Originally Posted by
cplager
I believe there are also US federal regulations that say "entire bikes" must have things like reflectors, etc, that aren't generally on road bikes. If a bike comes without pedals, it is not considered an "entire bike."
Cheers,
Charles
I'm not sure that this would get around the CPSC regs if push came to shove, but it certainly gets around the pedal reflector requirements.
With the advent of clipless (clip-in) pedals in so many incompatible versions, pedals became too much of a complication on mid-level and higher end bikes. Going back a few years, most companies included pedals with their bikes, usually the most basic version of a popular system, ie. SPD or Look. That resulted in dealers having large jars of "take off" pedals on sale for very small dollars.
Getting rid of the pedals got rid of the "take off" pedal blowouts, letting pedal makers maintain their price structure, and also reduced the bike companies cost for something that nobody wanted anyway.