Submitted by
dcc1234
a Cross Country Rider
from chevy chase, md
Date Reviewed: April 25, 2009
Strengths: cheap, works ok for me. I haven't really had the probs that others have- but then again, I haven't ridden on anything else yet either. Used mostly for commuting to work (about 8 miles each way)- It suits that purpose just fine. Maybe I'll change mind when I graduate to something better.
Weaknesses: none- really.
Bottom Line:
I could see knocking it if it were more than $50.00, but otherwise, I think you get what you pay for.
Similar Products Used: indoor cycle bikes with SPD cleats.
Bike Setup: 1999 Rockhopper FS- completely upgraded. Marzochi, MX PRO LO 80mm fork, XT setup.
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Submitted by
Gary
a Cross Country Rider
from Easton, PA USA
Date Reviewed: July 9, 2007
Strengths: They're light and look nice in the package.
Weaknesses: Not at all durable--one moderate contact with a rock caused the clip on one side of the pedal to break.
Bottom Line:
I was drawn to these by the "deal" of getting a $180 list price pedal for $40. Generally I research gear carefully before buying, but for $40, I figured, what's to lose? One of the clips broke after one ride, and I then wasted 2 hrs trying to repair it--what junk!
Bike Setup: Trek Fuel 90, Crossmax XL wheels, various upgrades
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Submitted by
Andy
a Cross Country Rider
from Carrboro, NC, USA
Date Reviewed: September 16, 2006
Strengths: Versatility. Cost.
Weaknesses: The clipless side is not as easy to use as higher price clipless pedals.
Bottom Line:
I like them but they are not a great off-road only pedal. An excellent choice if you mostly ride on the road (regular shoe) and sometimes hit the single track (cleated shoe).
These are not begineer clipless pedals because you have to pay some attention to which side of the pedal is which. If you want to go clipless buy some real clipless pedals (and you might want to spend more the $29). Yes, you will fall down a couple of times but you'll learn not to fast or you'll put your flat pedals back on.
You'll notice may of the posters who dis the pedals bought the wrong pedals for how they ride. Let's not balme the pedals - they are what they are.
Similar Products Used: Various SPD clipless pedals and flat pedals.
Bike Setup: CCM frame (don't think they make bikes anymore - a good thing) with a bunch of stuff lying around the shop thrown on. On/off road goof-around bike.
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Submitted by
Mike
a Cross Country Rider
from Fresno, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: January 21, 2006
Strengths: Good versatility with SPD and for a longer more serious ride and platform for a quick trip to the store.
Weaknesses: Little on the heavy side.
Bottom Line:
Overall, I have been satisfied with the pedals. I love the versatility of the platform and SPD.
I have found them to be a little difficulty to get into compared to my Looks on the road bike. It takes a little while to learn to flip them over for the SPD side.
Bottom line, for the purpose they serve, i.e. a recreational pedal with the ability to do a fairly tough climb, it's an OK pedal.
Weaknesses: Where to begin... Pain in the backside to engage in while riding in city, or fast, or in twisties, or anywhere else you don't wanna take yer eyes off the pavement up ahead because you have to loook down to see if the engagement side is up.
Bottom Line:
Basically I fell in the trap that so many others in this product review listing have: They were my first clipless pedals and since I was worried about clipping in, I wanted a platform when I was unsure. But becuase of the SPD cleat, the platform is useless: the shoe slides right off. And why would I wear gym shoes? I paid eighty five bucks for Pearl Izumi Vortex road shoes.
And as others have said, the platform side is almost always up which makes clipping in a complete pain. Of course by now I have found out that I can usully toe the pedal over to clip in, but after the light turns green in city traffic I wanna get throught the intersection, not stop in the middle of it to muck around with my feet. . .
And don't even try taking the cages off. If you try to pedal on the platform side, it's really slippery and after one almost fall in the middle of an intersection they went straight back on.
For newbies to clipless like I was, STAY AWAY FROM THESE! Go ask a bunch of people who ride like you (road, trail, mountain, etc) what to use, think about float, etc, and buy something better! Because after two rides I was completely sure about clipping in and out, and have since cursed the heck out of that abominable platform side.
If you actually routinely wear gym shoes, maybe you just pedal down to the grocery store or FiveBucks for a what-not, then I could see these. Maybe. But you'd just buy clipped pedals instead of something with clipless engagements. If you ride on trails on weekends, go grab something better. You'll appreciate it.
I have to say these are a pathetic value. Of course they are cheap, but they just made whatever pedal I am going to buy next week $30 more expensive. I'm just glad they were on sale from $50.
I have to say they were fair, I mena the build quality is decent, and they still work.
Favorite Trail: Big Ring 'Round the Western Burbs - Wheaton - Elgin - Aurora
Duration Product Used: 6 months
Price Paid:
$30.00
Purchased At: Performance Bike Naperville
Similar Products Used: Clipped pedals.
Bike Setup: Trek 850 antelope mountain frame with full Ultegra build. Front v-brake because I don't have a real road fork just yet.
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Submitted by
Drew
a Weekend Warrior
from Rockville, MD
Date Reviewed: January 19, 2003
Strengths: Inexpensive, versatile, good for those new to clipless
Weaknesses: Weighted poorly, not worth it (even if you're new to clipless)
Bottom Line:
I bought these thinking they'd be a good way to learn clipless - I could always say "to hell with it" and pedal home on the platform side. I wish I'd read the reviews here first.
Learning clipless wasn't nearly as hard as I'd been led to believe, so having a platform backup hasn't been necessary. Further, the weight distribution on these things suck! As noted in other reviews, they naturally gravitate platform side up - very inconvenient.
Overall, I guess these are OK in their niche. I'm just not in that niche. Since I rarely, if ever, just "tool around", I have no use for the platform function. As soon as I have the cash, I'm getting a higher-market pair of SPDs.
Bike Setup: '02 Marin Nail Trail, Diadora Geko shoes
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Submitted by
pimpbot
a Cross Country Rider
from Oakland, CA
Date Reviewed: December 6, 2002
Strengths: Easy learning cuve for beginners, cheap, cartridge bearings, foot sticks to pedal on trap side when not clipped in.
Weaknesses: Kinda flimsy, pedal tends to flip over on bumps when not clipped in, screws in cleat backing out, need to hunt for cleat when on trap side, cleat not the most solidly engaging mechanism ever.
Bottom Line:
Overall, an okay pedal. It gave ne a safety net to work with while I learned clipless. After a year, some of the screws that hold the cleat together are backing out. They're looking pretty beaten up. I've landed on some rocks while clipped in, flattening the teeth on the trap side. At least they don't have stupid plastic end caps for the loose bearings that always seem to get destroyed or lost, fouling up the bearings. I noticed that if I hit a root while going up a tight uphill switchback, my foot has a tendency to flip the pedal over and end up under my heel if not dumping me off the bike.
Good for beginners who are not trying to race (It sucks trying to get clipped in securely with the vague cleats on one side only) and trying to get used to clipless.
Imonna replace them with Shimano platform clips like the M4xx or whatever that number is when I round up some cash.
Similar Products Used: cheesey trap pedals with toe clips
Bike Setup: Basic $400 Giant hardtail with Duke Race and other upgrades
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Submitted by
Aarre Laakso
a Weekend Warrior
from San Diego, CA
Date Reviewed: September 28, 2002
Strengths: Ride either way (platform or SPD)
Weaknesses: SPD on one side only
Bottom Line:
The best thing about these pedals is that they can be used with either regular shoes or cleats. You can even switch back and forth from clipped-in to clipped-out during a ride. (This is particularly nice for a beginner like me, who doesn't necessarily want to be clipped in for very technical sections, whether downhill - going really fast through lots of rocky singletrack - or uphill - slow speed combined with lots of obstacles makes it hard to keep momentum / balance). I'm not a weight weenie, so the only real downside for me is that I can't click in to these pedals from either side. This makes it difficult to clip in on the trail -- you have to look down at the pedal and rotate it with your toe to the SPD side in order to clip in. (And generally, you don't want to be looking straight down while you're riding; this also makes it difficult to get "restarted" on a steep uphill after a loss of momentum or a water/breath break.) It is especially troublesome because the pedal "wants" to ride with platform side up, which means you almost always need to do some toe-turning. Note: you will want to use the cleats that come with the pedal. The fools at the Performance shop that sold me these pedals told me that I needed to buy separate cleats even though it turned out there were cleats in the box. So, I paid $20 extra for a set of Shimano cleats, which they installed on my shoes. But then it turned out it was extremely difficult to click in with the Shimano cleats, and completely impossible to click out. (I had to untie the shoe, step off my bike, and get out a screwdriver....) Once I replaced the Shimano cleats with the pair that came with the pedal, they clipped in and out very easily -- I have had no trouble at all getting in and out (at least when the pedal is facing the right way and I am not already falling over...), and this is the first pair of "clipless" pedals I have ever had.
Submitted by
Dan
a Weekend Warrior
from Rochester, NY
Date Reviewed: September 2, 2002
Strengths: Cheap, ability to hop on the bike with normal shoes and boots when needed, easy to flip between the sides.
Weaknesses: Heavy, Unsafe.
Bottom Line:
I bought these pedals at the start of summer looking forward towards college where riding in bike shoes is a bit silly for the quick trip to class. The SPD side of the pedals appears like some animal tried to make lunch out of it. To make things worse, the pedals are extremely troublesome and unsafe.
First, the cleats provided do not grip the sole of the shoe and even when screwed down tight, the cleats will work loose and fail to unclip (and ruin the soles of the shoe). I had a few instances where I had to reduce the tension past the minimum mark just to release. After about 200 miles with the provided cleats, I decided to get some SH-51 cleats and they click in and out much better.
Around 1000 miles of use, the pedals randomly became unreliable. Sometimes they will not fully clip in to place until I stand. Reducing the tension on the pedals only masked away the entry problems. I have also had unexpected releases during climbs and sprints.
Overall, I would avoid these pedals on the merits of safety alone. They get 2/5 for overall becuase the platform side is much better than anything else Performace had in the store.
Submitted by
Christine Jack
a Weekend Warrior
from Gurnee, IL
Date Reviewed: June 3, 2002
Strengths: Conceptually good. Poor execution, quality etc.
Weaknesses: I have brand new SIDI MTD Dominator's and darn near broke my ankle (and my neck) trying to clip out the first time. We adjusted the tension as loose as it would go and the only thing that happened to was to pull by clip out of alingnment on my shoe. Had to dismount leaving my shoes in the pedals and use by boyfriends muscles to get them off.
Bottom Line:
Wish I would have read the other reviews before buying. Seems that they must have some real quality control issues. Several people had the same complaint I had, while others said they clipped in and out easier. I have Ritchey SPD on my road bike and what a big difference in quality. These are truly junk. I am returning them to the store for a refund.
I would not recommend these to anyone. Like everyone else said - you get what you pay for.
Favorite Trail: Anywhere where it's over 55 degrees and wind under 15mph
Duration Product Used: Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$40.00
Purchased At: Performance Store
Similar Products Used: I'm going to go back for shimano
Bike Setup: Giant Iguana 2002
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Submitted by
moabbiker
from usa
Date Reviewed: June 1, 2002
Strengths: dual action
Weaknesses: heavy, poor quality
Bottom Line:
These weigh a ton, and only beneficial for those who really need it -- this does NOT include newbies to the clipless world. If you're new, do not get this pedal just because you can "use 'em both ways". Go for a regular clipless pedal, it will be cheaper, much lighter, and better overall.
Submitted by
Joe
a Weekend Warrior
from Philly, PA
Date Reviewed: November 29, 2001
Strengths: Inexpensive, has a non-clipin side (tho never used)
Weaknesses: Seems to flip to the non-clipin side, pedals have come off spindle a few times, right pedal is sometimes sticky & hard to get out of (despite setting tension to lowest setting).
Bottom Line:
Get double sided clip-ins unless you really need the platform side. Get double sided clip ins & the toe-clip attachments or platform attachement if you wanna platform too.
Submitted by
weather expert
a Weekend Warrior
from iowa
Date Reviewed: August 28, 2001
Strengths: no prob with platform side. spd side does lock up your shoe
Weaknesses: retention spring too stiff. platform side always on top, hard to clip in, impossible when in mud.
Bottom Line:
works well on campus, because the platform side is always up. but on the trail this sucked. i had to turn the pedal 180 degrees to clip in, and the SPD mechanism is hard to find (perhaps because i'm too used to double sided spd). the profile of the spd side is very thin so that a bit of mud is enough to make clip-in almost impossible. another problem is it's hard to clip out even after i set the retention rate to the lowest. given the retail price, i can only give it a 3 for over all.
Submitted by
Brett Burk
a Weekend Warrior
from Leesburg VA
Date Reviewed: July 14, 2001
Strengths: Price and flexibility
Weaknesses: Bad for racing or serious rides
Bottom Line:
These are very good for their intended use. Semi-serious rides and regular shoe jaunts. I have put about 300 miles on mine this year so far. I will go on a mtb ride with my spd shoes and then later the same day go up to the tennis courts with my daughter (wearing tennis shoes). The flexibility is the selling point. I switch them for double-sided clipless pedals for racing - it takes about 3 minutes.
Similar Products Used: None (I use other clipless but none with the different sides)
Bike Setup: Front Suspension XC bike
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Submitted by
miles
from Washington DC
Date Reviewed: August 15, 2000
Strengths: Cheap trap & spd
Weaknesses: they tend to flip over to the trap side when you are trying to clip in.
Bottom Line:
I got these pedals for only $40.00 online and they seem to have worked great the entire time. I rode to and from work for two months with them and they've withstood many bunnyhops and jumps on the trail. Good pedals for the price but your not gonna win any races with these.
