Xpedo M-force 4 ti Pedal Review

Its been about 300 miles of riding in dirt, mud, snow, rain, and slush with these pedals, and I now can really say what these pedals bring to the table. Like I said in earlier in my first impressions, I really like the idea of these pedals. They combine the strengths of SPD’s and Egg Beaters, but there’s a reason why more people would rather go with the more popular pedals.

First off these pedals were much harder to get into than eggbeaters, even with lots of practice. The lip that initially bugged me when I first got these pedals caused the cleat get caught and made me try again. For me this was an issue because I have to get in and out of my pedals a lot during a cyclocross race, and if I miss a pedal once I could lose 20 yards. However if you are riding a MTB this wouldn’t really affect you very much. In fact I would keep using these pedals on my mountain bike if I didn’t switch to back and forth between bikes so much. I also noticed that using SPD cleats make getting out much more predictable than when using the cleats included.

I did like the ability to adjust how hard it was to get out of the pedals. It let me adjust the pedals to feel the same no matter how much wear the cleats had. I also loved how well these did in bad conditions. Even after running around in a foot of snow I could clip in without much issue. Along with easy entry in when mud and snow pack on the bottom of your shoes, they are predictable to get out of. But the best thing about these pedals by far is the power transfer. Your feet are solidly in the pedals, and don’t move at all when sprinting. I felt like no power was being wasted, and had tons of control while riding.

I still have mixed feelings about these pedals, and would say they are good pedals for mountain biking. For cross I would say you are better off with a set of eggbeaters. The eggbeaters clear mud better, are easier to get out of, and most importantly are impossible not to get clipped into. I do really love these pedals for rides that don’t require getting clipped in very much, and if they fix a few small things it would be a great pedal for cyclocross.