General: Leaderboard flat pedals / platform pedals

Leaderboard: Flat pedals or platform pedals originally come from the BMX sector. But for many years they have also been used in all-mountain, enduro, freeride and downhill areas. The pedals are also slowly catching on on touring bikes and even on city bikes. They usually offer very good grip - especially with the right footwear - but without the rider being as firmly attached to the bike as with clipless pedals.

Stability vs Weight?

In the disciplines in which flat pedals are mostly used, regular contact with the ground, especially with the pedals, cannot be avoided. If this happens at full speed, they have to put up with quite a lot of force. Stability is therefore important - but in recent years the focus has also been increasingly on light bikes in downhill-heavy disciplines. Because strong and light are often mutually exclusive, it's important that manufacturers find a good balance between the two in their pedals.

More pins = more grip?

The pedals differ in the number of pins. There is actually everything from 4 to 16 per side - but does more pins always mean more grip? no way. While the number also plays a role, the length of the screws, their placement and the shape of the pedal body also make big differences.

Which storage is the best?

Frequent riders are certainly familiar with the problem: the bearings on the bike just don't last forever. Those in the pedals are certainly one of the most strained. The manufacturers rely on a wide variety of systems: industrial bearings, needle bearings, conventional cone bearings, plain bearings... but which bearing is the most durable? Again, there is no definitive answer. Sealing and dimensioning of the bearings play a major role and, of course, in the case of industrial bearings, the quality of the bearing itself also plays a role.