Platform Pedal Shootout

Platform Pedals are ubiquitous to the fat-bike scene. When I started riding fat-bikes, I ditched the spd pedals that I’d ridden for years and enjoyed the foot loose and fancy free platform pedal cycling lifestyle from there forward. I still run spuds on some of my bikes, but I run platforms on just as many, including my fat bikes. During peaks in the parade of test bikes that come through the shop, there’s often-times the need for an extra set or two of pedals.

A couple of seasons back, we started to use the RaceFace Chester as our go-to platform. They click a lot of the boxes that make a good winter fat-bike pedal. Composite Pedal Body – Cartridge Bearings – Replaceable Metal Grip-Pins – Large Platform Area – Rad Colors. The reason that we have a couple of sets of these pedals is that they’re a good value at around $50 (and they come n black). So the Chesters have become the incumbent shop pedal. I run them on both Ten Beers and a variety of test bikes.

I’m always on the lookout for a sexy new pair of platforms and the three challengers in today’s platform pedal shootout run the gamut from a Chester clone (Fooker) to an alloy platform (Chromag Contact) to a extra large composite platform (OneUp Components). Let’s take a look starting with the OG RaceFace Chester.

RaceFace Chester

Back in 2016 we published a review of the RaceFace Chester. This is what our product tester, Evan, had to say about Chester.

It’s a great feeling to know your pedal is biting into your boots because that’s just one less thing to think about while on a blissful ride. I loved the fact that when I needed to hike-a-bike I was able to jump right back on and go, no snow or ice clogging anything up (cough-cough-clipless). I love simplicity that works well and Chester hits the nail on the head. It’s just a nylon pedal right? Wrong! It’s the most important part of your drivetrain if you ask me. What good is a flat pedal that doesn’t hold your foot in place? If you’re looking for a great set of flats that don’t take money away from your beer funds, go pick up a set of Chesters and give them a shot. Grab your favorite color and plant your foot with confidence. I give the Raceface Chester Pedals 5 out of 5 shrunken heads

That’s some pretty strong praise from one of my favorite cousins and I agree with every word, from my past experiences riding Chesters.

The Numbers

• BODY MATERIAL: Nylon composite body
• AXLE MATERIAL: Chromoly steel
• HEIGHT: 15mm – 18.4mm
• PLATFORM SIZE: 110mm x 101mm
• WEIGHT: 181 g (single pedal)
• # of PINS: 16 SHCS hex traction pins per pedal (8 per side)
• BEARINGS: Cartridge bearings and DU bushings (100% rebuildable)
• Color: Black, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red

Price – $50

For more information visit – http://raceface.com/

OneUp Components Composite Pedal

One Up Components (not to be confused with 1UpUSA) is a Canadian bike component maker that was founded by some folks that used to work at RaceFace. They make some really innovative items in addition to their pedals. I learned about their EDC pump during my trip up to Alaska and purchased both the pedals and the EDC pump along with the integrated EDC tool kit with CO2 storage soon after. I wanted a set of brand new pedals, to eliminate that component as the prime suspect in finding out what was making Ten Beers creak like an old pirate ship. (It turned out to be the RaceFace Cinch chainring interface that was creaking) I really like these pedals. They’re flat black with no printed graphics. The One Up logo is molded into the composite pedal body. This pedal has the largest platform area that should work very well with winter boots.

The Numbers

• Body Material: Nylon Composite
• Axle Material: Black Chromoly steel
• Height: 18.5mm (13.3 at the leading edge)
• Platform Size: 115x105mm
• Weight – 184 g (single Pedal)
• # of Pins: 10 per side
• Bearings: Cartridge bearings and DU bushings (100% rebuildable)
• Color: Stealth Black, Red, Blue, Orange

Price – $49

Chromag Contact

The Chromag Contacts came into our pedal sphere for a review of the Salsa Blackborrow Mid-Tail Adventure/Cargo bike a couple years back. I hate to admit that they might have been an inpulse purchase based on them matching the Lexus metallic bronze of that particular test bike. Today they reside on a Salsa El Mariachi LE singlespeed where the brown anno harmonizes with the rootbeer and cream paint scheme.

The Contacts are the only alloy pedal in the shootout. Since they’re not currently mounted on a fat-bike, there’s not much worry of them transmitting cold temperatures to my feet. The general understanding is that composite pedals are better for winter temperatures. I’m afraid that the contacts are no longer available in this colorway, but they’re now offered in a splendid array of colors.

The Numbers

• Body Material: Aluminium
• Axle Material: Chromoly steel
• Height: 18.5mm (13mm at the center)
• Platform Size: 105x105mm
• Weight – 204 g (single Pedal)
• # of Pins: 8 per side
• Bearings: Cartridge bearings (100% rebuildable)
• Color: Gun Metal, Purple, Black, Red, Blue, Orange

Price – $145 Canadian

For more information visit – https://chromagbikes.com/

Fooker

With a name like Fooker, I just couldn’t resist clicking on the ‘Buy Now’ button on Amazon. Fooker is an eBay/Amazon brand that makes a pedal that looks so much like a Chester that it feels like it should be illegal. They’re an Amazon Chester knock-off that’s a few grams lighter and twenty bucks cheaper than the real McCoy. These bad boys are bolted to an Asylum Cycles Hank that I ride to dirt church on Sundays (probably blasphemy). I bought them because of the sophomoronic name, but they’ve been running smooth on my klunkedelic singletrack forrays. Pedals take a severe beating and singlespeeding puts a ton of torque on the pedals. Time will tell if these things will last.

The Numbers

• BODY MATERIAL: Nylon composite body
• AXLE MATERIAL: Chromoly steel
• HEIGHT: 15mm – 18.4mm
• PLATFORM SIZE: 110mm x 101mm
• WEIGHT: 177 g (single pedal)
• # of PINS: 16 pins per pedal (8 per side)
• BEARINGS: Cartridge bearings and DU bushings (100% rebuildable)
• Color: Black, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red

Price – $30

For more information visit – Fooker Pedals

The Findings

When it comes to pure numbers, I don’t think that there’s another bike component that presents as many choices as platform pedals. This pedal shootout barely scratches the surface of what’s available in the market today. The plethora of pedal choices, just makes the process of figuring out which pedal that you should buy all the more confusing. Hopefully this can provide some clarity in one corner of the platform pedal court.

We started the shootout by telling you that the Chesters were our go-to pedal. I’m not sure that has changed, to be honest. A few grams difference (up or down) or a slightly wider platform….or a twenty dollar discount aren’t really enough to knock the proven performance of the Chesters off of the top spot on the podium. I’d be shocked if the Fookers last as long as a set of Chesters and I know that there’s no chance that Fooker has any kind of real or serviceable warranty. The One-Ups seem great at this point but how will they hold up to a full year of abuse? As far as the shootout goes at this point, I’m pretty happy with how all four of these platforms are working at the moment. No complaints at all. Just fun with bikes…every day!