I have a nice pair of well fitting S-Works mountain shoes which are more comfy than my road shoes. So do I buy a pair of $400 S-Works road shoes to match, or put these "gravel" pedals on my road race bike? These pedals are as light and likely lighter than most road pedals, the spindle to shoe height is as good or lower than most road pedals and the cornering clearance almost as good. You guessed it, I put gravel pedals on my TCR Advanced SL race bike and love them. My feet are comfortable, I can walk to the counter at the coffee shop without sliding. As a retired racer, I'm not going to be boo'd out of the peloton and these check all the performance boxes and double check all the comfort and practicality boxes. For reference I'm coming off Speedplay pedals and had to lower my saddle with the lower stack on these. I love them... but now they made a lighter version with Ti spindles. Hmmm?
I've been road cycling for years but want to explore some gravel riding and touring. Not wanting to mess with my position on the bike and pedals, it was nice to have the option of the shorter axle to keep the q-angle unchanged from my road pedals. The difference in stack height is less than a millimeter, so no significant change there either. There's a little more float but that's manageable. The pedals hang just right for consistent clipping in. I'm pleased with the transition, although I do miss the large contact area of my road pedals.
I've stockpiled sets of the A600s and have run them for many years. I was excited for these pedals due to the weight and my past experiences with Wolf Tooth products. When I got them, I immediately installed them on my Crux and put them into daily service.
After two or three rides, I was already convinced I could get rid of my A600s. Great engagement, solid feel and good shoe support. I raced them at Mid South 100 and they were fantastic. Getting in / out is fine despite the 1 sided nature, as easy as the A600s.
Durability is still to be determined, but the fact Wolf Tooth offers every single replacement part and stands behind the right to repair I'm optimistic. After a thousand miles, they still feel like they did on the first ride so no immediate durability concerns at all.
I've tried to use cheap off-brand replacement cleats, but they never work as well as the branded ones from Look or Garmin. These engage and disengage perfectly, as they should. The rubber padding on the bottoms is less slippery than the typical, harder plastic. I don't know yet how long they will last. For my typical training, I don't walk around that much. However, when we get into the summer with some long events, I'll be stomping around feed stops where the cleats usually get chewed up. This is also the first time I used the grey float, usually using the red. When it comes time to replace the cleats on my other road shoes, I'll go with these again.
