In the last few years there’s been a big resurgence of flat pedal use amongst trail riders, and I’ll freely admit to being a flat pedal evangelist. Flat pedals help make you a better rider by highlighting the shortcomings in your technique, as well as offering a faster bailout when things go pear-shaped. To coincide with their increasing popularity, we’ve also seen improvements in flat pedal design, and Race Face’s Atlas pedal typifies the upper end of current flat pedal technology.
Available in four anodised colours, our test set hit the scales 5g
below spec at 350g – that’s as light or lighter than plenty of clipless pedals.
It’s all the more impressive when you realise that the pedal axle is made from
chromoly steel and each pedal runs on four sealed bearings – no bushings are
used on the Atlas pedals. The price of $199 might seem exorbitant but many
riders wouldn’t even think twice about paying that for a top-end pair of
clipless pedals, and Race Face does offer the cheaper Aeffect pedals for those
on a tighter budget.
So what do you get for your dollars? It has to be said that you
actually get quite a lot of serious design and engineering in the Atlas pedals.
First up, they use 10 back-loading traction pins per side; if you trash a pin
they’re easily removed from the opposite side – there’s even a spare pin hidden
in the end of each axle.
They’re also very thin; between 12 and 14.5mm depending on where you
measure them. Thin pedals get your foot closer to the axle centreline, which
not only makes pedalling more efficient, but also helps to stop the pedal
spinning under your foot. The Atlas’ use a double concave design, so they taper
from front to back and left to right to help keep your feet centred and stable.
To further enhance this effect, the front and back pins also angle slightly
inwards, so both the pedals inherent shape, plus the pins, are working to keep
your foot where you put it. But wait, there’s more! The pedals come supplied
with thin washers, which you can put behind the pins to effectively shorten
them by a millimetre or two. By fitting these washers to the three mid-mounted
pins, I managed to increase front-rear concavity even further!
LIKE VELCRO
When combined with a decent pair of flat-pedal specific shoes, the net
result is a truly foot grabbing level of traction and stability. During several
months on the Atlas pedals I’ve never found them wanting for grip, and I’ve
never rolled a pedal. The platform is 114mm long by 101mm wide, which is plenty
big enough for all but the most massive of hooves. Being wider at the front and
narrower at the rear, plus having the outer leading edge heavily chamfered,
I’ve found them to be much less prone to pedal strikes than the platform dimensions
would have you think. Sure they’ve still got a few scrapes, and the anodising is
starting to rub off a little from contact with my soles, but overall they’re
looking very good considering how much they’ve been ridden. The bearings are
still super smooth and the axles straight, but it’s nice to know that Race Face
make both bearing and axle kits for when things get worn out or damaged.
Out of the box, one of our test pedals had 1-2mm of lateral play; it
isn’t enough to affect how they function and it goes unnoticed in the rough, but
when pedalling on smooth ground I could feel and hear the pedal sliding along
the axle. It hasn’t become any worse and apparently Race Face has resolved the
issue with tighter manufacturing tolerances and improved quality control.
Prospective owners will also need to ensure they have a set of pedal
washers on hand; if installed without them, the large inboard bearing on the Atlas’s
can jam against your crank arms and prevent the pedals from spinning. This design
can also cause issues if you ever shuttle your bike on a trailer that utilises
crankmounted bike stands – there’s next to no gap between the inner pedal
bearing and the crank arm, so it mightn’t slot into place.
These issues aside, Race Face has done a brilliant job with the new
Atlas pedals. They’re light, they’re thin, they’re strong, and they’re as
grippy as you’re ever going to need. Add the ability to fine-tune the pin
lengths plus the availability of rebuild kits, and it’s easy to justify the price.
There are a lot of cheap flat pedals on the market, but there are very, very
few as good the new Atlas; highly recommended for all you flat pedal fans out
there!
