What are the pest pedals to have for Muni and trials. Grip and strenght included in estimation please. Beartraps I guess are a huge no-no for person safety reasons. What is everyone wearing for shoes? Thanks
I use “Mosh BMX pedals” with replaceable pins. They’re relatively light and really grip the bottom of the hiking boot I use when I ride MUni.
The deep lugs in the hiking boots really “lock” into the pins and they offer quite a bit of ankle protection and support.
I’m a big fan of cool looking things, these don’t seem to be out yet…but I want them 
oddyssey metal and plastic pedals, i love 'em. plastic for grinding concrete, metal for everything else.
http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=214
http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=213
edit: oh yeeaahh… and CONVERSE ALL STARS!!!111!!1
Let me know when the X deals come out. They look super cool. I’m still torn between a good set of Airwalks and Hiking boots. Does the ankile support make a huge differance?
I’ve ridden with both and I prefer the added support of the hiking boots for UPD’s when riding in rocks and other uneven terrain. Of course, that’s just my opinion.
I use Odyssey Twisted Pro pedals on my muni. They’re really nice and strong. They have just the right amount of grip for me so that my foot doesn’t come loose but I can adjust it’s positioning a bit as well. These pedals have replaceable pins but I haven’t to replace them yet after about 8 months of riding a lot of muni.
I use Kona Jacksh*t pedals on my trials uni which has really really good grip (more than the Odyssey pedals) which is fine as long as you get the right positioning 1st time. They start off looking beautiful in black but soon get scratched and loose the layer of paint. This does give them character but some people may not like it. Mine have loosened up a little after a month or so but I think they just need to be worn in. I’ll take them apart eventually and fix them up I just haven’t got around to it yet.
I couldn’t say which is better in my opinion…they’re just different. I think I do prefer the Odysseys for muni and the Konas for trials.
John Childs has some really really nice looking pedals that he did a review of. Azonics maybe?
Andrew
I haven’t tried many types of pedals, but I have been investigating them because I want to get the best ones eventually. I found out (after dropping it in the sea) that the pedals on my MUni are crap Primo tenderisers, with non-sealed bearings. The bearing races are wrecked from sand getting in there, even though I’ve had the bearings replaced. The pedals which John reviewed were Atomlab Aircorp pedals. I remember him saying how useful they were in being able to open beer bottles. Here is another page showing the Atomlab Aircorp pedals. Another model I found to look quite impressive is the Shimano PD-MX30. You can get plenty of good pedals if you are prepared to spend heaps on them. My purposes would be different from some people, since I want pedals that are grippy and light. Other people might want them to be strong, grippy and light, and would not expect them to be so light otherwise strength might be compromised for pedal grabbing.
The Azonic A-frame is great for off-road, though I have not heard about its performance in trials on concrete. However, it gives a FANTASTIC grip in the rain and snow.
The pedal pictured is the brand new (although not out yet? i dunno)
Azonic Xfusion
The A-frame is different
Regardless, I can’t see it being a real bargain!
Oh yeh, the Twisted Pro pedals are nice and cheap…$30 or so Australian so about $2USD.
Actually an A-frame is in the middle of the photo. The A-frames are really very good and not nearly as expensive as JC’s favorite Atomlab’s. I’d like to try the Atomlabs sometime but they’re pretty expensive. The black A-frames, as seen there, are really good looking too.
Rowan’s comments notwithstanding, I have Primo Tenderizers on my Hunter, and have liked them a lot. They seem both wider and longer than most pedals, and provide a big and really solid platform. I haven’t had an issue with the bearings yet, but I’ve had them for less than a year. If they go, I’ll probably just replace the bearings because the pedals work well for me.
Caveat: I don’t have a lot to compare them with. My trials uni is the Summit with its stock Wellgo pedals. The Primos are superior to the Wellgos in my opinion. Those are about the only two types of pinned pedals I’ve ridden.
Shoes: Vans (the stiffer ones) with the “off the wall” tread pattern. They grip like crazy…sometimes almost too much, as they make micro adjustments challenging.
I trashed my a-frames pretty heavily a couple of times and wouldn’t bother getting another pair.
Basically Azonic pedals look cool but they have a serious problem which is that the bearings and the seals are all that holds them on the axle. It’s perfectly possible for them to just slide outwards off the axle if enough force is applied. Worse, if you bash them hard they sometimes slide a bit inwards. The problem with this moving on the axle is that it slowly breaks the bearing, until at some point you’re riding along and the pedal slides off the axle. If you look at the X pedals, they look to have the same design.
I think John went on about this somewhere and described it a lot better than me.
The good news is that each time they break, the warranty people give you new parts. The bad news is that you can’t fix them on the trail, so you’re walking home. I had to walk 4 or 5 miles last time this happened, which was lucky, I’ve often been more like 15 miles away from any way home, it could have been a lot more hassle. I’ve met a bunch of bike trials / street riders who had exactly the same problem and some guys from a pimpy bike shop who said they were getting too many returns on them.
My atomlab aircorps have designed this problem away, as the pedals can’t slide on the axle because there’s a great big bolt at one end and the crank attachment at the other.
Basically, A frames are lovely while they work, but they’re not reliable enough if you’re doing any long muni rides with them.
If you do really have to buy azonic pedals, then get them for a coker or a 29er road machine, they’re a lovely big platform for riding fast on.
Joe
Joe thanks for your input on the A-frames. Are you saying that the bearings break? There is an end cap which is essential because it stabilizes the axle within the pedal body. It presses the axle out so that the pedal is in the right position on the axle. Without that end cap the pedal is almost useless. I could see a rider easily thinking that the end cap is just a thread protector, but it is actually essential to the proper operation of the pedal.
However, when the pedal is complete, there is a nut which holds the axle on. To slide the pedal off the axle would be nigh impossible if that nut were properly in place. Not only that, but how in the heck could you put that much force outward on the pedal? Certainly foot pressure would not do it, even if you destroyed the cranks in a big drop. The angle is just wrong.
I have destroyed or lost end caps, called Azonic, and easily obtained replacements at no charge. But I don’t see it happening during a ride unless the cap comes off the pedal, which is easy to prevent with loc-tite. The cap itself is extremely light, though, and it would be trivial to carry spares.
I guess I’m saying that it would be great if you could give more detailed information about what part of the pedal you see actually failing. I’m really interested in what you have to say.
Aside from that, the A-frames are something like $40 or so less than the Atomlabs.
I said Xfusion…I meant Xtension
Lots of great ideas, Thanks everybody, this helps. I only remember about three good pedal makers when I was bmx freestylin back in the early 80’s so its good to see that pinned pedals are still king. I’m pretty sure that i’ll be getting some leg armor when I go to pick up my Bedford. I have nightmares about the pedal bite we used to get. Its hard to believe but at 35 years old I still have more than a few chips in my shins.
Sometimes the end caps fall off or get loose and then a bash inwards makes the pedal slide in on the axle. I discovered this and had the replacement endcap loctited in so it couldn’t come off. So that stops the pedal moving inwards, which is okay.
Incidentally, this happens most on one side, the right I think. The reason for this is I think because the end-cap isn’t reverse threaded on one side and the same effect of the turning force that makes pedals fall off when you go backwards happens.
However, the pedal moving outwards still isn’t stopped properly. The little nut on the end of the axle just holds on the bearing, not the whole pedal itself, if you take the bearing off, you can just slide the whole axle out of the pedal easily. So if you do any moves that exert any outwards pressure on the pedals you’re pushing directly against the bearing. Over a bit of time, the forces on the weeny little bearing make it disintegrate at which point the pedal slides right off. I’ve got the axle from my a-frames out at the moment and it still has the axle nut on it and slides in and out of the pedals like a slidy thing. The O-Rings at the other end of the pedal make it take a bit more pulling, but not that much.
Incidentally, as I discovered trying to ride a pedal that slides off , moves such as landing sidehops, landing a drop at an angle, turning tightly, or pretty much anything except riding straight forward exert significant sideways pressure on the pedals. You can exert loads of force with a good pinned pedal, the same as you can exert a fair bit of forward and backward force even when the pedals are vertical. You don’t need an incredible amount of force to destroy a tiny little bearing, especially over a week or two of riding.
Incidentally, the worst failure mode of the pedals is when one of the end-caps sticks in the end and won’t come out. I’ve got an end-cap which won’t come out in a pedal at the moment, I used an easy out to extract it, but it left most of itself in the threads, so I can’t use it at all. It’s been a ridden for a year plus though, so isn’t warrantied.
Joe
i have these pedals. i’ve had them, for about a year now and what can i say, they are immense. i have done some moderate trials with them and some quite heavy crank and pedal grabs. they are very grippy and the pins aren’t too weedy so they dont get destroyed pedal grabbing and grinding. they are very light (490 grams) for their price and strenght.
all i can say is they’re great and i love them to bits (not literallly) they’ve stayed in one peice so far!
the only problem i’ve found is that they have a tiny bit of play (i mean if u grab them and rock them from side to side they are not absolutely snug) however this is so minute, believe me it is very minute, that i’ve never noticed it riding and it has never developed into a greater problem.
don’t take my word for it tho i only do moderate trials i.e. 3- 3 1/2
drop but do lots of pedal grabs and grinds. check out some other reviews first, i’m sure they’ll be good.
iain