Xpedo M-Force 4 Ti First Impression

Xpedo M-Force 4 Ti First Impressions

Mountain bike  season is just around the corner, so I decided to experiment with my bike setup. I have always been a fan of Schwalbe and Crank Brothers. About half my team agrees with me, while the other half favors Maxxis, and Shimano’s spd’s. So this season I decided to try what I had never really given a chance. But I just couldn’t bring myself to buy the top of the line $250 xtr pedals that weigh a substantial amount more than mid level Eggbeaters that, and cost two times as much. I had read about people fitting spd’s with titanium spindles, but I didn’t want to spend another $100 to make them a few grams lighter. My solution to this was to buy a cheaper and lighter spd compatible pedal. There are a couple companies that have almost the same design, but weigh similar to egg beaters. I decided to give the Xpedo m-force 4 ti pedals a try.
On paper they had everything I wanted. They are lighter than eggbeater 3 pedals by 44 grams. They also have an adjustable spring, which means I can control the amount of force it takes to release. I was starting to get frustrated by eggbeaters because the release was too easy and I would unclip randomly. Another good attribute is the their ability to shed mud. One problem with spd’s is their mud shedding ability, the new m980 spd’s are notorious in cyclocross for getting caked with mud easily. The m-force 4 ti pedals have a more open design than spd’s, so they won’t get caked with mud as easily.
The first thing I noticed when I got the pedals on my bike was a very distinctive click when clipping in. It is a small but helpful feature when it gets muddy. Clipping in has a very different feel compared to eggbeaters, not bad but different. I also like how well these pedals transferred power. Less float, and more surface area made it feel as though no energy was being wasted while under power. The adjustable spring also allowed for no unexpected  clip outs, but did not make it too hard to get out of the pedals in a hurry. So far the only bad thing I have to say about these pedals is in the design. There is a lip that can catch the cleat, and make it hard to quickly get into the pedal. This got a little annoying because I would catch the lip making me look down to find where the pedal actually was. But this could just be something that needs a little getting used to.
So far these pedals have performed great, and are good middle ground to the vastly different eggbeaters and spd’s. Hopefully I will get some time riding in the mud with these to see if they clear mud as well as claimed. More on these pedals to come in a final review after a few hundred miles with them.