Keepers: Time XPRO 10 Pedals – by Grannygear
Editor’s Note: In conversations with the contributors of Riding Gravel, it became apparent that there were certain items we had reviewed, or purchased for ourselves in the past, which had become core parts of cycling kit for each of us. This, we all felt, deserved attention. So we thought it might be interesting to you, our readers, to learn what has “made the cut”. The things we rely on and find are “keepers” in our stable of bikes and gear. Welcome to our first “Keepers” review. We hope that you find this and future editions of this type of review useful.
I bet that more riders come to gravel from road than MTB. The desire to open up new horizons and to get away from traffic issues is compelling. That said, I know very few riders in So Cal who do not have both a gravel bike and a road bike.
Pedal systems do not cross over very well from road to off-road. Mrs. Grannygear runs an SPD two sided MTB pedal even on her Emonda SLR as she likes to be able to clip in on either side without any dance moves or furtive glances at her pedals. But she also is taking a hit in surface area of the pedal for shoe support and overall stiffness of the system. And they are heavier unless you go big $ with XTR.
Of course, walking on a dirt road in a road cleat is a sure way to buy new road cleats a lot. So I run pure road pedals on the road bike and Look SPD type pedals on the gravel bikes. That makes the most sense for me.
I began using Expresso Time road pedals with that ICLIC system and the unique carbon blade about three years ago. I had not much experience with other systems, coming from a set of Ritchey road pedals that I finally wore out. I enjoyed the ease of entry with the Time pedals and the way they stayed ‘open’ upon exit so you do not have to overcome spring tension to enter the pedal. I was dismayed at the rapid cleat wear though, and found I was replacing them twice a season at least.
Still I was having none of the issues with bushing wear that seemed to plague the Time pedals and the pedals never failed me. When I bought my last road bike I had a chance to buy some Dura Ace pedals at a stunning price so I bit and gave them a try. I rode in them once and sold them. I hated the high effort to enter the pedal. I also missed the way I could reverse the cleats (left cleat on right shoe, etc) and slightly widen the Q factor of the system. Back to Time, but that darn cleat wear….what to do about that?
About then Time revised the cleats to address the rapid cleat wear and right after that introduced the new, more aero version of pedals in the XPRO line. I have the baby bear priced 10 model ($175.00). Those new cleats have proven to be a longer lasting cleat by far, although the recycled cheese durability of the older ones was not hard to surpass.
The Time pedals take a bit to break in and hang ‘heels down’, but in time they do break in, and you get used to them. They are light, easy to get in and out of, and have enough surface area to keep my feet happy. For me, the ICLIC system is the killer app here. It really spoiled me as a Dura Ace pedal is pretty darn good and the bearings in that Shimano pedal were like butter.
ICLIC has won me over and the more durable cleat has saved me time and expense. These are keepers.
For more information on these pedals please see Time’s website here: https://time-sport.us/collections/road-cycling-pedals/products/xpro-10-road-cycling-pedal
So I’ve been using the same Time mountain bike pedals for about 10 years and the will need to update at some point. I’m not familiar with what is considered light or heavy for a pedal – although mine I suspect are very much on the heavy side. Is the 226 grams considered light or heavy? Thank you.
I see these exist now, Time Cyclo that combines ICLIC with ATAC. https://www.bikeradar.com/news/time-cyclo-gravel-pedal/
Extremely interesting!
@Ron- 36 minutes before you commented there was this: https://ridinggravel.com/components/pedals/gravel-grinder-news-time-debuts-new-gravel-pedals/
Ha ha! I see you’re on it!
did you have issues with the hold of the pedals wearing down after a year or 2?