Pedal
Flat and light
A flat pedal is the easiest way to connect your feet with the bike. It’s self-explaining how to get on and really easy to get off, especially in emergency situations. Even tough clipless pedals nowadays are popular and widely used, flat pedals, in my opinion, still have a reason to exist. Eather for those new to the sport or those who just like the natural feeling of it.
Anyways, in this case I decided to develop a flat-pedal, just because I was interested in how they work and what can possibly be improved. Besides the platform itself, the bearing and sealing are most important. Also, the platform should not become loose after a couple of runs. So, I studied existing and well-received pedals and tried to find out what makes them so good. Looks like it’s all in the details. As I didn’t want to go in too much detail with different sealings I just left that topic quite basic. For the bearings I decided to go for a bushing and three sealed ball-bearings in the end of the spindle. Oh, by the way, the spindle is made of titanium to reduce weight. In the end the platform is tightened with a special nut. Is contains another bushing as well as a sealing ring. That means the platform is neatly held in place and still rotates easily. Also because of weight reasons, it is cast in magnesium. That again saves many grams compared to an aluminium platform.
The pins are very important as well. They must generate as much grip as possible. Count and placement are key. I decided to go for quite basic M3 socket head screws. Those are screwed in place from the opposite side of the platform. That means you can change them just with an Allen key even if they are slightly damaged. All these things ad up to a total weight of approximately 265g with steel pins, for the pair.