For context, I bought these for a gravel bike used primarily on the road, wearing Shimano RX800 wide shoes with Silca SPD cleats, and am an old guy with sketchy knees. Have always used traditional XT/XTR pedals for this type application but wanted a more planted, road-like feel. So I pulled the trigger on a "race carbon" pair.
For me, these pedals are a huge improvement in that the shoe/cleat/pedal interface feels waaaay more planted and stable....much closer to a road feel. My sketchy knees have noticed the difference, too. Even clipping in seems easier for some reason...no more hit-and-miss (my same shoe/cleat combo). On the scale and in use, their weight and stack height are equal to or a little better than my old pedals. They are too new to judge their reliability, but so far the only downside is that I wish I'd have bought these back when they first came out.
I've been running these on my road/sometimes gravel bike since November. 2500mi and counting, no issues whatsoever. Rock solid, stable platform (bigger than most spd 2-bolt pedals) for everything from casual spins to sprinting to out of the saddle climbing. I wear Shimano RX8's with them and really like the set up - easy to put one foot down stopped at a traffic light, and I've been in a couple of situations where I had to walk for a bit and was thankful I was not running a normal road pedal/road shoe set-up. Also, imo, this set-up (carbon pedal body plus carbon shoes) make this 2-bolt style cleat set up comparable to most typical 3-bolt 'road' set-ups. I also dig the red accents at the end of the pedal axles - matches the red accents on my bike!!
Not that they cant be used for all types of riding, but I was looking for something with a stable platform, strong cleat engagement and a 2-bolt cleat that I could wear mtn shoes in case I need to dismount. These pedals have been exactly what I was looking for!
Absolutely worth the chance! I was skeptical at first, but couldn't pass it up since they were on sale. Using on my gravel bike, which is the best use in my opinion. Easy to click in, super intuitive, and plenty of float. Out of the box tension was perfect. Just get them!
I purchased these pedals because I needed some more lateral stability for my feet/knees. They definitely provide the added stability I was looking for. The pedals also seem to have considerably more float than the Shimano pedals I'm used to riding. Which I'm still getting used to. All in all, a good purchase
Will be using on my FOCUS cross bike for racing this coming year. Hit a few gravel rides as well
Put XT's on a new gravel bike and when riding on pavement the play between cleat and pedal was just a little too sloppy for a roadie like myself. Changing to the Looks tightened everything up nicely. The float remains the same without having to change cleats. With adjustable tension there's nothing not to like.
