Taiwan Steel: TYA's New 700c Steel Bike

TYA has now released their 700c version of their classic steel road bike to compliment their already amazing 650c model.

These are bikes built and sourced in Taiwan, designed for distance, commuting and comfortable riding with the timelessness of steel.

If you are having trouble finding a great steel bike in Taiwan, stop by T-Mosaic.

Bikes, Philippines, Tourism and More

 


With China's rising labor costs, its position of the world's workshop is in danger of being usurped by neighboring countries, such as Cambodia and Bangladesh. 

In a recent report from Bike Europe, the Philippines is well positioned to become a hub for regional bicycle production for European bound bicycles. 

According to the article:

New production base: Philippines
As of January 1, 2014 a new GSP will come into force. In the new system GSP+ is continued (granting the duty-free status for export to Europe currently enjoyed by Cambodia and Bangladesh). One of the new countries eligible for GSP+ and relevant to the bike business is the Philippines; currently holding a number 5 position in the Top Ten EU Bike Suppliers. Export is likely to grow from this country as well as from Bangladesh, where Firefox from Sri Lanka is said to be opening a factory; the country's second, adding to the one operated by Meghna Group.

This could be a golden opportunity for Taiwanese owned bicycle manufacturers, but for only one hitch. 

Taiwan is currently in the middle of a diplomatic spat with the Philippines over the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman who was suspected of poaching in Philippine waters. The reaction from Taipei was swift and firm. Filipino labor permits were suspended and Taiwan pulled the plug on hundreds of tourist junkets.   

The effects of the Taiwan government's actions against the Philippines may have far greater implications beyond a few layoffs and a temporary hiccup. 

As far as cycling is concerned, it is an unfortunate roadblock to helping Taiwanese companies find an exit strategy from China, which is proving to be less advantageous that originally believed. The move also foreshadows Taiwan's possible fate as the nation rapidly expands its tourism infrastructure to cater the perceived boon from Chinese tourism where the bicycle plays a prominent role in attracting tourists. In the old days the environment was sacrificed for polluting factories and rapidly conceived industrial zones. Now, the environment is being sacrificed for short sighted and rapidly conceived tourism zones. 

Under the leadership of President Ma Ying-jiu, Taiwan has embarked on a path that seeks to replace jobs in manufacturing and technology-- Taiwan's former mainstays-- with service jobs in a broadening tourism economy. 

One can't help but wonder what China's first response may be when Taiwan does something its massive and militarized neighbor might disagree with. 

____________________________________________________


In other news:

• Melissa Holmes, a tattoo artist who launched her project to do a round-the-world tattooing project from Taiching, and even inked a few of my own friends along the way, has had her Surly Long Haul Trucker stolen in Greece. Luckily she has found a sponsor to help get her on a new bike and back underway. Melissa contacted me about a year ago as she was just gearing up for her adventure. I am glad to see her plan unfold, though I am sad to see she lost the bike. 

• The You Bike program finally takes off. I have seen it with my own eyes. 

This Old House: What Difference Does Fit Make?

What difference does fit make? It makes some. And now that I've gone. I'm not feeling very sick or sore today.



Today was a short ride around Dadu Shan to simply get a sense of the new fit without the risk of going too far afield and having some problem flare up.



Keeping it short was also good for the fact that I had been relying on different muscles to ride and I felt extremely weak as I rolled up and down the hill.

I felt very comfortable in my back and shoulders. My knees felt great.



The heat was amazing. I haven't been as active on the bike since the heat of summer arrived and I was really not used to the high temperatures. I used to go out in this kind of weather and century rides, carrying only one water bottle. Not now.



I used the descent on Cheng-gong Ling (成功嶺) to get a feel for the cornering and agility of the bike after the refitting. It felt great.

\

It is sometimes in the rare moments of cycling inspiration that truly amazing things happen. This was one of those inspired rides.

I had seen a smaller road at the bottom of Cheng-gong Ling that I presumed led back to the Ling Dong area, but I had yet to ride it. As I buzzed along rice fields and through neighborhoods of mud-walled shacks, haphazardly stacked one upon the other in a battle for Feng-shui or simply available property, I sliced through a narrow gap and right into the shadow of one of the largest and most ornate manor houses from the Japanese Colonial Period in central Taiwan.

In Taichung there are few large family homes left, and those that remain are generally traditional Han style structures based on the three-walled farmhouse. The story of the house was a bit mysterious and as I went through my library and what little information there is online, I think I may have found the most plausible explanation.

According to some sources, the house in Wu-er was built by a poet, surnamed Chen, from a large landholding family in 1920. The original owner's grandfather passed the Qing era civil service examination and likely received an award of government owned "wasteland" to rent out to tenant farmers. It is unlikely the land was acquired through the appropriation of tribal land as Wuer sits adjacent to Wang Tian (王田) or the "Crown Fields" once the exclusive domain of the House of Orange. During the late Qing Taiwanese examination participants received preferential selection in an effort to help quell Taiwan's notoriously contentious and anti-government population.

When the Japanese colonial administration arrived, they left much of the existing Qing land policies in place and hoped to co-opt the gentry class into supporting the Japanese colonial program in an effort to quickly gain control and the allegiance of the Taiwanese.

The structure of the house embodies many of the conflicts extant during the early-middle period of Japanese rule as the first Japanese civil administrators looked toward the new doka policy to begin the process of Taiwanese assimilation and integration into a budding Japanese empire.

There is a clear use of baroque styling, which was popular in Japanese colonial Taiwan as it represented the perceived modernity of the West, which the Japanese viewed as essential for projecting its dominance over the rest of Asia.

In Japanese colonial Taiwan, the gentry class felt they should be regarded as equals to the Japanese, and sought to leverage their wealth and local power to overcome the stigma of the colonized. This stigma led many elite families to use demonstrations of their modernity to gain acceptance in a society where the lines between colonized and colonizer were still quite clear.

On the other hand, the house was built with a main section (hall) and two wings on wither side of a courtyard. This was to emulate the traditional Han style compound and essential to capturing Feng-shui.    Many of the landed elite were the last to give up their traditional Han cultural practices as elite families sent their children to special schools to learn the Confucian classics and other cultural traits that were popular during the late Qing when the power of the gentry was at its zenith.

The house was obviously built for spectacle to impart on the visitor the feeling of opulence sophistication and grandeur.



As I stood there taking it all in, I wondered how such an ornate structure could fall into such a state of disrepair. How could a family's fortune have turned to such a degree that this massive house could simply sit abandoned, rotting in place.

The sad fate of this family may be closely entwined with its fortunes.

In 1945, following Japan's surrender to the allies, the Chinese Party-State under the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) arrived to administer Taiwan until a decision of sovereignty over Taiwan could be attained. No resolution was ever reached and the issue remains unresolved.

Despite Taiwan's unresolved status the KMT remained on Taiwan with the support of the United States as the fall out from the Cold War enveloped Asia. The KMT lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan in 1949, where the KMT hoped to regroup and retake China with American assistance.

In an effort to neutralize potential opposition to KMT rule on Taiwan, the government sought to neutralize the Taiwanese elite, whom they regarded as Japanese sympathizers and "traitors to the Chinese race". The violence perpetrated by the KMT throughout the March of 1947 targeted the educated elite and either eliminated political opposition or silenced opposition with fear.

As non-land owners, the KMT instigated a program of land reform that has often been heralded as "bloodless"in comparison to the violent turn of events that marked China's land reform program. The Taiwanese elite made for the best logical target to avoid the mistakes made by the KMT in China of alienating the peasant farmers in support of their wealthy industrialist cronies.

The echoes of the 1947 killings actively silenced Taiwanese opposition to KMT mainlander hegemony and the state land reform policies leaving the elite families little recourse but to cooperate.

KMT land reform involved limiting tenant taxes, distributing former government lands, and instituting a land to the tiller program. Landlords were offered 70% rice bonds for paddy land or sweet potatoes for dry land. They were then given 30% of their land value in monopoly bonds for state owned enterprises, tying the fortunes of the elite with the fortunes of the KMT party-state.

This scheme worked out well for some elite families, such as the famous Ku family, but many of these elites were aware of the KMT and their history with fiscal mismanagement, causing them to sell off their depreciating shares (shares that would eventually yield immense profits during the 1960's).

The Chen family of Wu-er were likely awarded rice bonds, but with most of their former wealth coming from tenant farmers, they were largely cut off from their cash flow and were unable to pay property taxes on the residence.

The house was eventually sold to the Liu family trust, which had sought to replace the house with a modern concrete box. When financing fell through the house sat vacant, occupied by squatters.

The house was recently rediscovered by the Taichung City Government, and it is slated to become a regional attraction for holiday makers arriving on the nearby High Speed Rail.

This may be the first and last time the KMT worked against the interests of the 1%.




House Information (Chinese):

Here

Here

Japanese Era Buildings


View Xuétián Rd, Wuri District in a larger map

RETUL-ing My Fit: A Session With Central Taiwan's Most Detailed Fit Studio

As many of my regular readers know, I have been dogged by occasional knee problems since February 2011, while on a loaner bike before my current frame arrived.

The process of dealing with this issue has been a painful one.

It is not simply a matter of soreness flaring up, but it is also a matter of life quality. Before the knee trouble I had worked and trained myself into a state of fitness that resulted in some rides that still amaze me.

I had gained speed and endurance enough to expand my day-rides to include much of western Taiwan. I felt like there was no place on the map I couldn't ride in a day or two. The thrill was in choosing harder, more challenging routes to cover... and be home by supper.

Since that time, it has been an endless cycle of rebuilding and regaining lost ground. For every recovery and rebuild that seems to be sticking, there is a eventual fall back to zero.

Doctors would shrug and prescribe rest or to ride no more than 30km because it was such long distance.

Problems like these are tricky and it can often be like owning an old Volkswagen. The problem can be one of a dozen things, so it is usual to start with the cheapest solution and work upward.

For me, I started with a new bike that was custom made to fit, and it works very well, rides very well, fits very well, and I had alleviated the issue for several months of hard riding, but the pain eventually returned.

I began to suspect that either my fit had changed for some reason or another, or I was suffering through a serious imbalance. Whatever it was, it was vexingly elusive.

That is why I finally decided to see a fit specialist.

I have known of the Retul fitting system and I have been following Winston Tam's work at his Friday Fitness fit studio in Taipei. It was an intriguing idea, but the price tag was a little steep for me at this time, so it would be impossible to justify to the wife.

As I sat in the bus last weekend nursing my knee, another rider who had done the Retul fitting with Winston in Taipei, passed on the info that there was now a Retul technician in Taichung who was charging quite a bit less for a double-sided evaluation and fit.

I got the ok from home and was booked for an appointment within a couple days.



What is Retul?

Here is how their website describes their fitting system:

Retül bike fit technology incorporates three main data points in fit theory:

1. Bike Fits Must be Dynamic

• Using motion capture technology, Retül records the rider's positions in motion, therefore creating the most realistic picture of the rider's actual pedal strokes and body positions when out on the road and trails.

2. Measurements Must be Accurate

• Measurements made by traditional tools are subject to human error and therefore can be devastatingly inaccurate. 
• Slight inaccuracies can drastically change the rider's feel after a ride.
• The Retül system is accurate to within less than a millimeter, creating true objective data which can be utilized by the fitter for the perfect biomechanical fit.

3. Biomechanics are Best Assessed in Three-Dimensional Space

• Fit data collected in a traditional two-dimensional plane (i.e. video-based systems) is fairly limited because the fitter can only look at one view at a time, and those views stand as independent reference points.
• In order to make the best fit recommendations, the fitter must realize that the front and side views are actually interdependent reference points.
• In other words, the front and side views must be viewed simultaneously in three dimensions in order to see how all the applicable movements of the body are working together.
• Retül uses a 3D motion sensor to simultaneously gather data on multiple angles of the rider.

In Taichung the Retul technician is Cienne Wang at Little Tree Fit Studio (小樹自轉車). The studio is just off of Xitun Rd. about a half a block from Fuya Rd. (福雅路) near several of the bike stores at the base of the climb to the top of Dadu Shan.

As I entered the studio I could see several pieces of Retul equipment situated around the room, including their iconic fitting rig.

Mr. Wang and I chatted for a little while and then got down to the fitting. We first discussed my riding style and some routine particulars, and then I underwent a physical evaluation to determine my strength, flexibility, muscle balance, leg length, and foot position.

It was finally time to attach the sensors and root out any anomalies I might have in my fit.




The full Retul fit tests both sides of a rider's body to more accurately assess a rider's asymmetric needs. Most of my numbers were fine. Some of my numbers were a little off. A couple others numbers were anomalies.

Many of the adjustments followed my intuition, but I never felt confident enough to follow through. Hard data made it far more assuring to make adjustments rather than basing any change on gut instinct with the danger of making things worse.

We then moved my position forward and a bit more stretched out. This felt a little strange on the trainer, but once I hit the pavement it all made a bit more sense.

We spent over two hours adjusting and refining my fit.

I was provided with a report derived from the data that I can use for any future bike. Retul also has a database of bike frames they can match to a particular rider.



It will still be a matter of time before my muscles readjust to the new position and I can transfer more of the load more evenly around my legs to repair some of my imbalance.

I highly recommend every rider should have a detailed fitting done at least once, if simply for the data or to improve your performance. If you are a rider with knee or back pain, the solution is even more pressing.

My session at Little Tree, which included a follow up fitting and further readjustment, was not cheap. It cost me NT7500 for the dual sided evaluation. A single sided fit runs NT4500. When you see the tiny adjustments being made it might seem an awful lot of money for a few millimeters. The price IS cheap when you consider an error of a few millimeters amplified over hundreds of thousands of revolutions and tens of thousands of kilometers. The price is minuscule when considering the hours of lost fitness, health, joy, and overall quality of life.

Mr. Wang was an excellent fit tech. He speaks English quite well and as a dedicated father of a little girl, he and I had a lot to talk about. It was easy to relax and get into the fitting.

I will keep everyone informed in regard to my progress, and I hope to encourage more riders to not wait as long as I did before getting a detailed fit. Life it too short to waste it recuperating.

If you are looking for one of the most detailed fit systems on the planet, Little Tree has what you are looking for. This is Taichung's best equipped fit studio for cyclists.

Special thanks to Cienne Wang for his attention to detail. Excellent!




Information:

Taiwan Retul Fitters

Little Tree Fit Studio:
台中市西屯區西屯路三段宏安巷1-3號, Taichung, Taiwan 4070976 568 890By Appointment Only

Friday Fitness:
Lane 13, Yǒngkāng Street, No. 16-4 Daan District Taipei City, 106
Tel: 886.929.623.311 (Taiwan 台灣) 

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Wounded Knee Buries My Heart At Wuling Pass

It goes as it goes.

I had been signed up to do this Wuling ride for a couple of months and was not going to pull out of it after all the hard work and preparations Rocky and the folks at T-Mosaic had made for an assault on, quite possibly, the highest road in East Asia.

At 3275m. the Wuling Pass is a natural marvel that seems to hang on a cloud bank over the whole of central Taiwan. As a cycling route, Wuling has cemented its reputation, not only for its scenery, but also for its quad splitting ramps. In Taiwan, Wuling is the standard against which everything is measured. Among Taiwanese cyclists, the single mention of Wuling is guaranteed to bring forth a toothy grin that is part smile, and part pained grimace... in both recognition and remembrance of a suffering that is only cut by a mixer of equal parts success.





Without even the courtesy of a morning cup of coffee to fuel the neurons, we drifted out onto the Highway 14甲 from the Family Mart parking lot on a one way ticket upward.

I have been suffering a little bit from a recurrence of my knee issue, and all the rain hasn't helped in getting me ready for a major climb. Still, I threw caution to the wind and spun gingerly up the road toward Wuling. My one condition for the ride was that I would stop as soon as my knee felt less than perfect.

For climbing, and for this mountain in particular, the best advice is to stay relaxed.





I had been feeling pretty good. Without really trying to, I had put a sizable gap between myself and the small group of riders behind me.

The scenery spilled out below in a wash of light and shadow. It was a picture perfect day on Hohuan Shan, and a great way to break the screaming case of cabin fever that most Taiwanese cyclists have been suffering for the past eight to ten weeks.




Our quarry lay off in the distance, and I was all too well aware of what it would take to get there. The average ascent over the 55km course is only 6%, but there are several ramps that pull up to 12%. The majority of the real nasty parts wait at the very top-- the sting in the tail of an already formidable beast.







I took a few photos and waited for the rest of the group to catch up. I really couldn't believe I was back on that mountain.

Then, just before the great big Ching Jing Disneyland Eatcateria, I felt a light ache in my right knee. At that point I pulled myself off the bike and calmly waited at the 7-11 for my ride. My day in the saddle was over and I would have to enjoy the rest of the day from the air-cnditioned confines of a light bus.

I knew that was a probability and simply sat back to root for the other guys in the group.





Lots of cyclists try Wuling on the weekends, and it is not unusual (cue Tom Jones) to see someone's new take on biking Taiwan's modern day cycling monument. If riding Wuling on a bicycle has been done, then someone wants to try it on a folding bike. Another wants to do it on a fixed gear, and maybe another on a Penny-Farthing.






This brave (or foolish) soul decided to make the climb on a recumbent. My only concern is that it might be dangerous to be so far below the sightline of most drivers. The roads are already narrow enough and drivers routinely misjudge the corners on the Highway 14甲.





By midway through the climb our team started to crumble. Riders pulled up and retreated for the plush comforts of the team bus. A few more riders waved off refreshments and continued toward the top.

On this day I was rooting for one particular rider. I was rooting for my good friend, Dom. Dom had never ridden Wuling before and he has really dedicated himself to his training regimen that has seen him transform into an excellent rider by any measure. This summer will be Dom's swan song in Taiwan as he prepares to head back to the USA. It would have been a shame if a rider like Dom had been denied a go at Wuling before leaving.


The major road hazard of the day may have been the number of mountain bikers along the route.



Several riders made fools of themselves mugging for pictures on one of the more dangerous parts of the roadway.








Before long, my man Dom was chipping away at the mountain from the lead position. We would lurch up and down the roads in our bus delivering refreshments and support to our riders. Each time I would look out of the window to see Dom steadily making headway with his eyes glued to the road ahead.






I couldn't resist the opportunity to shout mock cat calls at him for leading the group from a "heavy", steel frame that could never be stiff or light enough to make time up to 3275m... all with a knowing wink in my inflection.




The grind of the climb was obvious. Each strained turn of the crank rippled through the faces of our riders.





Bikes wobbled and swayed before retreating to a more favorable gear.





The good doctor Wu was clearly suffering as he hauled himself upward.





Despite the cracks, our riders held it together as they disappeared around the bend.





By the Yuen Feng Rest Area the riders are not only forced to contend with a day of gravity defying climbing, but they must also fight for oxygen in the thinning air. At those heights there is 10% less oxygen in the air to fuel tired muscles already screaming out for more.

At this time of year the weather is entirely unpredictable. The glowing morning sunshine can quickly give way to rain showers in the course of an hour.

Far below I could see the distant scenery submerged beneath a thick bank of clouds that was rapidly ebbing toward us.

The possible change in weather painted our morning with a little more urgency as you really don't want to be up on that pass in sloppy conditions.

After a few shaded turns, the trees thin out, giving the final three kilometers a feeling of excitement and danger as you balance on two nickel-sized patches of rotating rubber along the fog line of a razor's edge.






Our bus revved and lurched between Wuling and Kunyang. There were several occasions where we were all thrown forward as the driver had to bury the brake pedal into the floor boards to avoid a collision.




I could see Dom fighting his way around a train of mountain bikers with their full loads, stereo speakers and swaying mirrors that threaten to gore a passing rider like an angry bull elk.


The road creates a ladder of tight hairpins just before the final ascent. It is enough to signal an and to the ordeal, but enough of an obstacle to force riders to call it a day and walk the remaining distance to the top. This is also the section that forces many riders into the red or succumb to the hypoxic effects of thinning air.

When I looked out the window at Dom, he was completely oblivious to our bus as we skimmed past his left ear on the narrowest crimp in the road. He was completely focused on reaching the summit.

As we passed I was just able to take a few quick iPhone images of Dom practically flying up the ramp. It was an awesome sight. He was there... and then gone.








On Wuling, I have either been in the mix or simply there for my own leisure. I have never had the opportunity to take in the spectacle of a single rider's battle to the top. It was an inspiring scene to witness that also put a dent into this competitor's heart. I truly wished I could have been out there on the edge of that cliff with the wind blowing off the rocky walls and into my salted face. I couldn't help but feel a shiver of jealousy in the sight of a rider suffering and dying along an exposed mountain pass. Instead, I was a simple witness viewing Wuling the way most people do; through the dead, dull corners of the picture frame of a car window.  

The final kilometer seems like an eternity. It is always hard to believe you are in Taiwan when looking down from an alpine clearing.





The last few meters of roadway level off into a parking lot at a scenic spot. It offers the rider a chance to look back over the mountains with the assurance that they have just conquered a world class route. The accomplishment of riding from bottom to top is worthy of admiration from anyone. 

Dom led the way, arriving a few minutes ahead of Dr. Wu and a handful of other teammates. For the guys who finished, cursing under their breath, and for those of us who could only watch, it was an amazing day on Hohuan Shan. 






Just as we were about to depart, I noticed a woman in 80's running shorts weaving her Specialized bike up the other side. She fought and twisted that bicycle up the final ramp to the top... all with a knowing smile on her face. 

Our eyes met as I took a picture as I cheerfully quipped, "I totally understand." 

Congratulations to all of our guys who made it to the top. I promise to lead the way next time. This rabbit ain't finished with Wuling. 

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.