Are you guys tired of using Shimano SPD pedals?
I've been using these for quite a while and
in this pandemic times chances are not necessarily that you are sick of them
but you can't really find them.
But you know what? LOOK is giving us some options
and in this video I'm going to take a quick look at the X-TRACK Race carbon pedals.
And because these LOOK pedals are pretty much the equivalent of an regular XT SPD
I have a set of M8100s here so the latest generation Shimano, let's see these side by side!
The 8100s from Shimano are the Race pedals and they are designed for cyclocross and cross country
and the LOOK carbons are designed for cross country as well.
Some of their marketing, they're feather light at 170 grams per,
they have a large surface area and the body of these is made out of carbon.
Yes these are MTB clipless pedals and here on the side they're going to tell you what's in the box.
Surprise, surprise, you get two pedals and two cleats
and LOOK calls them X-TRACK cleat.
The beauty of these ones is that they are fully compatible with the Shimano cleats
so what they are calling here SM-SH51 single release cleat.
That would be the equivalent of their X-Track cleats.
If you're new to SPD or cleats I always recommend to start with these multi-release cleats, the SM-SH56, the silver ones
and again those would be fully compatible with the LOOK pedals
and LOOK has their own multi-release, they would be called X-TRACK Easy cleat.
If you like digital information just scan that QR code to get to their site however
if you just flip this over you're gonna get pretty much everything you need to know here on the back,
not only the series of pedals that they offer and you can see their race pedals, they actually have quite a few,
not just the carbon ones that I have here.
They also have the trail versions of these, kind of mimicking what Shimano is offering
with the only caveat that Shimano only has one offering here and one offering here in the m8120s.
Interestingly even for warranty registration you have a QR code here
at one end of the box make sure you take full advantage of that.
And as you slide this sleeve off,
Ta daaa!
here are the two pedals, again QR codes everywhere and a clear mention that the cleats are underneath.
On the Shimano yes, the tiny label tells you to use them only with Shimano cleats
and if you take this out here is a pair of cleats, again these are single release, the black ones, SM-SH51.
The surface of these LOOK pedals is definitely bigger,
I know Shimano usually calls this increase contact surface pretty much every generation they launch out there.
In this case they kind of aimed for that extra support here on the sides
you can see the contact patch here and here on the LOOK pedals
as opposed to this tiny spot in this area on the XT pedals.
And underneath you're gonna find a set of cleats, these would be the equivalent of SH51 single release cleats.
Shimanos are all metal and they seem sturdy
I actually have a full video looking at these in details
I'm going to link it up in the corner.
As opposed to that the LOOK pedals feel plasticky
because of all this carbon body also you have - this is a plastic plug like a seal here at the end,
and the axle is actually pretty thick reminds me of the cheaper Shimano M520s
So not bad looking otherwise, they seem to be clearly mud probably similar to the Shimano,
you see the openings here all around the mechanism.
These axles roll on ball bearings, both pedals have 2 ball bearings here inside
and they do seem pretty smooth straight out of the box.
Shimano also give you more information here on the spindle
that's nowhere to be found on the LOOK pedals.
Actually I don't even know where these are manufactured because that's not written anywhere.
Both of these use steel axles but if I measure this axle length
I think the Shimanos are maybe 3 millimeters or longer than the LOOK pedals
Look at this,
about 3 millimeters longer so
I don't know if that's gonna matter to you
obviously this would be a narrower Q- factor, might be good for racing,
I don't know if that would make such a big difference.
Stack height of these pedals can be important
and we have 19.65 mm on the LOOK
and Shimano is about 18.1 mm so 1.5 mm stack height difference between the two
I doubt you would notice that in normal riding.
Just like the Shimano you can use a 3 millimeter Allen to adjust the cleat tension
and you have the clicking action, again this mechanism seems to be identical with the one used by the Shimano.
Always remember to adjust both sides of the pedal to the same number of clicks.
And just like the Shimano XT they provide you with 6 degrees of float
so the ability of your shoe to move left and right a little bit
without unclipping which is very important for mountain biking.
The Shimano XT race pedals plus a set of cleats is 398 grams
without the cleats is 342g for the pair.
The LOOK feather light approach means 175 grams per pedal so 350g for two.
If I add the cleats, 405 grams,
so we're talking 5 grams between the Shimano XT and these
so weights shouldn't be a deciding factor.
Installation shouldn't be a deciding factor either because they are both installed the same way
8 millimeter hex key and you're good to go.
However the Shimano identify the reverse threaded left pedal with these cuts right here at the very end of the spindle
I couldn't find that anywhere on the LOOK pedals
actually these are supposed to have an "O" here on the axle of the left pedal which I couldn't find.
But after you put some grease on the threads just
find the pedal that would thread onto your crank towards the front and that would be the left pedal.
Both pedals will rotate towards the front like this when you're tightening them up.
You can see this one, the left petal not being righty tidy, this is lefty tidy okay
By the way LOOK recommends tightening these up to 24 Nm
which is quite a bit less than what Shimano recommends.
And after using the LOOK pedals for this season I can tell you that we absolutely love them!
Also compared to the Shimano they seem to retain the cleat better, especially when used with the multi-release cleats the SM-SH56.
And I'm not talking about the cleat tension but I'm talking about just the overall ability of these pedals just to
hold it better, especially on rough terrain jumps or things like that.
So what do you guys think? Have you ever used LOOK pedals
or you're just sticking with the true and tested Shimano?
Let me know in the comments below!
If you found this video useful don't forget to like, subscribe, comment,
and until next time hope to see you folks on the trails.
Cheers guys, cheers!