Review: Look S-Track Pedals

Over the past several years I have been riding some kind of pedal from the Crank Brothers, the company out of Laguna Beach, California, that revolutionized the world of mountain and cyclocross pedals.

With a stiff enough shoe sole, a good set of mountain pedals can work just fine with road riding, and I liked the idea of having one set of good, walkable shoes to share between my road and CX bikes.

I liked the idea of Crank Brothers. I wanted their products to work as advertised. They were innovative and practical. They were diminutive and elegant.... or at least as elegant as you can get in the world of mountain bike pedals --a world defined by the massively utilitarian Shimano M520 series.

I wanted so bad for the Eggbeaters and Candies to live up to the ad copy.

They didn't.

My expensive, high-end Eggbeater 3s started to fall apart after a year of ROAD riding. The replacement Candy SL pedals failed on consecutive days after about a week of riding. I was given a replacement set of Candy pedals for NT1000, but I had put enough pieces of the puzzle together to realize that Crank Brothers and their shoddy construction were causing me more time off the bike than they were worth.

That nagging knee pain that had cost me so dearly over the course of a year... it coincided with my purchase of the eggbeaters. I had my suspicions, but there were so many variables. As the eggbeaters loosened and unclipped with a mere pull, my riding changed. I could no longer trust my equipment.



I really didn't want to buy new pedals and new shoes for my pedals, so I was looking for a light weight, high performance mountain bike pedal that was radically different from the Crank Brothers offerings... with a design aesthetic that I could live with on a beautiful titanium road bike as well as my orange CX bike.

That is when I discovered Look's new pedal: The S-Track.

The Look S-Track pedal seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

The Look S-Track is a completely redesigned pedal from the Look Quartz that was shamed from the brand for its numerous failures and complications. The S-Track supposedly is the result of a company having learned some hard and costly lessons.

Although the spring engagement looks similar to that of the Quartz, the mechanism and cleat have been redesigned and are therefore not compatible. The "S" in S-Track stands for the S-shaped spring that holds the cleat in place.

Look has three iterations of the S-Track pedal to choose from:

• S-Track (142g)

• S-Track Race (145g)

• S-Track Carbon-Ti (122g)

The difference between the three are construction materials and weight. 

For practical purposes I went with the low-end S-Track pedal so I wouldn't feel too bad if I hated it or if it broke after a week. 

I have been riding the Look S-Track pedals for about six weeks and, in the short term, I give them a huge endorsement over the Crank Brothers pedals. I have taken them on a few rough hill climbs, wet weather and hard mashing. 

According to the company, the S-Track pedals have a larger spindle and thus offers more surface area (460mm2) and thus greater support.

I am cautious to buy into marketing science, and most modern shoes are stiff enough to turn the entire sole into a platform. I always use the example of an aluminum bat and a needle. If you push your hand against the bat it is fine. If you push into a needle it hurts like hell. The difference is that the bat has a larger area to displace energy. The same goes for a pedal. With solid soles the energy should be dispersed over the entire sole... regardless of spindle size. Still, the S-Track pedals felt far more comfortable than the Crank Brothers system.



Usually I try to check my bias between something better and something new. With the S-Track pedals I felt a more solid connection to the pedal. I did not feel loose or shaky in while clipped in. The feeling was of being suctioned in place.

The Crank Brothers feel rickety and unsure. I could feel a lag under each pedal stroke as the pedal caught up with the cleat. Side by side they make the Crank Brothers look obsolete and clumsy.

The Looks took some time to get used to clipping in. They are a little harder than the Crank Brothers, and I can only clip in on two sides as opposed to four, but the connection is sure every time. I know I am in. Often with the Crank Brothers I found myself searching for the snap. I had always assumed the looseness was in how quickly the cleats wore down. Apparently it was simply the pedals loosening up after a couple hundred kilometers.

The S-Track cleats and screws are solid. They feel robust enough to last. My first set of Crank Brothers cleats had to be taken off with a hacksaw after I had stripped them over the course of a week while I tuned my position. It made me reluctant to mess with them. The screws were so soft they would warp with every turn of the hex wrench.



My greatest endorsement comes from the fact that my knee pain has miraculously disappeared. Before, it would go away for a while, but then ebb back as I started to practice my climbing. It was frustrating to say the least and really held me back at times I could have done some amazing things on the bike. I will never get those lost moments back. Nor will I get back those months out of the saddle.

I am so relieved to have discovered the root of my problem and put Crank Brothers and their pedals behind me.

Now, I worry if the plastic will last, and having bought the lowest-end of the series, if I should have gotten a more robust race model.

Another concern is that the S-Track pedals are not available everywhere.

As far as an initial report, these pedals deserve the attention of anyone considering Crank Brothers. These are a better pedal.

I am relieved to find how well they are working for me and I can't wait to readjust back to a normal riding cadence now that I do not have to fear the upstroke and a potential disengagement. I am relieved my knee doesn't hurt. I am relieved to have found a seemingly great pedal.

With the good feelings from my knees, I can easily make a solid recommendation for the S-Track. Crank Brothers should really invest in engineering pedals that can last. I can't believe they are expected to be used off road or in foul weather. They couldn't even handle dry road riding. 

Stay tuned and see how well the Looks fare over the long term.

June 6, 2013 UPDATE:

Although the pedals were less a part of my knee issues than I thought, things did improve with the S-Track pedals. 

What I really notice after a period of use, is how well the pedal body and cleat look after some regular riding and even walking around on pavement. My shoes are getting old, and the rubber has warn down, so more of the cleat comes in contact with the road when I dismount. My Crank Brothers pedals always looked as if they'd aged 5 years over the course of the first week out of the box. The brass cleats would always chip and wear as soon as they were exposed to outside air. The pedals fared no better. They'd loosen up after about a month or two. 

The Look S-Track pedals are as tight today as they were new. The cleats look new, save for a little wear on the refillable rubber grips. There is a bit of wear on the plastic mud guards, but very little cosmetic damage. 

The pedals stick to the cleat during the entire motion of the pedal stroke. The CBs tended to get sloppy. There are no hot spots or other issues. 

The engagement is a bit easier now. Very intuitive. 

I couldn't ask for more. 

Taiwan Cycling: A Shining Example?

The Vancouver Sun had an interesting piece in which the writer uses Taiwan as a model for Vancouver. The author raises some good points, but risks over-idealizing Taiwan's cycling environment in his pitch to his Canadian readers.

The government seized the opportunity to offer incentives to build "bike parks" around the island. These are scenic rural tourist destinations replete with paved paths, tea houses, bike rental stations, ponds and bridges, and picnic spots. There are now dozens of such bike parks all over that country, and one can only wish some clever folks would build something like them in Canada.

"Bike hotels" are springing up replete with drive-thru lobbies, wash and repair rooms, cycling instructors and rentals. You can ride your bike right into your room and hang it on the wall. Paved bike paths and bridges are popping up everywhere in rural Taiwan. It's a recreation revolution.

While there are more cycling projects in Taiwan than ever before designated for cycling recreation, at best Taiwan's current cycling situation might be similar to having dozens of beautiful islands separated by shark infested waters and nary a boat in sight. The hotel he describes is the Yoho Bike Hotel near Heng Chun in Pingtung County. He also fails to delve into the quality or purpose for many of these trails and leaves it to the reader to imagine an ideal, when in fact, there are tremendous problems with traffic flow, speed limits and the quality of construction.

You can ride to the market, school, library, between towns, to the beach, all on smooth paved recreational paths than don't allow motorized vehicles or pedestrians.

The idea of interconnectivity may be stretching it a bit. I know people who opt for taking a taxi everywhere to simply stay off the dangerous roadways.

Politically speaking, the end result is that most Taiwanese are now in favour of spending yet more taxpayers' money on much more cycling infrastructure. Building safe and separated bike paths and dedicated overpasses costs money, and in urban areas that means lots of money. Simply painting an imaginary line on the pavement is not enough to encourage most beginner cyclists to start jousting with heavy metal.

I do take some exception with the paragraph above. I have yet to see the government directly engage citizens in transportation policy. Most bike lane projects seem to be directives issued from the Executive Yuan or township chiefs with a special budget allotted to them from the central government. This is often where we see bike lane funds misspent on painted sidewalks and crumbling tiled paths. The Taipei City government even voted against spending more funds on rebuilding the disastrous Dunhua Rd. bike lanes. 

I understand the writer is trying to instigate progress in Vancouver's cycling infrastructure by leveraging it against Taiwan's. Unfortunately, by heralding Taiwan's cycling policy without due balance, the interests of the citizens of Vancouver are not being served. While Taiwan makes a conveniently distant example to draw from, there may be better examples a bit closer to home.

Portland, Oregon may be one of the best cycling cities in the world, and it is within a day's drive from Vancouver. It may be more worthwhile to ask for some advice from other cities in the Pacific Northwest, than trying to use selected examples from Taiwan, which is still struggling with its own traffic culture and with the conflicted interests of the state and other political actors who benefit from the current direction of recreational cycling policy.


Also:

• Taichung Cycle and the Formosa 900 will be held simultaneously next year. 

• Giant's Tony Lo advocates Taiwan's "economic integration"(Read: economic and political unification with a large, belligerent neighbor) to ensure its economic viability. Shock Doctrine!!! It is no secret that Lo is politically aligned with the ruling KMT. It is a shame to see his company exploit Taiwanese national pride for profits while selling the nation downriver. Quote: "Lo said Taiwan needs to integrate into regional markets as soon as possible so local firms can enjoy the trading privileges that other nation’s companies do, such as tariff exemptions." This is a familiar talking point repeated by the KMT in their drive to ratify the ECFA agreement (in which bicycle makers were an early beneficiary). Of course, since ECFA was signed there have been no FTAs to date and ECFA has had almost no positive effect on the nations economy or regional competitiveness. 

• The City Fix publishes a strange piece detailing the resurgence of cycling in China and Taiwan. I can't for the life of me figure out why the two countries are being discussed in the same piece as they are two separate states that, naturally, would have different policies and political cultures. It seems random in the least. You might find a better corollary in comparing the UK and India. 

• Sir Chris Hoy, the Olympic gold winning track cyclist from the UK was caught up in the little tremor we had last week. Apparently, Hoy was in Taichung checking up on his new self-branded frames and was given a proper Taichung welcome. Hoy also has some family history on Taiwan. 

Taipei Cycle 2013: A Post Mortem Post

I was recently in Taipei doing my best to take in the entirety of the Taipei Cycle exhibition. The sheer magnitude of hardware on display is a bit overwhelming and there is precious little time to see or meet with everyone on the show floor.

In my capacity as editor of TiC, I swept through the event looking for a peek into the future and for an opportunity to speak with exhibitors regarding their own impressions of their products, the industry, and  Taipei Cycle, in a search for any trail of breadcrumbs that might lead me to some sort of narrative.

For many companies Taipei Cycle is an automatic calendar date in the yearly trade show cycle that requires compulsory attendance simply because it is on the calendar. They go through the motions and begin packing up around noon on Saturday, several hours before the show closes. Other companies work the floor until the power is pulled at 3:00pm.


Refined Carbon 

Many of the exhibitors I spoke with felt the show was about going through the motions without much to buzz about. There were a few experimental designs and unorthodox ideas, but many of the deals had either already been cut or were set to be finalized in Taichung. Taipei is merely a formality before the real business is waged around Taichung's cycling industrial centers in and around Taichung. A few industry types I talked to felt Taipei Cycle was more of a hassle being so far removed from the fabrication and finishing locations where designs can become reality and brands can lock down their product lines.

Are Taichung Bike Week and Taipei Cycle redundant? There have been some plans to move Taipei Cycle to July, but this may be less favorable to the European companies who seem to enjoy coming to Taiwan for a respite in the weather. A move would also place the event at the beginning of the development cycle ahead of Taichung Bike Week, where the earliest models and innovations from OEM/ODMs are being pitched and picked up for branding/rebranding.


Keith Bikes in Hualien

The Carbon Revolution Continues:

One thing that was on full display was the far reaching touch of the "Carbon Revolution" in the shape and form of countless composite products freshly branded or, in many cases, still sporting the your-name-here logo of the OEM.


Keith's Expanded Inventory

I'll call it a revolution in that composite technology has matriculated throughout the industry allowing prices to drop while retaining a higher profit margin. This has allowed more OEMs to provide more frames and components to a greater number of buyers with lower yields to become profitable.

In a sense there is something strangely proletarian about the present and future of composite technology, which is often still regarded with the reverence of the elite. Has carbon become the new aluminum? 


Alloy 

One look on the 5th floor's display of the spinelessly political "Cross-Strait Exhibitors" section of Chinese OEMs made it clearly evident that any gimmicky mold can be locked down and patents issued if the price is right.


Taokas

The sheer number of OEMs looking for interested brands has increased competitiveness and allowed several small brands to incorporate composites into their product line.

Many companies assist in making minor changes to a general product to increase the possibility of receiving the necessary patents to sell internationally.

It can often seem that there are about three designers of OEM composite frames, numerous instances of mixed and matched tube shaping, and several more imitators.



It is becoming easier and easier for small brands to gain access to an assortment of OEM frames and components allowing these small brands to seemingly spring up from nowhere with multiple models and branded components that would have taken massive capital investment and teams of experts several years of working in-house to produce a brand from the bottom up.



The rise of the "Carbon Revolution" really gets to the heart of the brand and branding.

With so many composite OEM products out there, there is an overwhelming feeling of "meh" that was palpable at Taipei Cycle. The differences between products can seem slightly cosmetic at best.

The brands step in and supply the image, the story, the warranty, and do the work of seeking out dealers and distributors.

Some brands have even sprung from already established sporting goods companies that decided to use the OEM as a means to diversify a product line. 

It is taking far less capital (if any) in R&D or production to launch a line of hubs, wheels, stems, frames,  bars or anything else. The capital is spent on sourcing, branding and marketing. With the right coat of paint, a catchy name, and a ton of advertising money, your small operation could produce the next "super bike"in the pro peloton (don't think this hasn't already happened). The claims of ultimate stiffness and superior design elements I take with a grain of salt.

The idea of the proletarian nature of a carbon future both bothers me, and strangely intrigues me. I really have nothing against carbon, only against the marketing claims and stunts that really have more to do with selling pseudoscience and precious little to do with actual cycling. 

I remember back when marketing departments were convincing consumers that our lives would be fundamentally changed if we got our toothpaste from a pump. And it worked for a little while... but now we're still using the old fashioned tube. I often feel that way about the marketing that goes into bicycles. 




Meetings

The importance of Taipei Cycle may be even more important for the small manufacturers which primarily focus on the peripheral components with unit prices calculated in cents on the dollar.



These are the little single purpose bits that often fly well under the radar of anyone not directly involved in their acquisition or sale. These are the cable stops, spacers, bearings, lubricants, industrial decals like those of TransArt below. The little parts that go into making a complete working bicycle.



Mac Mahone hand welded frames




One thing that I did notice is the activity in the small patches of sunlight beneath the shadows of giants.
There are several smaller companies looking for break through innovation, steady marketing, partnerships, and exploiting a niche.

Over the course of several years I have watched Taiwanese cycling culture evolve from heavy duty mountain bikes for road riding, to an assortment of road bikes and hybrids supplied by Giant with a dash of hometown pride.

Now Taiwanese cyclists are increasingly looking beyond the ubiquity of Giant and Merida, in search of something more unique or with a little more cachet. It is becoming more and common to spot riders sporting the more famous foreign brands such as Colnago, Pinarello, Willier, Canyon, Cervelo and Specialized... despite the fact that many of those frames are made in Taiwan.

Increasingly, other riders are looking beyond the big-name imports from the peloton and more into smaller brands or custom and craft bikes.


Culprit Legend

I caught up with Josh Colp of Culprit Bicycles as he introduced several unique prototypes and finished models with some radical design concepts. As a triathlete, Josh is very keen to integrate the latest bicycle technology into his frames.


Volagi: A different philosophy than simply worshipping stiffness.


Speedone RT30

If last year was about the disc brake, this year was more about electronic shifting and how it can be incorporated into a variety of frames. Speedone is now offering factory mounts for Di2 and EPS battery packs on its clear coated steel frames.


Primavera Festino

I was very pleased to meet up with Sabinna and Glenn from Primavera Cycles. If you live in Taiwan you may have seen a Primavera or two on the roads or at local events.

Primavera is a small Taiwanese brand that has taken a much slower and more methodical approach to the market by intensely focusing on the in-house design and partnerships on a limited number of frames with specific components. Designed from the bottom up, Primavera provides a more focused approach allowing the company to concentrate on the values and goals of the company and the customer. Primavera remains a great option for someone looking for a high-end bike from Taiwan that does not have to be a Giant or a nameless OEM. 



Rikulau is Taiwan's custom titanium and steel frame company. Rikulau provides full customization of geometry and tubing as well as custom paint schemes. Rikulau works in close partnership with the highly renowned ORA fabrications in a similar way to how Tom Kellogg has partnered with Seven.

These are beautiful custom bikes that are proudly Made in Taiwan. They aren't inexpensive, but they are more reasonably priced than other factory brands--An exvellent value!


Riku-wow!

Of course Shenyang had the new fully custom Seven 622 on display and the French company, Cyfac, had a very sweet looking custom carbon rig on the floor. I really feel more Taiwanese riders will be gravitating toward these high-end customs in the near future. In Taiwan, I have seen a handful of custom bikes from Seven, Independent Fabrications, Moots, Parlee, Firefly, Serotta, Guru, Waterford and a few others.

Cyfac, has rejected the carbon OEM model in favor of offering fully customized carbon geometry and tubing. These bikes really intrigue me and leave me curious. They avoid the pitfalls of riding a bike that is overbuilt for a rider 80kg heavier than myself.


Seven 622

On another front, I was happy to see another strong showing from Tern bicycles. Tern arrived for their inaugural Taipei Cycle last year and I was duly impressed with their line of bicycles as well as with Biologic, which is a sister company that supplies a wide variety of cycling gear that works with, and independently from, the Tern brand.


Tern

The message Tern really wanted to promote was that these bikes are designed to be bicycles (first and foremost) that happen to easily fold into a compact module for packing and storing. As their marketing rep pointed out to me, the folding part is incidental to the function as a bicycle. We tend to become fixated on the "folding bike" label and it tends to drive focus away from the overall function as a bicycle or even as a vehicle. The term "folding bike" has become too defined by one function, more often than not, tied to the limitations associated with that function.  



I really have to admit that Tern has done a marvelous job in the details of moving their products away from the stigma of "folding bikes" and more into the realm of multifunctional bikes that could very easily eat into the hybrid or townie markets. I have even heard of some Terns being used for light touring.



Biologic had a variety of bags, tools, racks, phone mounts and even a collapsable helmet.


TYA

I was also happy to pay a visit to TYA/TYALU bikes. They are currently working on a 5th generation of bikes speced for 650b/c wheels. These are excellent and attractive steel bikes that may appeal to riders with smaller frames. They retain a very classic look that is all too hard to find in this era of carbon gimmicks. There are rumors of 700c steel touring bikes and road bikes in the works. 



Birzman was back to showcase some tools and accessories that were quite innovative. There was an amazing little frame pump that collapsed into near nothingness.


Retul Tech: Winston Tam

Another exhibitor that I hope we can see more of in Taiwan is Winston Tam from Retul. Retul provides riders with a video and computer assisted fitting rig designed to dial in a fit to accomplish a desired goal; be it comfort, power or simply to allow a rider to find a position that will save their joints from undue stress.

Fit is too often the first and most important component that is sacrificed at the point of sale. I have seen far too many riders leave a shop with a bike that is obviously incorrectly fit and therefore may actually impede their original goals.

The future of cycling is upon us.