Canyon MTB Performance Flat Pedal review

The Canyon Performance MTB Flat pedal is about as sticky as any of the other premium flat pedals. The price is up there with many others too.

• Brand: Canyon
• Product: MTB Performance Flat Pedal
• From: Canyon
• Price: £93.50
• Tested by: Hannah for 7 months

Pros

• Good grip in a variety of shoes
• Pedal body seems strong

Cons

• Poor weather sealing around the spindle
• Shape picks up turf/ruts

Canyon launched their own brand flat pedals this year, these ‘MTB Performance Pedals’. These are alloy, and come in two sizes. I first rode them out at a Canyon bike launch in March 2023, and have been using these ever since (apart from the period of injury during the summer where riding was off the cards).

The pedal body has an angled edge to help slide over rocks rather than hitting straight into them. They’re mostly a solid face along the front and rear with just a cut out to give access to the pin. Along the sides, the pedals are more open.

The 10 pins are of two designs: one a short threaded pin that goes into but not through the body and has a small hex-bolt head inside the pin; the other a longer pin that goes all the way through the body and has a substantial hex-bolt head.

The supplied pins are of good quality, and are well fitted – I’ve not bent or lost any during the test period, despite not doing an extra application of Loc-tite as I would if I bought flat pedals.

The concavity is (by my measuring) 4mm at the maximum point. Between it and the lack of bulge around the axle, there’s plenty of space to get your feet seated into the pedals.

If you like to fiddle with pin length, you’re going to need to do that by using different pins, rather than adjusting the amount that they’re screwed in as you can with some pedals.

After a wet summer and autumn of riding, the pedals are only showing the most minor signs of wear – a slight scratch, but no significant gouges and roundings like on some pedals. I guess the metal must be pretty hard – and the Raw finish is probably good for not highlighting scratches too much.

That’s not to say they’re flawless. There’s little rust spots on lots of the pins, and they’re quite squeaky sounding on their axles. Taking them apart revealed quite a bit of dirt and rust, and even after a bit of a scrub with wire wool they’re pitted enough that I can’t see them being revived for long.

While I like the grip these pedals offered, I’m not totally sold on the body shape. The open outer edge and leading front corner had a tendency to collect chunks of grassy ruts like some kind of sticky biscuit cutter, while the inner front edge acted as a bit of a mud shelf.

This never actually got in the way of keeping my feet on the pedals, but it did make for more effort in getting cleaned off at the end of a ride. A pokey stick or brush to get the clumps off is needed with these. I think a design that at least closed off the leading outer corner would go a long way to relieving the turf-cutting tendencies of these pedals.

I’m also not sold on the suggested sizing. I wear as size 41 shoe for cycling, and tried the smaller pedal (recommended for my shoe size) out at the launch in March. I found there just wasn’t enough support for my feet, and it caused them to ache (probably exacerbated because I favour a not-too-stiff shoe), and I struggled to maintain grip.

Ignoring the size recommendations, I swiped a pair of the larger size for testing at home. These feel much better. I honestly can’t tell if my feet are touching the ‘grip stripes’, but with the size large pedal I’ve had no issues with grip across a variety of different shoes.

Overall

In terms of grip performance, I have no quibble with the Canyon Performance MTB Flat pedal. They are about as sticky as any of the other premium flat pedals I’ve used. However, their price is up there with many others too. And with their fairly quick deterioration in the squeak department – and associated pitting of the spindle – it’s hard to recommend them. They are sticky though, so if you ride in drier conditions or can pick them up the sale rather than at full RRP they’d be worth a shot.

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Review Info

Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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