I’ve precently come across a pair of nearly new DK Iron Cross pedals. I’m getting them for free, but I have no idea how to tell if they’re sealed, magnesium, or whatever. I’ve always been a cheapie when t it comes to pedals, so I’ve never been able to figure out the difference when looking at a pair.
Anyone wanna run me through how to tell? If I still can’t figure it out, I’ll post some pic’s later.
Easy. Magnesium shavings are flammable. 
Awww, when I saw your name in the forum index I said to myself “Wow, John can type 20 pages of the difference between pedals that fast?” But I was sadly mistaken…
Besides, even iron shavings are extremly flammable when used properly…
Bugger! You got there first.:D:D 
OK, non-mag DK crosses are incredibly heavy, much heavier than other metal pedals, whereas the mag pedals will be much lighter than standard metal pedals. I don’t think the Dk cross is a sealed pedal, a friend of mine runs them on his KH 24 and they’ve gotten quite rough in a year’s riding, not amazing in my opinion, but the mag ones may be light enough to be worth it, and for free they sound good.
I think there are sealed versions of the DKs available, Danscomp sell Sealed/unsealed Mags and Sealed/Unsealed standard ones… I agree on the weight, they are seriously heavy, coming close to my steel plated grind pedals. Good for free, since they will last ok.
Loose.
the mag. versions are light green…i sold them on the Hunter.
But JC didn’t need 20 pages and neither do you. You just need a belt sander. If it bursts into really bright flames it’s magnesium. Steel won’t do that. If it’s magnesium you’ll only have one pedal left but you’ll know for sure.
Seriously, just weigh them and compare it to the weights danscomp gives.
Or, if u wanna have some fun, shave off a few bit and try to light them. Good luck.
I have some Haro Big Blck Mag pedals, I really like them for trials/street, they’re pretty light. Mine are light green too. Maybe you can tell if they’re light green, its magnesium…
Color is going to vary. They can paint them any color they want.
Often pedal manufacturers will paint their magnesium pedals a different color than their aluminum pedals so it’s easier to tell them apart. Or they’ll put a special stamp or marking on them.
You might be able to tell by looking at an area of the pedal that has been scratched. But I don’t know exactly what you’d look for. Maybe magnesium will scratch differently or oxidize differently or have some other visually distinguishable trait. I really don’t know.
I’m sure the magnesium pedals use some sort of magnesium alloy. Pure magnesium is fairly soft. I don’t know what alloy they would use or what the properties of that alloy would be (other than being lighter than the aluminum alloys used for pedals).
I compared them to all the pedals I currently have, and theyr’e seriously heavy. I’m assuming they arent Mag, and probably not sealed either, but they are almost brand new, with only some itty bity scratches, and such. I’ll try them out and see if they work better than the snafus, since I am one of the few non-weight concerned riders out there.
Its a joke, son!