Originally Posted by mr6rieves
You can put anti slip tape (same stuff they put on skateboards) on if you need extra grip in the rain.
Good point, but I still gotta find a cure for my 11.5 EEEE feet. I run MKS touring pedals, the GR9 feels like riding a speedplay in sneakers for me.
On the bearings, Sheldon used to have a note about this on his site that has since disappeared into the anarchy of that rig, but MKS ships them with the bearings like this on purpose. They feel really smooth once you stand on them, the tight bearings compensate for the fact that pedal spindles are cantilevered out in a way that no other bearing system on the bike is. If you loosen them, they'll feel smooth, but you'll be riding on only 2 bearings in each pedal all the time, just like with any cup and cone system that's not properly preloaded.
On the other hand, I could be wrong about this theory, as the rivendell guys argue that they are too tight and should be loosened (ok, they actually say adjust them in one write-up, and leave them alone in another), but suffice to say that if the rivendell guys like them, they're probably good.