Component Reviews

Are a decent pair of flat pedals good enough to convince me to switch from SPDs after 15 years? I have been a dedicated user of SPDs for 15 years, but recently ended up test riding a bike that had flats and found to my surprise I really enjoyed the experience. When I moved to SPDs it was from platform pedals with toe grips, which don't compare to modern flats, so I thought I'd give them a proper go. After finding some unused Wellgos in my spares box, I put them on the bike and found very quickly all flats are not equal. They were very different from the pair I had tried at the demo day; smaller with smaller pins and I did not get on with them. So not a great start! I had come across Superstar Components after reading a review of some of their wheels on Twitter and when I visited their site saw they had some cracking deals on flats, including their award winning Nano Techs. As they had sold out of steel axles, they were offering half price titanium upgrades - straight titanium, gold titanium or Black Ceramic coated Titanium. 8 colours are available: Red, Black, Electric Blue, Dark Blue, Gunmetal, Bright Gold, Baby Pink and Techno Lime Green. So I went for a pair of black pedals with the black ceramic coated titanium axles, which with the offer meant a total price of £59.50 with free delivery. For an extra £2.50 ceramic coating seemed silly to pass up, plus of course it meant the axles matched the pedals. Service from Superstar was excellent and the pedals arrived the day after I ordered them, nicely packaged with great warning in the box about the sharpness of the pins! The parcel even included some stickers and the now compulsory small packet of Haribo. Construction The concave body of the pedals is 105x100mm and they are only 17mm high. There are 10 allen key adjustable, replaceable pins on each side and with the titanium axles they weigh 375g. The bearings are the replaceable cartridge type. The pins screw into the pedal, rather than through, so if you are prone to smashing pins you might want to look at the through pin version. It's the same price with the same options, but 60g heavier - personally I went for the lower weight. Essentially these are factory sourced pedals sold direct by Superstar. That doesn't mean any drop in quality, just a drop in price. In fact, you will notice remarkable similarities to Nukeproof Neutron Alloy-Ti pedals, especially if you go for the Gold titanium axle. Other than the graphics, the only difference actually is the price, with the Superstars being 60% cheaper. In use Having had such a bad initial flat pedal experience on the Wellgos on a trip to the Forest of Dean, I was hoping for better from the Superstars. Ironically I had seen a pair of Nukeproof's in the FoD shop and had been tempted, till I…