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Old 05-18-13 | 09:39 PM
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Medic Zero
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,285
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From: Kherson, Ukraine

Bikes: Old steel GT's, for touring and commuting

.

I've been meaning to post a review of these, sorry I didn't do so sooner, as I found them disappointing. I was partially holding off given that I was only able to find two reviews online 6 months ago when I ended up purchasing these, and one of the reviews said that the bushing (in place of bearings on this design) failed after less than 3000 miles, so I wanted to put some miles on them and see how they did. I picked up a pair in December of last year and so I now have almost 1500 miles on my set.

First off, I was looking for a very wide pair of pedals, as even with pedal extenders I still find my feet on the outer half of big pedals. No solution for me here, the Ergon's actively tried to move their pedals inward, but I'm an odd duck, so that really isn't a strike against them for most folks. Also, they advertised that they tried to offset the fact that the pedals were so wide by moving them inboard, so I'm not complaining on that front, just pointing out that as big as they appear to be, they might not be what you are looking for if you've got a "wide stance" as it were! Unfortunately, pedal extenders still didn't solve my problem in this case, so my quest for a durable, wide, platform pedal continues. Unfortunately, I basically blew my budget for pedals with these and so am soldiering on with them for now, as they aren't any worse than anything else I've been riding. Well, in some ways anyway, more on that below.

I like that they have a reflector, because I'm like that.

FYI: I commute 3 to 7 days a week (work+school), about 15 miles round trip (varies depending on the route I choose), it is literally hilly both directions, and being Seattle, it is wet much of the time, but we have had an unusually dry winter and spring.

To me $70 seems high for these. Especially since they make a big deal about all the German engineering that went into them and one of the things they make a big deal about is their supposedly specially engineered grip surface. Well, that is a TOTAL failure. They could have saved their money and used skateboard grip tape, and I'm positive that it would've had better traction. In fact, there are a number of off-the-shelf applications that would've worked quite well. Instead, I'm paying a premium for something THAT DOESN'T WORK AS ADVERTISED. As a student of history, it did bring a wry smile to my face to see that much touted German engineering is still spending too much effort to over engineer something only to have it not work right when a perfectly acceptable solution is already available. Most days I wear my 510 (Minaar) shoes and these are "ok" on them in the rain, but on days when I wear my Chrome (Kursk) shoes and get caught out in the rain the surface of the pedals might as well be slick moss over granite. I'm exaggerating here, but you get the picture. I lost my footing multiple times on Friday when I was commuting in the wet. I was lucky not to rack my nards. I don't often not wear cycling specific shoes, despite running platforms, because I like a stiff sole when I'm cycling and I don't want the wear and tear on my other shoes, but IIRC the few times I've been caught out in the rain in other shoes they were slippery then too, and all my non-cycling shoes have a rather rubbery (grippy) bottom. On top of everything else about the grippy surface, 50 cent piece sized patches of it have worn off of the pedals as well, which I'm sure exacerbated the problem yesterday, but the problem existed when they were brand new, it's just worse now that their high tech fancy grip tape has already worn off.

I haven't noticed any problems with the bushing (instead of bearing) system yet, so as far as I can tell they are holding up so far in that regard, but somehow I think it may be harder to tell when this starts to go compared to a bearing unit. *shrugs*

Although some of my stuff is Fredly in some ways, I still like things to look good. The Ergon pedals pretty much fail in this department. When you first pull them out of the box they look HUGE, but they look a little less bad actually on the bike (at least on my 22" MTB), but they still look like pedals some mad scientist made specifically for Frankensteins' giant feet. They're a drab color to begin with that seems to have already faded in my case, which makes them look cheap and beat up, which is only exacerbated by the grip surface having partially worn off. Perhaps that is partially my fault as I still have yet to find a solution that puts my feet where they are comfortable so my feet are riding somewhat outboard on these pedals (even with pedal extenders), but for $70 of high tech German engineering I would expect them to hold up.

I won't be buying another pair of these disappointing pedals, as soon as I can afford a quality pair of large platforms these will get kicked to my mountain bike that is only used a few times a year for off-road and the rare icy day here. I need to remember to stop by a skateboard shop and pick up some grip tape to try and rectify their shortcomings in that regard.

I owe a couple of threads promised pictures of things that I haven't been able to get to between work and school, but I finally have some time tomorrow, so I'll snap some photos of the wear on these pedals and put them up here.

One other thing that I'll mention. I've been wearing those 510 Minaar shoes for two years now and haven't had any issues with them. Now the soles on these are orange colored material (rubbery plastic?). I live in Seattle, so I ride in wet conditions for much of the year. Like I said, no problems. Until I bought the Ergon pedals. I assume the materials of the fancy grip tape stuff they so carefully designed at great expense to me interacted with the material of my shoes soles, but I left my shoes under the kitchen table after taking them off after a wet ride right after mounting these pedals and was rewarded with nice orange stains to the carpet. Although I haven't given the shoes an opportunity to do this to the carpet since, I have noticed that a distinct orange stain growing on the pedals. I'd be tempted to blame the shoes, but like I said, I didn't have any problems the first year and a half+ I used the shoes and rode in the wet quite regularly, it's got to be that fancy grip tape they went to all that trouble to design.

Last edited by Medic Zero; 05-18-13 at 11:44 PM. Reason: clarity, more info, typos
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