Canyon is gearing up for more technical trail riding with some all-new premium alloy MTB Flat Pedals that deliver stellar grip on the bike without breaking the bank. Developed together with their sponsored pro freeride and gravity mountain bike & eMTB riders, the new aluminum flat pedals are built tough, with lots of traction pins, plus two big platform sizes to deliver the best contact between shoes and pedals.
Plus, more affordable platform pedals are on their way, too…
Canyon alloy MTB Performance Flat Pedals
When mountain bike riders go big, they want a set of solid grippy platform pedals they can rely on, and that’s exactly what Canyon has delivered with their new aluminum MTB Performance Flat Pedals. Designed to be strong, grippy & affordable, Canyon’s first flat pedals are a solid debut – offering a secure platform to keep rider and bike connected.
Riding Review
The alloy Canyon flat pedals have severed me well since I started riding them early this spring. They’ve offered me all the grip I could want while riding in reinforced Leatt gravity flat shoes & wet weather boots, lightweight Northwave x Michelin trail shoes, and even some silly slippy riding in Vibram-soled Chaco sandals.
Reasonable price, reasonable weight, and a generous 200kg rider+bike weight limit thanks to heavy-duty axles.
Ten pins per side dig deep into most soft rubber soles. There’s plenty of support from a big platform area. They are still spinning smoothly after 3 months of riding, and have fully user-serviceable axle, bushings & bearings.
What more can be said about a good flat pedal?
Tech details
Canyon says their goal was to “make the best pedals on the trail” and they did so with “one of the largest surface areas you’ll find in any MTB pedal”. Two sizes are available.
My Large pedals weigh in at a real 436g for the pair (430g claimed), optimized for size 43-48 shoes. They get a 110mm wide platform that is 109mm long front-to-back – while the overall pedal is actually 117mm long when you factor in the forward sloping edge that helps glide up over obstacles.
The Small pedals are designed for 36-42 sized shoes, with a 380g weight claim. They are less than a centimeter narrower at an even 100mm wide, but a centimeter and a half shorter at 95mm long.
Both sizes of pedals are ever-so-slightly concave – 17mm thick over the outside of the axles, 16mm in the center over the axle, and 18mm thick at their leading edge. But they feel a bit more concave than that with sharp 4mm tall pins front & back and shorter 3mm grub screw pins closer to the axle – 10 thread-in replaceable pins per side, per pedal. The idea is to let your foot sink into the middle for a planted feel without having to be ultra-thin sacrificing on toughness.
They spin on strong 15CrMo axles, with sealed DU bushings on the inside and tiny sealed bearings on the outside. Canyon assures that they will sell service/rebuild kits, replacement pins, and longer pin kits so you will get long life out of your pedals.
Review thoughts on pedal platform size
I’ve been riding the Large pedals (which are only in stock now in Silver) for four months, and never really questioned if I should have sized down – I’m a size 43, the low end of Canyon’s recommend range.
But for comparison, my Leatt MTB 3.0 Flat Pro shoes measure 111mm wide, my new Northwave Tailwhip Eco Evo shoes are just 105mm wide, and those old Chaco Chong sandals top out at 118mm wide. With a 110mm wide platform for the Large, the rear middle pins are 94mm apart.
That’s essentially how wide the Northwave shoes are midway back toward the instep where the pedal sits. So when I shift my foot just slightly while riding, I end up missing out on engaging 2 of 10 pins. I never really noticed a lack of traction – I tend to ride the more supportive Leatt shoes for more aggressive gravity & eMTB rides – but with the narrower shoes, I would probably get even more secure grip from the Small size pedals.
Based on Canyon’s weight claims, you’ll likely save around 50g with the small pedals over the ones I’ve been riding.
Canyon MTB Flat Pedals – Pricing, availability & options
Canyon’s MTB Performance Flat Pedals sell for 100€ in either Small or Large sizes, rated for gravity mountain bike riding with a 200kg weight limit making them also suitable for eMTB riding, as well. Both sizes come in either Silver or Black anodized finishes.
The Large black pedals will apparently not be available until October.
Coming soon, more pedals. Canyon also teases that 2 new reinforced nylon composite flat pedals are in the works for later in 2023, too. One will be an analog of this one with the same axle tech for lower-cost platform mountain bike riding, and the other with be an urban flat pedal with a grit-based grippy surface for city commuter bike riding.