Originally Posted by
KJ43
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- They have a taller stack height than XT (about 4mm) or XTR (about 5mm) pedals so if you are using measurements based on a bike fit and are OCD like I am you might want to adjust your seat height.
Is it possible you have this backward? I have XTR pedals because I can't tolerate the higher XT stack-height. In any case, thanks for the heads-up on this. It is what I had feared. (I actually bought a set of the one-sided ones for my kid for a birthday/graduation/etc present, but getting a clear answer out of him has been challenging. In any case, he loves them.)
- They seem durable enough as I have had pedal strike on pavement when leaning and some rocks. The taller stack height has to contribute to pedal strike being more likely with these pedals.
- The cleat mechanism is much "chunkier" feeling than the Shimano pedals. They hold your cleats well though the float just feels different. I might be imagining it but it feels like there is more lateral movement of the cleats in the pedal. They do not engage or release as cleanly as Shimano's pedals and depending on how you adjust the tension it can be noticeably more difficult to disengage from the Rally pedals. This is not that big of an issue on road or gravel, but I ride semi-technical trails and the ability to quickly and easily disengage is important and one of the negatives to the Rally's. I did not find that the predictability of the release was anywhere near what you get with Shimano pedals and a couple of times on steep and loose or technical rooty climbs I did find myself tipping over because I couldn't disengage fast enough when I lost traction.
- For me, the most egregious and annoying issue with the Rally pedals may have to do with how they interact with my shoes (S-Works Recon). To put it bluntly, they squeak...a lot, especially when climbing. There is something that happens with the metal plates to either side of the cleat retention mechanism that rubs on the soles of my shoes and I just can't make it go away. I've tried different cleat tensioning and teflon spray. I have seen this noise referenced in other comments about these pedals on other online forums. I can't get past this as I like my bike as quiet as possible. I'm sure I could get all creative and find something I can stick onto the side plates that prevent this noise but did not want to bother as I just did not like them enough to put the effort in.
So to make a long story short, I'm not going to use these anymore and am going to sell them. I'm not super experienced with different power meters but feel the XC200's seem to be a decent power meter, but a sub-standard pedal imo. If someone uses a different shoe that doesn't interact with them to make noise (or doesn't mind the noise) and doesn't ride difficult terrain they are probably a great way to get a power meter on your bike. The SPD-SL version may not have these issues.
Thank you.
This is the kind of information I was hoping to see in some of the reviews, but never did. You confirmed my fears and saved me (another) $600 or $1200. I'm quite sensitive to pedal stack height, probably because of an ankle break.
I also suck and don't deserve a power meter, but that is another story, imbued with midwestern puritanical self-loathing guilt.