Hi there, I’ve been in a serious crisis with pedals for months now. Basically, I’ve been debating with myself whether or not it’s worth getting plastic pedals or not for trials. I’ve been using an old pair of Primo Balances, but I hate them so much for hopping with. My riding is noticably being held back by my feet slipping off them (some pins smashed out).
So really, I’m on the cheap, as I wasted all my money this week in school pizzas/chicas/coffee/random crap.
Therefore: Odyssey Twisted PCs are one pair that have been on my mind for a while. I mean, are there any trials riders of you out there that actually use plastic-full-time? How do you a worn-out-sided plastic pedal for pedalgrabs onto walls? Is it really noticably annoying how slippy it is? And how much does grip go down on your feet when it gets a bit muddy/damp? Just curious, so I can justify getting a pair of Twisted PCs or not.
NB: I’m really aiming this question at serious trials riders, not street or flatland riders at all, for I know their demands are different.
I would try to find a pair of Hoffman Sole Mates, and use the long pins they come with. Very similar design to JC’s, which a lot of people seem to like, but they are a bit less burly and therefor weigh less.
You said you were having a problem with pins smashing out. Sole Mate’s don’t have this problem (except for the side pins, but they’re pretty useless anyway) because they screw into a nut. So if you smash a pin, you get another one from the spares the pedals come with, but a new nut, and your good.
Look on chain reaction. delivery is next day and free. The prices are good and they have a good range of parts.
I recently bought these pedals for trials and they are great, they have huge platforms, are by far the grippyest pedals I have tried, have sealed replacable berrings and are relativly cheap. I havnt had them long but the berrings are still running nice even after riding in wet and the pins are holding up very well I have done alot of pedal grabs on wood and stone and they look uneffected, theye lighter than snafus and way better. check them out.
Hey guys, sorry I didn’t make it 100% clear at the start.
I know a lot of the better metal pedals out there, but I purposefully wanted to check out plastics. I’ve researched and re-researched all of the above mentioned pedals many times before, but firstly, I haven’t much money as of this moment, I just need a set I can afford for the weekend’s ride.
£10 Odyssey PCs seemed an OK option. But, whatever, I only really wanted to know if long-term plastic users liked them for trials or not.
I didn’t actually have any trouble with pins getting smashed out, they were actually an old pair of Joe’s, (hence they were pretty demolished already), and it was just really pissing me off how sometimes my feet’d randomly slip off the pedals during some tuck or whatever.
I’ve been trying to repair a pair of NS Leg Eaters, which are lovely for trials, but finding a replacement bearing is a nightmare… (i.e. no bearing code to be found anywhere, nor do any of the dealers know the bearing code) So, I’m just seeing if Plastics are worth it or not…
There was this guy called Leo at MMMM who had blue plastics. I think he used them mainly for trials and they didn’t look too good. Alot of white stress marks.
I like plastic pedals for trials. I switched to lx pedals from animal hamiltons and I still haven’t switched back. My hop height has improved immensely and they give me a lot of confidence doing different gaps. I used to be all about the grip but now I can do a lot better stuff with my plastics even though there’s hardly any grip on them from pedal grabs which can are the only thing bad about them IMO and if you stick to only pedal grabbing one side, that isn’t really a problem.
I’ve done some pretty wet MUni with the twisted PCs, and I can’t recall a UPD caused by slipping on the pedals.
to make them grippier, you could just put some griptape inbetween the pins. when I get some griptape I’ll probally do that to my set of twisted PCs and try that for trials.
Just earlyer I stuck some plastics on to try some grinds and stuff. At first as you would exspect they felt weird and I couldnt land any tricks but after not long I found it easyer to do flip tricks and was landing more despite having a fraction of the grip I had on my metal pedals. The only downside is that after I went and took them down some sets they bent pretty bad
I would now also love to hear what plastics are out there that are strong, cheap and grippy. Because I think I could like them better than my metal pedals (for street).
I have ridden street and trials properly for about a year. I use plastic pedals for both, I love them for street and like them for trials. Not gonna’ lie, they aren’t good by any means in the wet, but in the dry they be al’reet. I have hopped 92cm (SIF sidehop) on them, sure my feet slipped, but tweaking your technique can help that.
Plus they are 3 pound fiddy, cheep like the budgy.
Hit me up on msn if you have anymore questions or just post here.
I should have taken your advice and gone for the blue ones. I got the black ones because my uni isnt blue anymore and the black ones were cheaper. I only put mine on today and there pretty much bust already just from taking them down a few sets, biggest of which was a 7 I think. I found them realy good for street and they grind nice. I like plastics now
What does everyone think of the odyssey Twisted Pedal PC? I am concidering geting these now.
I’ve tried plastic pedals a number of times, and never had any success with them for trials or muni. For predalgrab grip they are adequate, and kinda nice since I am opposed to damaging public property, and that’s most of what I ride on. Still, i just don’t like them at all for anything else. I’ve also noticed the platforms break much more easily. After a number of hard landings or big ups,t he plastic around the spindle weakens, and the platform sags until it feels like you’re just standing on the spindle.
I know you don’t want advice for metal pedals, but if i were you Id just get the cheapest set of unsealed, pinned pedals you can find. Before you install them, file the paint off of one side of your pedalgrab pedal and always put that side down when riding. Your pedal life will be dramatically improved.
I’ve been riding the same set of green snafu’s for 3 years using the above technique. These pedals had been used by a good trials rider for ~8 months before I got them, too. I even shattered the cage on the left pedal, re-welded it, and it’s still going (2 years later).
I don’t know about the UK, but over here snafu’s are just as cheap as odyssey PC.
I picked up a pair of Odyssey twisted plastics a couple weeks ago and rode them for (primarily) trials and a little street. They were fine at first, plenty grippy. The switch from the regular Jim C’s was noticable. But once the pins wore down they were terrible. I became really uneasy about going big because my feet were sliding around on the pedals. I know you don’t want any metal pedal suggestions…but for the record, I switched to the new Odyssey Trail Mix pedals which are only 5 ounces heavier at $35.
Hi!
Here in Brazil, i used for a long time, plastic pedals for BMX on my Trials Uni!
The biggest problem is the grip… I tried to put skateboard Sand Paper in one side of a plataform pedal… But it didn’t work well for me… The sand Paper, grips well, but i think that it’s strange to ride…
To stop breaking plastic pedals, i put one VP Trials pedal of my trials bike on my uni… It’s very close to that: 7075 Double Cage Pedal
It’s exelent to pedal grabs… But it is insane for your shins… So, you really need a shin protector to ride that… And this pedal isn’t Heavy… But it’s very limited for Trials!
Check out Kpro Stimulatorz. They’re great plastic pedals. Very strong and very grippy(for plastics) and will stay grippy for a while if you don’t do too many pedal-grabs with them.
It is all about your shoes. I will do a 3ft drop 4.5ishft over in the wet to a pallet with pc’s when I am wearing my vanz. I will not jump a 3 set in the same conditions using my orchids. Even in the wet with vans they ride true and good with orchids even in the dry my feet slip. Over all unless you want to bust ass alot doing trails metal is the way to go. When doing anything I consider hard (most would laugh at) I want a sure grip that is not going to fail. I had a really bad pedal bit with my pc’s doing trials and I still have a bruise even when I ad protection.
thanks for all the replies so far, Pedro, regarding those caged VP pedals… those are extremely commonly used pedals for biketrials riders. I even have a set on my mod bike, but I purposefully avoid using them for unis because they really do suck if you pedalgrab a lot. The cages tend to bend quite easily to be honest, unless you get the ridiculously expensive ‘7075’ alu version which is just not worth it at all to be honest…
In an ideal situation, I’d like to get myself a pair of Wellgo MG1s, but sadly, I’m poor for the time being. Cheaper option would be to get a set of extra-long pins for my Odyssey JCs… but I haven’t touched those in months because I really hate the feel of that set of pedals.
Yeah Sponge… The cage really bend very easy… I can’t say how much my VP bend in my uni, because it is from my old bike…and it’s very damaged… and i’m very lighter…
But… They Realy GRAB!
Today my dad arrived from Milan (Italy), and he bought to me a Try All Magnesium Pedal… Now i will put they on my uni and go to test them
Okay, option 2…, and last resort for this weekend’s big ride. To persuade me away from thinking that OJCs are horrid for trials, I’m trying to get super long pins for them.
Would anyone know where or any online stores that stock these on their website in the UK? I can’t really wait for places to have to order from the factory/distributor, as Odyssey and UK distribution is in a slow patch right now.
Now if only other pedals used these types of pins… so much better than crappy grubscrews!
