LOOK Cycle - KEO Blade Carbon Bike Pedals - High Performance Pedals - Powerful, Light and Aerodynamic LOOK KEO pedals with Carbon Blades, Chromoly+ Axles, Steel Bearings

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At 110 grams per pedal, this is a lightweight pedal system. But, despite being a featherweight, it’s secure and stable, so you can be confident you’re getting maximum performance when sprinting for the finish line. As a result, you’re either very much ‘in’ or very much ‘out’ and there’s no vagueness in between, whereas with the standard system there’s a short period where the rear gate is flexed open and you’re still partially engaged. The pedal platform is 67mm wide (Shimano Dura-Ace, for comparison, is just a millimetre narrower) and has a surface area of 700mm 2 meaning that the pressure is distributed over a large area and you can get plenty of support.

Of the above poiints, Look have admitedly closed the gap in recent years, adding pontoons to the cleats so you dont directly walk on the pedal / cleat mating surface as before.

Look says, "Designed to win, the new Keo Blade Carbon improves the experience associated with the use of blade technology in a clipless pedal. This new version is the result of experience gained during years of development in the heart of our manufacturing facility and to continual improvements made thanks to daily input from the greatest of champions. While weight is far from being the most important aspect of a bike component, it still matters. The cheapest Kéo, the Classic 3, weighs 350g/pr including cleats. The base-model SPD-SL pedals, PD-RS500s come in at a claimed 320g without cleats; a pair of cleats weighs 74g, so that’s 394g in total. Weather resistance has been improved thanks to an updated end plug with an o-ring washer and an internal, double-lipped seal. Certainly, no water had got inside during three decidedly wet winter months of testing.

More broadly, Cavell says, “Both SPD-SL and Look are well designed and stable pedalling platforms with a choice of float profiles to suit most riders. Not sure I see too much difference in the pedal real estate but their functionality and ‘feel’ are different enough to give a different proposition to riders.” Burt agrees, adding: “I’d say if you can ride one or the other you can ride either bio mechanically speaking — it will just be personal preference.” This comparison seems a little bias to me, but that's probably because I am a little bias the other way. Clipping in is relatively easy. As with any other pedal system, you need to get the hang of positioning your foot in the right place, but after a few rides you'll have that dialled. He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.Perhaps the biggest difference between the two systems is in how the float works and feels when you’re using cleats that provide a lot of movement. Look’s nine-degree red cleats and Shimano’s six-degree yellow cleat feel in use like they provide similar amounts of movement. However, Shimano’s cleat allows your foot to move around a point in the middle of the cleat; Look’s move around the tip. The distance between the crank and the centre of a pedal varies very little between models of clipless pedals. It’s 53mm for all Kéo pedals, and all SPD-SL pedals except Dura-Ace, which is 52mm. I made the switch for the exact same reason this year. The Faveros are fantastic pedals, but they are a pain to clip in to, just because they spin soooooo freely. Engagement and disengagement are pretty trouble-free and will be familiar to those who've used other Keo pedals; the shape of the jaws are pretty similar through the range. Unlike the coil-sprung models, the weight of this pedal isn't so concentrated at the rear, but they hang at a similar angle so it's relatively straightforward to clip in without looking, something that can be an issue with Time Xpresso pedals, for example. One thing that I really liked about the blade design is that the underside of the pedal is flatter and less treacherous than most road pedals if you put your weight on it having missed the clip-in.