TAF, no question.
I’m not an mtb/bmx person, so i’m sort of ¿¿¿??? about ultra-expensive flat pedals. Definitely cool looking
I don’t understand expensive flat pedals at all. I don’t really understand expensive clips either because they wear out from use and hit shit etc.
I wrote out and deleted a much longer post harshing on how dumb expensive flat pedals are, but then I figured whatever, it’s not my money, and there may be a reason why mtb folks like fancy fancy pedals that’s not apparent from my monomaniacal focus on two subsubsubtypes of road bikes
I agree some pedals are very over priced, but so are many many other things inside and outside of cycling.
Good pedals are very important. It’s very important to be able to trust that your pedals will hold your feet in place on a mountain bike, especially in adverse conditions.
I draw the line at $100 for a set of platform pedals without any exotic materials.
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It’s also not like grip is a linear scale and pedals either have more or less of it. There’s grip on different parts of the pedal, the way your foot sits on the pedal, the way the pins work with the shoes you like, the size and shape of the platform relative to your foot and even more shit that I can’t think of right now but that definitely matters.
Being on pedals that you don’t like or aren’t comfortable with can totally ruin a good ride, especially if you’re on dirt and are relying on the pedals to keep your feet attached through the gnar. I honestly think that I’d spend pretty much whatever it cost to have pedals that I was comfortable with.
Which is pretty easy to say when all it cost me was $44.99 for some Raceface Chesters.
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This is how it is for me. I don’t understand how people use the cheap stock plastic pedals that come with bikes for riding distances.
With what it must cost to pump out RF chester knockoffs, I find it offensive that isn’t the stock pedal included with new bikes
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if you are riding flats are your primary pedal, why wouldn’t you want a nice pedal?
it’s no different than pedal choice on other pedals. with higher cost, you get a lighter pedal, real bearings, replaceable pins, better/more well thought out pedal shapes.
at some point yeah, part of the cost is that oil slick finish, but who cares? if people want something that looks cool AND is functional, let them spend their money.
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I’ve tried ~15 different flat pedals over the past six months or so. Some of the more expensive ones performed OK, and some of the less costly ones performed great. Finding the “right” flat is a bit more complicated than I expected. Your shoe choice and pedaling style definitely have an effect on pedal choice/preference. Nice pedals are nice, but you don’t have to spend a fortune to get a solid performer that also looks good.
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Best flats I’ve ever used are the $20 Chester knockoffs that are all over amazon.
Second best are a pair of aluminum Specialized ones that came with my fatbike. I was shocked to discover that those pedals retail for $80 on the S website!
Edit: These ones.
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bennies-platform-pedals/p/131127?color=219932-131127
I’ve got the Chesters on my mountainbike. I love em.
I’ve been using the Origin 8 Vex pedals for 2 months and already blew up the bearings. Grippy and comfy but not worth it. Chesters are up next.
i mean sure, and for many people $100 is pocket change. It was my understanding that flat pedals on mtbs tended to get bashed to all fuck on rocks way before the bearings ever wore out, but that might be something I read in a c.1999 intervew iwth Steve Peat or something. But based on that, I’ve always assumed that It’s worth getting slightly nicer road pedals, but that mtb pedals were effectivel wear parts.
Those Bennies are nice pedals. By contrast, the $180 Boomslangs are massively over-engineered.
More people are switching to flats these days and putting lots of miles in on them, so lifetime durability comes more into play.
To me, the main advantage is still low stack height and better platform shape. Low stack height effectively lowers your weight by a hair and increases ground clearance. Only issue I can’t really get over is lack of side clearance- more likely to snag a pedal on the side of the trail than I was on clips.
I tried a fancy set of VP fast pedals last year, but they had bushings and i wore those out fast pedaling 2k+ miles a year. So yeah, not all are designed for durability on that regard…
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I went to look up the sweet Shimano DX flat pedals and couldn’t find it. But! Looks like shimmy has at least 3 different flat pedals out now, any of y’all try them?
I fondled them at interbike today. The level below xt had pins with 4mm heads on the opposite side of the pedal which I prefer and looked to be the same width and nearly same thickness as the xt. The xt looked real nice though.
tarck needs a pedal thread
All pedals are Crosschecks Chesters made with different materials.
But more seriously, I tried a pair of Saints from a previous generation and found they were just heavy. Bearings were A+ and pins were a bit aggressive for just commuting but otherwise probably overkill if you weren’t smanging them on rocks.