provides tension adjustment so you can make it harder or easier to release, and like the Look Keo it has a large, broad contact patch with the cleat for stability.

The topic of road versus mountain bike pedals is a hotly debated one and is something we plan to revisit in near time. Until then, here are our picks.

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The M324 is a solidly built and dependable commuting pedal for riders who want to switch easily between cleats and flats. If you’re a big mile commuter or tourer they won’t disappoint.

When it comes to choosing pedals, many people stick to what they know, but pedal technology, like everything else in the cycling industry, has evolved considerably, even if the aesthetics haven’t. Smoother float, larger pedal/cleat contact and reliability are all places that we notice the greatest improvement. That’s not to mention that the weight of both these systems is incredibly light as well. The French have led the clipless pedal business for decades with their designs, quality and attention to detail, but it’s their passion to deliver the highest-performance products that keeps both companies on the innovative edge.

(Note: this is an especially thoughtful gift if the person you’re shopping for is a roadie, since when left to their own devices, roadies won’t do anything to help anybody.)

Sealing is a crucial aspect of flat pedals for UK riders and, like a lot of bike components, this aspect tends to vary, perhaps according to where they were designed. Poor seals might not matter so much in sunny locales, but in UK filth you’ll only get so long before you hear a grinding noise pulverising your pedals from the inside out.