Road pedals

9 replies [Last post]
Anonymous's picture
Anonymous

Many of these have a titanium spindle. Is magnesium a light material for these? Many are magnesium, some alloy.

Not many carbon ones on ebay. Is carbon much lighter than magnesium?

Anonymous's picture
An anonymous cow! (Christian Edstrom) (not verified)

Yes, magnesium is a very light metal, from which to make pedal bodies. It is not suitable for pedal spindles, so spindles are titanium, stainless steel, or CrMo alloyed steel.

There is really no meaningful way to compare the weights of carbon fibre and magnesium, without assessing the pedal as a whole.

BTW, buy pedals based on function, not material.

The most popular modern road pedals seem to be:
Shimano SPD-SL (Lance Pedal)
Look KEO
Time Impact
Speedplay X series


Anonymous's picture
kley (not verified)
time impact at sierra trading

fwiw, i noticed that sierra has the time impact pedals, in both the mag and ti flavors, on closeout.

http://www.sierratradingpost.com/Time-Sport.html

Anonymous's picture
JMF (not verified)
Magnesium is light but . . .

"Magnesium reacts slowly with water. The reaction is faster in hot water, but I have no idea about what will happen in practice with friction on a rainy day and about how they have engineered or coated this material to avoid this problem.

Mg also reacts with oxygen from the air on being heated, eg. perhaps by friction; my gut feeling is that magnesium may be less dense than but more reactive than titanium. Check on the expected lifetime of these to make sure that you are not buying ""disposable"" pedals, meant for one or two races.

http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/period3/elementsreact.html"

Anonymous's picture
"Chainwheel" (not verified)
Why?

"""Many of these have a titanium spindle. Is magnesium a light material for these? Many are magnesium, some alloy.""

I doubt that any are pure magnesium. What's the point anyway? Are you going to attempt the hour record?

I'll stick with Cr-Mo.

""Chainwheel"""

Anonymous's picture
éN (not verified)
Where are you riding?

I have high-end Look Keo /titanium spindle. These are Great pedals. However, I bought them based on material and not function. If I was riding with the Sound Cyclists in Connecticut the Keo would be a perfect fit. They drive to a start point, put on road shows, and ride off.

However, riding junk miles in Manhattan, the Keo is a Lamborghini in rush hour traffic. The Teflon cleat last a couple of months at best. Also, the floors in Penn Station and Grand Central are not Teflon friendly. So I carry clumsy cleat covers.

IMHO, Christian is right -- purchase for function. Think about junk miles and mass transit.

Anonymous's picture
Walter Lindsay (not verified)
"Excerpt ""Bicycle Metallurgy""-Magnesium"

Magnesium
One issue that needs to be addressed with this metal is the extreme problem with corrosion. Leave a magnesium part out in the rain and it will disappear faster than just about anything except unpainted steel. This problem can be overcome with proper surface treatment, like painting or anodization.

One of the intangible benefits of magnesium is that if you need to start a fire for some reason, just scrape some flakes off your dropouts, and light them up. They'll easily burn. For the mini- Hindenburg effect, just add water. The oxygen and hydrogen in the water disassociate, and party down with help from the magnesium. By the way, titanium does the same thing, but it's a little harder to get it started.

Anonymous's picture
Susan Rodetis (not verified)
cleat covers HIGHLY recommended

After skidding and almost landing several times in my derriere when attempting to do even a short walk indoors to get something whilst still in my bike shoes (SPD cleats, non-X) I have learned to carry the cleat covers in my pocket or tucked up into the bike leg and use them once I unsaddle while on a ride or before/after. Plus the least bit of dirt on the metal SPD cleats at the bottom of my shoes makes clipping and unclipping tough; so keep them clean of dirt, grass, and mud (as I rapidly found out the hard way; couldn't unclip one time; kaboom over sideways).

Best,
susan

Anonymous's picture
packfill (not verified)
buy the Lance pedal!

no cleat cover needed (covers needed for Look and Speedplay) and easier to get into than the Time

Anonymous's picture
Richard Rosenthal (not verified)
For sale: Campy Record pedals, Ti spindles. Also, new Carnacs

C. 1500 miles. C. $240 when new. Now (two years old; used on one of my two bikes): $95.


(Also new, in box, but not current model Carnac shoes, sizes 10 -10.5. Several models. $75 - $120 under retail.)

212 371-4700
[email protected]

cycling trips