If you love flat pedals, but hate taking them to your shins, check this out: 9Point8 is truly turning pedal design on its head with their new iNVRS system. Instead of using a hard pedal body with traction pins mounted to the surface, iNVRS puts a slow rebound rubber surface on the pedal and the traction pins in your shoes!
9Point8 claims that there are a few advantages of the iNVRS system compared to traditional pedals. The most obvious is that with a rubber coated pedal without pins, taking it to the shin won’t leave your skin looking like bloody hamburger. Also, now that the traction pins are on your shoes, it should offer a more solid footing on slippery trails – especially during the winter months with ice and snow.
Additionally, 9Point8 is offering an SPD Studded Cleat which will allow you to turn your existing clipless shoes into flat pedal shoes. If you don’t want to use the SPD Studded Cleat, 9Point8 offers carbide-tipped studs that can be driven into the soles of existing flat pedals shoes, or boots.
Obviously, having carbide-tipped studs on the bottom of your shoes opens up new concerns of destroying whatever you walk on, so you should plan to only wear these while riding. But for casual riding, you can also skip the studs altogether and just pedal with normal shoes on the grippy rubber pedals.
The iNVRS pedal uses a nylon body with a steel axle, two bearings, and one bushing per pedal. Claimed weight is 588g per pair, not including the studs or cleats.
| Pedal Body/Rubber Pads | Concave-shape, Reinforced Nylon/9point8 Proprietary Formula Slow-Rebound Rubber (replaceable) |
| Bearings | Needle Roller, Ball Bearing, Plain Bearing. Sealed (rebuildable) (2 Bearings, 1 Bushing) |
| Axle | 9/16″ ThreadsAlloy Steel, Plated. Install with M8 Allen Hex |
| Size/Weight | 588g/pair |
| Included | 1x Left Pedal, 1x Right Pedal |
| Studs (Required for MTB) | Short 3.5/7.9mm, Long 4.4/10.7mmChoose the longest studs that will work with your sole thickness SPD Studded Cleats also available |
Pricing starts at $69 for a set of pedals, and adding 50 studs to the purchase bumps the price up to $139. The pedals and the SPD Studded Cleats run $118, and the pedals, SPD Studded Cleats + 20 studs will run you $148.
