The Riding Gravel Pedal Round-Up: Ritchey WCS Pedals

Editor’s Note: Grannygear returns with his second set of pedals in the Round-Up series from Ritchey. Please check out his introduction to this series by clicking HERE.

The Riding Gravel Pedal Round-Up: Ritchey WCS Pedals- by Grannygear

Ritchey seems to think the WCS Micro Road is bang-on for the Gravel Bike set and just looking at it makes you go, “Hmmmmm…they might be right“. It is a tiny little thing with an open structure; a sort of road pedal-ish shape in a single sided design…like if an SPD mtb pedal and a typical roadie pedal met at a bar and had too much to drink, etc.

Ritchey
The Ritchey WCS pedal. Image courtesy of Ritchey

From the Ritchey website

“The perfect gravel bike pedal is back. Standard road pedals and cleats will get jammed with rocks and mud, and mountain bike pedals are heavier and offer less cornering clearance, which is critical when combined with a road bike’s lower BB height. Enter Tom Ritchey’s personal favorite pedal, the Pro Micro Road—the only road pedal that can keep going when the pavement ends.”

  • Proven retention system offers fast, predictable entry and release and excellent mud-shedding characteristics
  • Superlight one-sided stainless steel body
  • Incredible cornering clearanceSPD cleat and shoe convenience for those occasional dismounts
  • Low profile design offers exceptionally low axle-to-cleat height for optimal pedaling efficiency
  • Upgraded axle and bearing system – bushing, needle and cartridge bearing system for long service life
  • Only 208g (pair)
  • Body: Stainless steel
  • Axle Material: CroMo
  • Claw: Alloy
  • Inner Bearing: Bushing
  • Outer Bearing: Needle/Ball
  • Float: 5 degrees
  • Finish: Nickel
RITCHEY
The WCS Ritchey pedal looks impossibly svelte and dainty.

With it’s all metal build, it looks rugged despite the diminutive size. It is darn light too. I weighed them as a pair at 208g and the cleats at 50g a pair. Compare that to the Time XC8s, already a lighter pedal than the typical SPD, and the WCS Micro Road is a bantam weight contender.

Obviously the weight is less than it would be if this was a two sided pedal, so it does give up that to other designs and it might have less shoe contact/support outside the immediate cleat area as well. We shall see show it looks when clicked into a shoe.

The cleat is totally ‘walk-able’ in it’s SPD-like design and it mounts to the typical two bolt pattern. I have to say that I am very intrigued by these and have to wonder if they would not also be a good commuter or even touring pedals. The mud shedding abilities are still to be determined, but they sure look capable in the muck and mire.

I will say that they are good looking in a “non-fantastic plastic” sort of way and they seem ‘right’ for a slim tubed, steel framed gravel bike, or at least to my eye they do. That does fall well into the Ritchey way of doing things. I have been using Ritchey road pedals (Look/Keo type) for a couple of years and they have been a solid choice. I also have run Ritchey bars, stems, and seat posts on a couple of road bikes with great results. They have been a good balance of weight, value and performance.

These are next to be ridden as I wrap up the Time ATACs. Stay tuned as we introduce the next set of pedals yet to be announced. Then we will talk about the results of our findings.

 Note: The Ritchey WCS pedals were sent to Grannygear for test and review on RidingGravel.com at no charge. We are not being paid nor bribed for this review and we will strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.


ResoluteAbout The Author: Grannygear hails from SoCal and spent most of his cycling days as a mountain biker from the formative years of mountain biking all the way up to the present day. His day job is in the tech sector, but he has spent time writing about off road 4X4’s, 29″ mountain bikes, and cycling in general. Grannygear and Guitar Ted have worked off and on together since 2009 after a chance meeting at Interbike. With gravel cycling on the rise, Grannygear has been exploring how this genre’ works in SoCal and now does guest pieces for RidingGravel.com in his spare time.


 

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Author: Guitar Ted

Guitar Ted hails from Iowa. Home of over 70,000 miles of gravel and back roads. An inaugural member of the Gravel Cycling Hall of Fame and Co-creator of Trans Iowa in late 2004- Guitar Ted has been at the forefront of the growth of gravel events and riding since then. Creator of Gravel Grinder News in 2008, he produced the premier calendar of gravel and back road events. GT joined forces with Riding Gravel in late 2014.

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6 thoughts on “The Riding Gravel Pedal Round-Up: Ritchey WCS Pedals

  1. As a (very) long time user of Crank Brothers pedals (Egg beater, Candy, others), I can say first hand that bushings, instead of roller or needle bearings, for the inner bearing can be problematic: more maintenance and/or replacement. Since CB started using needle (aka roller) bearings for the higher end pedals I’ve found the pedals get by with less maintenance and last much longer. Besides, removing a worn bushing was a PITA! As a note – I have converted all my bikes to CB pedals and average about 8k miles a year so my pedals see a lot of miles however I almost never ride in the rain and mud so the worst conditions are dust.

    Great reviews!
    Greg

  2. @James…I was not successful in engaging a Shimano SPD cleat into the WCS Pro Micro Road pedal…just would not go. There are some subtle differences in the cleat profile between the two.

    gg

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