We have two new Velo Orange pedals as of today. Both use high quality sealed bearings. This means that the pedals require no maintenance or adjustment and the bearings will usually last longer than traditional loose balls.
The bodies of both pedals are CNC milled aluminum alloy; even the dust caps are alloy.
The Touring pedal platform is 90mm x 60mm. There are traction grips at the ends and the finish is sand blasted silver. The weight is am amazing 236gms per pair! Traditional touring pedals weigh much more, 397gms per pair for the MKS version.
The second new pedal is the VO City pedal. Its platform is 82 x 60mm and the weigh is a svelte 228gms per pair.
Both models have a small VO logo on the body. They do accept toe clips and come with snap-in reflectors. At $49 per pair we think they are a terrific deal.
There will eventually be one more VO pedal, a road-type quill pedal. Our track pedal is already available.
I hope they were worth the wait?
17 September, 2008
New VO Pedals
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25 comments:
That's a very cool design. Pedals are a place where weight matters.
I'm not so sure those are a hit with me. They look a little too agro for my tastes. I'm sure they do their job very well though.
FWIW I run mtb clipless pedals (Times) on all my bikes (road, cross, mtb, cruiser) when I want to go clipless. I know I'm not the paragon of style.
Chris,
Very nice pedals. I notice that they don't have conventional pedal wrench flats. Do you attach them with a hex wrench?
hal.
Yes; they take an Allen wrench on the inward end of the spindle.
Very nice! My foot needs the wider platform, and I like having at least a couple of nice aggressive pins.
would Power Grips work with the touring pedal?
Well, you can't please all of the people all of the time! I agree with Greg, these look too agro for me as well. I was hoping for something along the lines of the MKS touring but with sharper cages for more bite. These also look as though they will have as much or less bite than the MKS pedals.
That said, I applaud your efforts in bringing useful, new products to market at very reasonable prices.
I forsee my future Long Haul Trucker equipped with the VO city pedals. I really like that you made a model with a cage that doesn't wrap around the end of the pedal. For some reason, I tend to ride slightly bow-legged and traditional quill pedals (like the MKS Road pedal)put a lot of pressure on the outside edge of my foot and it can really start to hurt after an hour or so. Nice work, as usual.
I read the blog and I love the fact that so many great "retro" products are available. It's kind of sad that sensible cycling has to be qualified as being retro, isn't it?
About these pedals... why no wrench flats? I've had enough trouble removing stuck pedals in the past that I would be very wary of installing pedals that can only be removed with an Allen key. I need to know I could use my big old pedal wrench at some point in the future.
I've had a few bike mechanic types tell me that this is better, but I just don't get it.
The allen wrench makes it impossible to over tighten the pedal into the crank. An 8mm allen wrench is plenty long for the necessary torque and leverage to get there. There's a much greater chance of slipping off the flats with a classic pedal wrench. The deep hex on the pedal is much more secure- there's more surface area in the pedal interface that reduces slop and rocking back and forth int he hole. But you do have to relearn how to remove your pedals a little.
There is no interest from our factory to remachine the spindle with 15mm flats, unless we commit to like 50000 pairs of spindles. Velo Orange is still a little company.... Even if we did have the ego and money to back up a relatively minor design change like that, we still would not want to change that tool interface- it's worked well for Shimano, Look Crank Bros, and Time pedals for years.
No pedal wrench flats might be good for touring. Less tools to carry if you are going to box your bike up for a flight home or something.
Yes, thank you for bringing so many wonderful bicycle parts into existance. : )
IMHO, I was hoping for something more similar to the TAs. Here is why; because you CAN adjust them. and 2, because you CAN grease them. That said, a pair of MKA pedals with modified dust caps with grease ports will satisfy me just fine. : )
How do these compare in width to the MKS Touring pedals? Distamce from face of crank arm to outer edge of pedal. Thnaks
I like them... Wrench flats are silly, allen keyed is a step better but back dated also. I see it now next move torx as everything else is going to torx plus and triple square. Why must bikes be 20 years behind in the fastener department at all times?
I'm not familiar with everything that's available, but these pedals seem like a skilled piece of design, engineering and machining. I think the esthetics are great; very clean lines. Plus the textured surface might give a bit of extra grip when wearing shoes with smoother soles; I'm of the opinion that a pedal is one thing that shouldn't have a highly polished finish.
Someone mentioned Power Grips. I just installed a pair on a 15 year old pair of SR track pedals whose riveted-on cages were worn smooth and slick. Looks like they'd also mount fine on both the new VO pedals.
I don't think these pedals are so much retro as they are just plain smart.
I think that classy modern is the way forward. you've done that with the VO stem adaptor and now again with these pedals. nice work.
Thank you for answering my question about why no wrench flats. I guess I can understand the economics of it.
I should point out that I was not suggesting it should be either allen or wrench flats. I like to have both on the pedal.
Wrench flats are for dinosaurs. It's the one thing that sucks about MKS pedals - they still have the flats but no hex hole in the end.
And I've never had a pedal in so tight that I couldn't get it out with a hex key. Pedals don't need to be tightened much at all as mechanical procession keeps em in place (why else is the left pedal left hand threaded?).
Trying again with better grammer, how do these compare dimensionally to the MKS Touring? Thanks
Rob, They are pretty close to the MKS Touring pedals in size. The MKS pedals are maybe 2mm wider and the around 3mm longer overall.
anonyme a dit...
"I've had enough trouble removing stuck pedals in the past that I would be very wary of installing pedals that can only be removed with an Allen key."
I had a similar problem, on a pedal with wrench flats. The solution was one of my favorite gleanings from the late Sheldon Brown. If alloy (the crank) is stuck to steel (the pedal axle), drip a little household ammonia into the joint. My pedals loosened up in a few seconds. Then of course when you reassemble it put a little grease on the threads so it doesn't get stuck again.
Are the holes in the city pedal for traction pins?
So wrench flats are for dinosaurs, eh? Well, they say that about threaded headsets and lots of other things that are no longer fashionable on bikes but which many of us think were preferable to today's offerings. I even ride with of all things, a thin metal bottle cage on my lugged steel frame. When you have ridden long enough in all kinds of conditions, it's amazing how tight even a well-greased pedal can get.
I don't get it -- pedal wrenches are obsolete? I've never seen a pair of pedals without them. My old race bike, my new race bike, my SO's race bike -- all have modern pedals and all require pedal wrenches.
Respectfully, not so sure these are a hit with me either. A paucity of the sexy clean lines that VO usually does so well on. They just look a little woodchuck-ish to my eye. Besides, the best kind of pedals for a city bike seem to me to be BMX platform pedals, because they have little studs that hold your foot in place quite well. You can easily find 'em in silver too if that's your pref.
I've installed these pedals on two of my bikes. I love them: I can ride with or without clips, and with just about any kind of shoe.
I would've liked a flick tab on the cages. Then again, I use a reflector on the non-clip side, which makes getting into the clip a bit easier.
I am of the opinion that pedals are the best place for sealed bearings. That, and everything else about these pedals, shows me that they're well thought-out. Thanks!
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