Look Cycle Keo Blade Carbon CR Road Pedals

Description

The Look Keo Blade Carbon Pedals run the material gamut: carbon fiber body, chromoly spindle, stainless steel wear plate, and a blade of carbon fiber that flexes against the retention plate to hold the cleat in place. The only difference between these and the superlative Carbon Ti model is the spindle material. As noted above, the Carbon CR runs on a chromoly spindle while the Carbon Ti features a lighter (and much pricier) titanium model. And anyway, steel is real. The chromoly spindle by no means makes the pedals heavyweight, though; with a claimed weight of just 110g per pedal, the Carbon CR enjoys a 100g reduction per pair compared to look models with a traditional, coiled steel spring. The secret is the Blade, a leaf spring that tensions the engagement mechanism without needing help from a lump of metal. Plus, it's carbon. And who needs an excuse to add more carbon parts to their bikes' The more traditional cyclists in the field might question the longevity of what is, essentially, just a bendy bit of carbon fiber. We did when first exposed to the design, too. But once we gave it the eyeball test, we were satisfied enough to throw everything we have into it. And by "eyeball test," we mean we saw the carbon Blade leaf spring in action with our own eyeballs beneath the likes of Greipel. If the Gorilla can't break the damned thing, we don't stand a chance. While the carbon fiber blade is what creates the buzz, the rest is extremely tech-forward as well. The carbon fiber body is wider than the previous version, which was itself 17% wider than the original Keo. The platform increases from 62mm to 64mm, a move that bumps the surface area up to 700mm2. Despite that sprint-friendly platform, the cornering clearance is actually better because the extra width is on the top of the new pedal rather than the bottom. Cornering clearance is further improved by a reduced stack height, down from 15. 7mm in the previous model to 13mm. That doesn't seem like much, but every...