Look X-Track Gravel Pedals

What you see here is a limited edition gravel version of Look's X-Track entry-level off-road pedals. Other than the colour there is little to differentiate them from the standard mountain bike version, which is fine, as they offer a wide platform and solid cleat retention. They aren't a bad price either.

The gravel market is growing so it's no surprise to see some companies branding existing mountain biking products as gravel-specific. This is exactly what Look has done here, taking its X-Track pedal designed for cross-country and giving it a bronze paintjob. It's not trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, though, it's more to do with promoting Look's latest range of gravel bikes.

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The X-Track is a good pedal anyway, and totally suitable for a bit of adventure riding or cyclo-cross, and they even work well for road use too.

With a platform area of 350mm² there is plenty of material for you to push against to get the power down, and this also reduces pressure points compared to pedals with much smaller footprints. This is what makes them good on the road and when you get to faster sections of gravel.

The X-Tracks come with adjustable tensioning for the cleat mechanism, which can go from 6Nm up to 14Nm – a good range, I found. It's all controlled by a small hex bolt marked with +/- which is easy to tweak out on the trail.

I mostly had it set about mid-way but if I found myself on an unknown, rocky section of gravel with plenty of descents it would literally take a couple of minutes to tweak before heading off again.

Look supplies the pedals with cleats, as you'd expect, but the pedals are also compatible with SPD variants. The standard cleats give you 6 degrees of float, which takes the strain off your knees.

The main body is aluminium, paired with a chromoly spindle and double sealed bearings. This all adds up to a weight of 392g (447g including cleats) per pair, so they aren't exactly light.

Weight isn't everything, though, especially when it comes to gravel riding – I'd happily sacrifice an extra few grams for the robustness that these pedals show.

Weather conditions have swapped from wet and muddy at the start of the test period to warm and dry at the end, so the biggest challenge has been dealing with dust rather than water, but the bearings certainly haven't been grumbling, although it is early days.

The X-Track Gravel pedals cost just £40 (exactly the same as the mountain bike ones) which isn't a bad price, especially considering the overall quality.

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They are 40g heavier than the Shimano M540 SPD pedals but a fair chunk cheaper than the M540s' £62.99 price tag.

Perhaps a closer comparison would be Shimano's M520s, last reviewed by us in 2011, which now have an rrp of £39.99 and a similar weight to the Looks.

Other pedals with a large platform are the Crankbrothers Candy 1 which are quite light but don't offer adjustable tension and are still more pricey at £56.

Overall, the Look X-Track Gravel pedals are really good for gravel riding, and the limited edition bronze finish does look pretty cool. They aren't the lightest out there, but everywhere else they perform very well indeed without costing a huge amount in the first place.

Verdict

Solid and durable gravel/off-road pedals that won't break the bank