We first had a look at the design overhaul of the cross-country and completely new all-mountain pedals from Ritchey Logic last fall at Eurobike, but now it looks like they are ready and making their way out and under the feet of trail riders. Both pedals build on years of smooth running of their previous Paradigm pedal platform. We wrote up a long-term review of those pedals two springs ago, and Ritchey looks to have solved the only minor concerns we had from that time. The new pedals do add a bit of weight to deliver improved performance for both the racer and trail rider, but still come in lighter than industry benchmark XTR offerings…
The pedals are the result of 2 years of prototype development and testing with the Scott Odlo team, including Nino Schurter who won worlds on them last fall in Vallnord. Two major updates come with the pedal redesign. The first is the addition of a wide machined-in platform to support the rider’s shoe. The previous version rested on two steel bolts that were relatively narrow, so these should offer a big boost in stability. The other update is the use of a fixed front engagement claw, vs. the Paradigms which rotated both front and rear. This update is aimed at providing a more consistent engagement of the cleat, something we never really had a problem with.
The new Trail version platform is of course also a welcome addition, too. With the revised engagement system also comes a new tension adjuster that gives a visual tension scale indicator, which is always nice for initial setup. Other than that, they use the same rebuildable/serviceable internals that should mean years of happy pedaling.
Weight-wise, the new XC pedals add about 40-50g over the real weight of the WCS Paradigm pedals, but still come in at just 298g claimed, staying under XTR 990s at 310g. The Trail pedals add just a bit for their increased platform cage to come in at a claimed 347g, which again is lighter than the 379g of the comparable XTR 995 pedals. Both of which use forged alloy bodies, stainless engagement, and standard steel spindles.
Pricing remains what we saw last fall at $150/162€ for the XC pedals and $170/184€ for the Trail version. They are available now through regular Ritchey retailers.
