I will admit it, I am a pedal snob. I have big feet, like to ride in Keens, and hate little tiny pedals that only support out to my middle toe. It always feels like my foot is about to roll off of the ends. When I am looking at a new pedals the distance from the crank arm to the outer edge of the pedal is a big deal for me. I have tried clipless systems, but found that the gains were not worth the need for an extra pair of shoes in most of the ways and places that I ride. Most modern platform pedals are not really that wide, and off I went into the depths of vintage pedals. My bread and butter has been the Sakae Low Fat, wider than the current MKS touring it has been a good pedal for me. It works easily with clips and straps or naked for shorter rides with lots of stops and starts. The downsides are weight, bulk and the general in-elegance of the clunky pedals on classically styled road bikes. Enter my latest acquisition along this quest:
I recently scored a near new set of Specialized touring pedals. Their MKS lineage is pretty clear. They are as wide as my Low Fat MTB pedals, 30g lighter each, and look a whole lot prettier than most of today’s pedal offerings. While nice they had some shortcomings out of the box. The toe strap arrangement, appears ingenious, but does not really work in the real world. The strap makes its upward turn at the outer edge right into the bottom of my foot. Off to the drawing board, I came back and turned my MKS large/deep toe clips into a new set of half clips. This is my first set of half clips, so time will tell how they work out. I made each a little different to see if, well if it makes any difference in function.
For now these will be going on my Roadeo, to get me motivated to put some miles on it while I am waiting for the Masu production samples. I will let you know how it is going in a week or so.