PEDALS, the most underrated cycling component! Contact points are extremely important on a bike. Your Saddle, handlebar and pedals make a huge difference to comfort, and efficiency and ultimately speed. This blog post will focus specifically on pedals and feature the new Look Keo Version 4 Blade pedal. Pedals are perhaps the most underrated cycling component. The cleat interface, and position effect biomechanics as well as ease of entry and disengagement. And because of inertia and rotating weight, nowhere except for the rim of a wheel, is weight more important (which is why I’ve never been a fan of power pedals). Look invented the clipless pedal in 1984, and after reading the technical and marketing data I was anxious to test the latest version of the Keo Blade pedal. This is the fourth iteration of the blade pedal design, which creatively replaces the spring (for release) with a piece of flexible carbon fiber. This saves weight and adds to an aero streamlined design. It’s important to note, that the release tension can only be changed by replacing the carbon “spring”. Look uses an 8 tension on the entry level blade pedal, 12 on the mid-level, and 16 on the high-end ceramic-ti version (cyclists who require low entry and release tension should use no higher than the 8-tension spring). Look claims their latest design is 2% more aero, lighter, has a larger stainless steel contact area and it’s more balanced design is easier to engage. There are three options…
Interestingly, Look compared their new blades to the competition in respect to power to weight. They factored in the contact surface area and the weight of the pedal and cleat. This was perhaps a creative use of statistics, but really there is no arguing about the weight and the benefit of a wide and large contact area for stability. I’m very familiar with all road pedals on the market and have spent years riding each. They all have pros and cons. About 3 years ago I switched from Speedplay Zeros to Time as the force to engage and release was wreaking havoc on my chronic Achilles tendinosis (from running). No complaints with Time, other than I feel Sram has done a poor job or marketing and innovating since they purchased Time pedals several years back. Yesterday I tested the Look Ceramic Blades and instantly felt an improvement. First, the cleat contact was more stable, very positive with no rocking. Second, I did find the pedals easier to enter with a very positive engagement. And finally, the pedal rotation was smoother, likely from the ceramic bearings, and balance of the pedal. These factors added up to smoother – faster pedaling. Big improvement! I’m switching to these pedals! My takeaway is that even with pro level pedals, we get lulled into the feel of what we have. In my case the degradation of the bearings, cleats and pedal surfaces was so subtle day to day that I didn’t even notice. You owe it to yourself to give these pedals a try! We have the new Keo Blades in stock, and I have a demo set if anyone wants to give these a try. Enjoy the ride! Greg
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AuthorGREG PELICAN: GM of Naples Cyclery, cyclist and multi-sport athlete. 20+ years in Bike Industry. Past Marketing Manager for FUJIFILM, KODAK and Trek Florida. Archives
January 2024
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