[Closed] Flat pedals - alternatives to Saints?

Superstar Nano's

Do you want the best? DMR Vault's are by far my favourite. Been using them about over 5 years now.

JE James had some of the lightweight magnesium ones in heavily reduced. Factory seconds apparently. I've got a set and can't see any problems.

EDIT: Someone will be along to tell you how crap they are any second.

Do you want the best? DMR Vault's are by far my favourite

I would recommend Nukeproof Neutron EVO (Electron EVO) - they are a plastic composite material, very light, good surface area all for £30.

Used with 5 10s they are great.

Saints are fine, I've used the for years on bike 1. Got bike 2 last year and went with Race Face Chesters for about £40'ish and they are much lighter with a better platform. Like the saints, they take a beating.

Replacing the Saints soon and I might have a look at the Nukeproof jobs mentioned above.

The shimano saints are one of the worst flat pedals out there, I don't know how shimano got them so wrong, but they did.

Another vote for Vaults. I got mine for sensible(ish) money with some googling.

They seem to be holding up well, even on the Demo where I've had a fair few pedal strikes.

I've had Nano's in the past and they were pretty damn good too.

The shimano saints are one of the worst flat pedals out there...

😆

Noted.

😀

In order of preference

Dmr vaults. A mate has got them on his bike and they're better than my V12's with longer pins.

Dmr V12's with longer pins. With the standard length pins I wasn't that impressed and they didn't feel that grippy but the longer pins changed that.

Plastic Nukeproof Neutrons with longer pins. Got them on my hardtail, good grip and bearings seem to last well.

Had some saints, didn't get on with them. Small platform. Moved to Nanos and like them. Pretty cheap, solid, good grip, loads of spare pins and mine seem to be fairly robust needing little attention (probably 1000kms on them so far - will give them a service in the next month or so just to dismantle, inspect and grease). Saints now on my commuter, where they're OK.

a gentleman off of here, lent me a pair of Straitline defacto pedals.
they were far far better than any pedals I have ever used.
perfect infact.

I got some Exustar PB557's for xmas. They're very thin (16mm) & light (312g) & surprisingly grippy. Also a lot cheaper than one of the big brands.

Nukeproof Horizons are great. Plastic ones are great value but I found I knocked the pins off after a while and some are non replaceable.

Have moved on to the Sam Hill metal version. Brilliant.

i really like the new DMR V8's, they're wider and thinner than DMR's of old, they're quite 'vault-like', but they're £35, not £80...

Saints are pretty poor. Small and the ball bearings are a pain to change.
DMR Vaults or Burgtec Penthouse Flats. Ran Vaults for most of the year and got some Burgtecs for Christmas which feel great too.

I'm not terribly fussy about stuff usually, but I really couldn't get on with the Saints. I use Vaults. The Saints are heavy, small-feeling and comparatively not terribly grippy. I was very surprised by how much difference it made to go to Vaults.

catalyst pedals. I have had V12s and Defactos previously these are much more comfortable.

Got rid of all my Saints as I got sick of the right pedal getting rough. Replaced with SS Nano's. Great pedal.

I use Burgtec Penthouse as I find they offer the most grip, are very durable and stay stiff (don't spin) for ages.
A friend has Saints and initially didn't like them, however you can adjust the screws to give more grip and add extra ones to the side of the pedal, after which he found them much better.
Only heard good things about Vaults too.

Nanos are great value, mine have been great but they are big and very grippy which sometimes isn't ideal. I liked the saint pedals I had but they fell to bits quickly. I got them replaced under warranty but shop have me a refund.

If it's knee problems that are pushing to flats have you got to the bottom of the knee problem? Clipless can make things flare up a bit more but IME are seldom the cause.

Hope. Can't fault them. Easy to service/replace pins/bearings. Combined with 510 Stealth sole then they are very sticky year round. Exotic ones are good too at half the price but heavier. I use both and have no issue with either.

If it's knee problems that are pushing to flats have you got to the bottom of the knee problem?

It's unlikely to be the clips, but the ride last weekend has caused a really noticeable flare-up. Not sure what the underlying cause is, but I've been working with a physio on healing for a few months, with limited success. TBH anything that doesn't cause further damage but means I can still do stuff is being considered at the moment.

Superstar nanos are by far the best pedal around for the money.

Vaults are overpriced
Vaults are good
Saints are terrible at any cost
Raceface Chester are also good and lighter than most due to being plastic.. Slightly less grippy than nanos.

I have Nanos and V12s

V12s were redesigned a while ago and are closer to the Vaults now. Great pedals and good VFM still

SS Nanos are incredible VFM all considering, if you're on a budget I'd say get those

Vaults

Burgtec stuff looks good. Not tried them but some of their stuff looks like a decent Vault like platform.

On all flat pedals, one thing that's a minor niggle is those (including Vaults) that don't use a pedal spanner and only have an allen key to fit.

Vital did a good group test:

http://www.vitalmtb.com/features/Vital-MTB-Face-Off-The-Best-Flat-Pedals,1485

I use Vaults and Nukeproof Horizon Sam Hills on my two bikes and find both to be very good. The Horizons seem to have more grip which is good for me (although it can very occasionally feel like to much grip), but that is probably just a result of them having slightly longer pins. Both hold up to pedal strikes and so on well and haven't caused me any problems so far.

Nano's are great. Lasted me years and good grip.
Lately I've been using RaceFace Chester. Great pedals.
Grippy, light and good price.

I've heard so much good stuff about Vaults, but as a low BB lover living in a rocky part of the country I can't afford to try them.

So I stick with Nanos, which are very good and superb VFM. Only thing I'd change about them is maybe trim a few mm in size.

chakaping - Member
I've heard so much good stuff about Vaults, but as a low BB lover living in a rocky part of the country I can't afford to try them.

seriously, try the new V8's, they're really very similar, but less than half the price.

(and they've got half-decent sealing, and they're easily serviceable)

I've used SS, V12 (&8), Vault, Burgtec, NP Horizon, Chesters.

Grip wise, the horizon was best (as lucky says, sometimes a little too much, makes it hard to reposition your foot), chesters were very good too.

For me, Burgtec and Vault were similar grip and both excellent. I marginally prefer the burgtec as the bearings have lasted a bit better and they look nice.

Nano was great value and pretty grippy, I managed to destroy the bearings in a single (very wet) trip but they are easily serviced.

If you've got a big foot then vaults (and a few others) come into their own... On size 9s I didn't find them all that great tbh but folk do love them. I went back to my Nanos.

I put the plastic Horizons on the remedy a while back, I've been really impressed, I'm kind of expecting to break pins off them but they were £30 so they don't need to last forever. Also SAM HiLL1!!

seriously, try the new V8's, they're really very similar, but less than half the price.

Might do when I've killed all my Nanos, ta

Vaults are overpriced

They're very rarely for sale at full RRP. I haven't paid full price for any of mine.

I've heard so much good stuff about Vaults, but as a low BB lover living in a rocky part of the country I can't afford to try them.

My oldest set are from when they first came out. They went on a Stumpjumper Evo which was very low and used to pedal strike all the time. The first trip away was to Malaga where we rode the rockiest trails I've ever seen and I regularly had my cranks and pedals grinding over edges. Since then they've been to the Alps 4 or 5 times on my DH bike and they're currently on my hardtail which gets thrown all over the place. There's a bit of play in them and you can see where the edges have been smashed into stuff but they're perfectly functional.

I'm not a DMR fanboy. They've released some right tat in their time. And I'm sure plenty of people have broken Vault's. All I know if I've never had any mechanical problems with them and they're perfect for my big flat feet and duck stance foot position. I've got my third set here waiting for my next bike.

I like the feel of Vaults, hate the shoddy bearing & bushing life.

My new bike is super low though, so the larger pedal has been a bit of an issue.

I dug out a probably 7 year old set of Nukeproof Protons which have been hammered. They have never had a bearing or bush replaced. The size is a bit more suitable - with long pins in they are very grippy 🙂

Been on flat pedals for years. Running some Nukeproof Electrons at the moment. Got a set of Crankbrothers 50/50s on the road bike which I picked up dirt cheap expecting a few months from them. That was 12 months ago and still run smoothly.

Been using https://www.merlincycles.com/wellgo-c162-cnc-sealed-platform-pedals-55464.html for a few months and very happy with them over the supplied Wellgo pedals on the Wazoo that were a little slippy in the wet (plus they had this horrid feel of an arch of smooth pedal by the cranks).

Wellgo .,..Lots to choose from, we have some b52 that outlasted everything apart from Easton culllys

Superstar Nano for me, great pedals and reasonably priced

Deity Decoy here, brilliant pedal with great bearing life so far.

I saw these on a video the other day.. Anybody used them? Not cheap though but from what I read on the tinterweb there really reliable.
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Back to the OP, I found saints grippy but bearings kept p#ssing about so took them off and replaced with nano's.
Which weren't as grippy, so I took the pins of the saints and put them on the nano's. Now there super grippy.
For £25 I can't complain.

There's a huge lump on those 45NRTH pedals where your foot needs to be

Depends how you look at it...Only on the left pedal?
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😯

Thanks all. Will tentatively dip my toe in (no pun intended) with a set of V12s. Seem like the best price/performance combo.