When MagLOCK first popped up, their magnetic pedals were novel – but also incredibly heavy. It wasn’t long until version two came about after a failed Kickstarter that slashed a big portion of weight from the aluminum pedals to get them under 1000g. In the spirit of continuous improvement, MagLOCK is about to introduce their newest magnetic pedal to the world, the Vault.
Taking a page from the original MagLOCK pedal, the Vault includes a customizeable magnetic retention system. However, the pedal manages to get the weight even lower with an all new body…
Rather than aluminum, the Vault relies on a plastic composite body. We’ve seen a number of companies move to plastic composite pedal construction and while it sounds like they wouldn’t be as durable, but pedals like the RaceFace Chester prove that composite materials can be surprisingly stout. Keeping with their magnetic retention story, the Vault will include up to 10 rare earth magnets per pedal which are housed in between two stainless steel plates that provide up to 30 lbs of attractive force. Users can customize the amount of magnetic force by adding or removing magnets which attract the SPD compatible steel plates on your clipless shoes.
Still in the prototype phase, the Vault is about to be released on Kickstarter sometime in November. Pricing is still to be announced, but the big story here is the weight. The lightest aluminum MagLOCK pedals come in at 974g with all of the magnets. If the Vault makes good on its promise, the weight will drop to 600g making it much more competitive with other pedals. You can stay up to date with MagLOCK’s vault here.
