Submitted by
Benster123
a Weekend Warrior
from Little Silver, NJ, USA Date Reviewed: November 21, 2009
Favorite Trail:
Hartshorne Woods, NJ
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Price Paid:
$69.00
Purchased At:
Arts Cycles
Strengths:
Easy to clip into, design stays clean no matter how muddy it gets.
Weaknesses:
At about one year usag, cleats started to come out easier - but this is probably to be expected
Similar Products Used:
OnI am currently on my second set of Quartz, my first set cracked after NASTY smash-up. Pedal anchored in a stump, went airborne, pedal was cracked off on one side, other side worked - and still got me home.
Bike Setup:
Santa Cruz Blur LT 2007. Set-up was easy. - grease, torque, ride.
Bottom Line:
I never had another pedal so this is all I know. My bike shop installed the first set, so I had no issues with popping out as some of these other posts describe. I installed the second set myself. Again no issues. No shims used except the main base plate. I ride fairly tech terrain in the Northeast - bumpy, rooty, muddy, rocky stuff. No problems. Would recommend this product. For $69, can't be beat. If you are a serious weekend warrior (no wimpy firetrails) it is a fine product.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
John D
a Racer
from New Zealand Date Reviewed: August 4, 2009
Favorite Trail:
Warfdale
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$80.00
Purchased At:
Burkes Cycles
Strengths:
Easy set up. No need to adjust spring tension. Rock solid retention. No sloppiness.
Weaknesses:
Clip-in is a little bit less instinctive than with other pedals
Similar Products Used:
Shimano XTR, Speedplay Frog
Bike Setup:
S Works Epic and Douglas Project Cross
Bottom Line:
These pedals rock. I have used Shimano's overpriced XTR rubbish after wearing out several pairs of Speedplay Frogs and so far, Look seems to have got it right. I was tired of the XTRs unclipping when I really wanted them to hold my foot to the pedal and I have tried to get the Looks to unclip and they just hold me in. When clipping in the sensation is a little bit more vague than with other systems but this could be due to the smoth spring movement unlike the harsh XTR clunk these just gently grab the cleat. If you want a pedal that does what it is supposed to do then try these.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
slowtwitcher
a Cross Country Rider
from Southeastern PA Date Reviewed: July 24, 2009
Favorite Trail:
Marsh Creek
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Price Paid:
$75.00
Purchased At:
ebay
Strengths:
This pedal system has no strengths.
Weaknesses:
The lack of ability to stay clipped in speaks for itself. LOOK should pull this product, it is dangerous.
Similar Products Used:
older TIME ATACs, which I will be returning to.
Bike Setup:
Custom 26" hard tail with SID Team, hope minis, XT, hand built wheels
Bottom Line:
This has to be the most dangerous pedal choice in the market. It is impossible to stay clipped in, a true disgrace of a product. DANGEREOUS is the bottom line.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
nuclear_mike
a Cross Country Rider
from Johnson City, TN - USA Date Reviewed: June 24, 2009
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$75.00
Purchased At:
eBay
Strengths:
Light, but that about sums it up.
Weaknesses:
Difficult cleat set-up (shims); impossible to remain engaged; dangerous product in my opinion
Similar Products Used:
Time ATAC, Crank Bros Candy SL
Bike Setup:
BMC Fourstroke
Bottom Line:
I scored a good deal on these (or so I thought) over a year or so ago and they are continuing to collect dust in the garage.
First off, the set-up is a pain. There are numerous shims for the cleat and the instructions lead you on a trail-n-error method for determining the right shim stack height. On my initial trail ride, I could not stay engaged...even on the light stuff. I became totally disengaged from both pedals several times that could have easily led to serious injury.
I was all but convinced that I had not installed the cleats correctly so back to the drawing board. After multiple attempts and a couple of rides later (even using a separate pair of shoes), it was obvious that this was not operator error. This is confusing especially since my previence experience with both Time and Crank Bros is much more simple and effective - Step 1: attach pedals, Step 2: screw in cleats, Step 3: RIDE.
In view of my experience and reading other reviews it is clear that Look has dropped the ball on mountain pedals. I am an avid Look KEO road bike pedal user, so you would think that they could engineer a great mtn bike pedal as well - but that is certainly not the case with the Quartz pedals.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Brian
a Cross Country Rider
from Oakland Date Reviewed: June 21, 2009
Favorite Trail:
tamarancho
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$90.00
Strengths:
Light, easy to get in, look cool
Weaknesses:
Shoe / pedal contact is a bit sloppy and too easy to come out of if you are pulling up on a hard uphill. Cleat setup is a little tough, but the Look website has some good tips on shims for most shoes.
Similar Products Used:
ATAC, Eggbeaters
Bike Setup:
Santa Cruz Blur
Bottom Line:
Didn't like the pedal performance, switched back to Time ATAC. Although the ATACs are a bit heavy they rock. If you want low weight eggbeaters are great, just the platform is a bit small.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
firedawg225
a Cross Country Rider
from Cheivres, Belgium Date Reviewed: June 14, 2009
Favorite Trail:
Mer De Sable
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$60.00
Purchased At:
Espace (LBS)
Strengths:
Easy in/out
Weight
when i crash i get out of the pedals fast
Weaknesses:
Can stay in the pedals when i need to
- any slight twist you unclip
- little hops fall out
- fast uphill when you apply power why'll leaning forward fall out
Similar Products Used:
Shimano 4 different kinds
Bike Setup:
Trek 8500
Bottom Line:
At first i loved them but now i hate them. i chalenged them today and they failed all day. kept falling out when i need them to pedal. either i'm going back to my Shimano's or got to Time's
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
tj90
a Cross Country Rider
from oceanside, ca Date Reviewed: May 11, 2009
Favorite Trail:
anywhere
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$10.00
Purchased At:
warranty
Strengths:
Revised design with metal clip around axle drastically improves holding force of cleats. Only buy new design or warranty existing ones thru Look. Only cost me the shipping back and forth of $10.
to see the new design. If you have the old design, get Look to replace. It is 1000% percent better. Thank you Look! Much better now.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
WMtitusracerx22
a Racer
from Harrisonburg, VA Date Reviewed: April 30, 2009
Favorite Trail:
Wolf Ridge Trail
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$95.00
Purchased At:
Conte's Bicycle and
Strengths:
Incredibly lightweight for the cost, sheds mud very well due to simplistic design, nice bling-factor
Weaknesses:
Lengthy set-up and testing process, no spring adjustment
Similar Products Used:
Shimano SPD, Time Alium
Bike Setup:
Titus Racer-X (RP23 shock) w/ full Shimano XT Group, Fox F100RLC fork, X455 DT Swiss wheelset, Avid Juicy 7 brakes
Bottom Line:
Like many other reviewers, I have had problems with accidental unclipping, especially when trying to roll over rock gardens, root growths or any obstacle that suddenly jars the frame as well as during hard cornering. I spent almost a day at my local benchmark trail loop setting up the pedals (putting in different shim combinations), but after I had tried every single shim combination, I could not make my left pedal stop unclipping. I have also tried my old pair of mountain shoes, but to the same effect.
I desperately wanted to love these pedals, but after the accidental unclipping at the most inopportune moments have caused me to receive more than a few unnecessary scrapes and bruises I have lost confidence in them. The pedals are great if you ride solely on hardpack and/ or fireroads, but for any sort of semi-aggressive trail-riding I cannot recommend them to anyone.
The Quartz pedals replaced my Time Aliums, but even with the drastic weight penalty, I have reverted back to using the Aliums for sheer sake of reliability while riding. The weight savings and mud-shedding capability do not come close to outweighing the lack of confidence you have on the bike when riding on a pair of Look Quartz pedals
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
headangle
a Weekend Warrior
from Eugene, OR Date Reviewed: April 13, 2009
Favorite Trail:
Glass Mountain in Tahoe
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$100.00
Strengths:
Shed mud really well, very light, nice appearance and design
Weaknesses:
Inadvertent release/release unexpectedly
Similar Products Used:
Crank Bros Mallets, Time ATAC, various SPD's, etc.
Bike Setup:
Niner MCR9 full rigid, and Giant Reign
Bottom Line:
I gave these an honest real test over a few months in the winter in Oregon. I really wanted to like them, but after they unexpectedly release on you too many times, they just have to go. I nearly crashed twice due to it, once in a dicey situation where I was moving around a bunch on the bike, and bam, foot shoots out. The other time was in a hard corner, with heavy weight on the pedal, and my foot goes flying out of the pedal. In the, what, maybe 18 years since the intro of SPD's that I've been riding clipless pedals, I've never had this happen. I don't know how Look tested these and brought them to market, but they simply aren't a trail bike pedal you can rely on. Maybe for the XC racer set they might work, but even there, I doubt it. They simply don't hold your foot in reliably and as expected - and that's a core failure for a pedal.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
SJBA
a Cross Country Rider
from San Jose, CA USA!! Date Reviewed: April 11, 2009
Favorite Trail:
QuickSilver Mines
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$110.00
Purchased At:
Sun Bike Shop
Strengths:
Looks, lightness
Weaknesses:
Unclips,when you pull up, you feel your cleat move.
Similar Products Used:
None
Bike Setup:
Santa Cruz, Blur LT 09, sweet ride, XC
Bottom Line:
These pedals suck! I hated it them, from the very first time I clipped into them. I did one ride, and i kept cliking out, and when I pulled up on the, you could feel your cleat moving up from the wing. If I tried to jump and pull, I would unclip, almost wiped out. I actually told the guy who at Sun Bike Shop, that they sucked on facebook, and appereantly the rep for these shoes saw it, and made a stupid remark, so I said I'm taking them back, and I did, and got some Crank Bros SL, sweet pedals, stay away from LOOK pedals, reps are jerks, and the product sucks,
SJBA (San Jose Bike Association)
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Iwan
a Weekend Warrior
from Stellenbosch Date Reviewed: March 30, 2009
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$2.00
Strengths:
Worth the money
Weaknesses:
None
Similar Products Used:
Lots of other pedals
Bike Setup:
Tomac
Bottom Line:
Great pedals. Action is a lot better than Shimano and they last longer too.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Chris
a Cross Country Rider
from Nottingham, UK Date Reviewed: March 20, 2009
Favorite Trail:
anything local
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$80.00
Purchased At:
crc
Strengths:
Light, individual
Weaknesses:
easy release
Similar Products Used:
spd, egg beaters
Bike Setup:
singlespeed and fixed inbred
Bottom Line:
The pedals release too easily - when climbing in the saddle or on rocky terrain.
The spring tension is not adjustable and under fixed gear braking the upward pressure pulls the cleat out.
Don't buy them unless you only ride fireroads or road.
I tried the 20 Degree cleat instead of the 15 degree which was better but still not good enough.
Very disappointed
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
bobbob
a Cross Country Rider
from Mt Tamborine Date Reviewed: March 14, 2009
Favorite Trail:
my secret one accross the road from where I live
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$55.00
Purchased At:
ebay
Strengths:
Weight, look good in that they are not overly complicated and this should perhaps lend a bit to reliability.
Weaknesses:
Cleat (zero flamin' chilis from the factory). Needs to be massaged-linished and remounted and reridden many times to get it right.
Merida Matts Race Pro, XTR drive train, American Classic hubs w/ NoTubes Olympic, Explorer Superconic, EC90 bars n seat post, Formula Oro Puro discs
Bottom Line:
Disappointing first up. Constantly unclipped - beware dangerous. Rather than play around with the shims (I did not have any 20thou ones) I took a touch off the bottom of my old shoes on a linisher and my visual inspection found the spring to sit better. Next on the linisher I made some angular marks on the rear fence and chamfered the edges or corners. This is because the rectangular nature of the cleat opens the spring very early. They need an octagonal shape where two diagonal measurements will be the same as the length of the side that sits between the wire/spring. This keeps them locked in with much more float. Still though they have a low energy release.
Better bearings than Crank Bros, lighter than Atacs, better mud capabilities than Speedplay, lighter than SPD and better mud, feel better than Keywins (one cannot feel the release point at all on these).
This has been a very disappointing experience. I will persist with them a bit longer as I have two pair and can't afford right now to upgrade to Atacs (all my old ones have bent axles, the springs all broke on the SPDs, the speedplays went back after the first ride as did the Keywins and the ceramic bushes in the Crank Bros do not spin as well and need regular replacing).
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
slalomnorth
a Racer
from Cedarburg, WI, USA Date Reviewed: February 24, 2009
Favorite Trail:
I'd tell ya, but i'd have to kill ya
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Price Paid:
$99.00
Purchased At:
Ben's cycle
Strengths:
Amazing durability, stays clipped in, good mud shed ability
Weaknesses:
Will scratch if you fall on concrete, no adjustably
Similar Products Used:
Wellgo, crank bros
Bike Setup:
Kona kula supreme
Bottom Line:
These pedals are great. I haven't had any problems and they are very reliable. I've hit rocks and roots and they still work great. Also very light to and great power transfer. It would be interesting to see what the new look quartz pedals are like with that new medal bar on the left side, probably a lot better!
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
tj90
a Cross Country Rider
from oceanside, ca Date Reviewed: February 24, 2009
Favorite Trail:
close
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$90.00
Purchased At:
beyond bikes
Strengths:
light and durable in the rocks
Weaknesses:
light disengagement, lack of replacement cleats.
Similar Products Used:
eggbeaters
Bike Setup:
XC
Bottom Line:
I spent a month tweaking the spacers under the cleats to improve disengagement force. I got slight improvements, but it was still light action to disengage. As previous reviews noted, it will disengage on climbs jumps etc.
I finally took a dremel to the corners of the metal cleats. It worked! The light action is due to the cleat corners activating the springs when the foot is a few degrees out of axis. By grinding the corners, the spring will not activate until your foot is at a greater disengagement angle. Still light action but not so fast to disengaged. It really helped the performance of the pedal.
The light action is really too bad. Its a great pedal, withstanding rock hits etc, but look should revise the cleat itself. Ive spent way too much time tinkering with these things to make them work. With eggbeaters, you install and go - its a no brainer. Im still giving these 3 chilis because they are 70% there. The problem is the remaining 30% is that they will let you down when you need to be locked down to the pedal...
These may end up on my fixed gear road bike..
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
piahi
a Weekend Warrior
from Los Angeles, CA Date Reviewed: January 24, 2009
Favorite Trail:
Westridge to Sullivan Canyon
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$80.00
Purchased At:
Tree Fort Bikes
Strengths:
Really light, very reasonably priced. The left pedal works fine, is relatively easy to clip in, it holds you in and it has good float.
Weaknesses:
My right pedal is defective and doesn't stay engaged. Look has been contacted over a week ago and has yet to respond.
Similar Products Used:
Old 2001 Bontrager pedals (SPD-design)
Bike Setup:
2001 Gary Fisher Mt. Tam hardtail, XT/XTR
Bottom Line:
On my first and only ride with this pedal, the right one kept popping out, even during climbs! Before I knew better I tried a bunny hop and I popped out and nearly castrated myself. I contacted Look over a week ago, and the seller (Tree Fort Bikes) and neither of them have gotten back to me. I followed the instructions to the T and have set them up correctly. If either get back to me I'll post an update but for now I'd suggest looking elsewhere and not being a guinea pig like me. If the right pedal held in like the left pedal I'd definitely be more positive about this pedal!
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
mathman
a Racer
from saxonburg, pa Date Reviewed: December 27, 2008
Favorite Trail:
kennerdell
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$60.00
Purchased At:
lbs
Strengths:
light, simple design
Weaknesses:
durability
Similar Products Used:
expedo, tons of shimano knockoffs
Bottom Line:
when I got them and set them up, everything was cool. After about 2 months one side of each of the pedals became really flimsy and will disengage without any warning. Very dangerous when catching air, drops, etc. Don't know how the higher end ones hold up but these ones are not what you are looking for. will follow up after contacting Look.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
ventle
a Cross Country Rider
from Trondheim Date Reviewed: December 2, 2008
spring force can't be adjusted. sometimes disengagement is done too easily...
Similar Products Used:
Wellgo SPDs
Bike Setup:
Klein Attitude Disc, Rotor crankset
Bottom Line:
no other pedal this cheap weighs this little, actually 75 grams less (pair) than XTRs. Really simple to get into and out of. However, some may (quite rightfully) argue that they're a little too easy to get out of, resulting in disengagement when you don't really want to...
Buy them if you want to shave weight off your bike cheaply. If you ride cross country and gravel roads, they're perfect. 20 degrees of lateral float makes them great for people with knee trouble as well (match them with the Rotor crankset for best result!).
If you ride mostly technical trails and AM, you should be getting some tighter pedals like SPDs or maybe Time Atac.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
What's New
»
BEST OF MTBR - Check out the highest rated bikes, parts, & gear!
»
LED BIKE LIGHT SHOOTOUT 3 - We test all the newest products and latest light and battery technology in this comprehensive guide»
$ 99.00
Overall Rating:
Overall Rating:
Overall Rating:
Overall Rating:
