Up next in 10
After 9 months of use and abuse, how did Shimano's latest top-end flat pedals fair?
Wil takes us through his experience with the Shimano Saint M828 flat pedals. Got any questions? Ask away in the comments section below!
And if you'd like to read the review in full, head here: https://singletrackworld.com/
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:02
[Music]
0:13
hey everyone welcome to single track my
0:15
name is Will and today we're going to be
0:16
reviewing a set of shimano's Saint m828
0:20
flat pedals now if this is your first
0:22
time joining us on YouTube consider
0:23
hitting that subscribe button now to see
0:25
all the videos we're working on in the
0:27
near future now these Saint pedals I've
0:29
been using for about 9 months so far and
0:31
I've been really impressed with just how
0:33
tough and durable they are it's safe to
0:35
say that Shimano has fantastic
0:37
reputation when it comes to SPD clip-in
0:40
pedals and they've certainly owned that
0:41
market for the past 25 years or so
0:44
however that popularity hasn't exactly
0:46
extended to their flat pedal range
0:48
Shimano is hoping to change that though
0:50
with the new Saint and XT flat pedal
0:53
range now this saint is completely
0:55
redesigned over the old version for a
0:57
start it's bigger the platform size
1:00
itself measures 109 mm long by 105 mm
1:04
wide and compare that to the previous
1:06
Saints 90 by 95 mm platform and this is
1:09
quite a bit bigger it's also thinner as
1:12
well gone is the Bulge through the
1:14
middle of the pedal platform of the old
1:16
Saints and instead we have a nice thin
1:19
profile this measures 16.4 mm thick so
1:22
they're not the thinnest pedals on the
1:24
market but they are thinner than say a
1:25
pair of DMR volts and certainly a lot
1:28
lower profile than any other flat pedal
1:30
that Shimano has previously offered for
1:32
each pedal we have 12 pins per side and
1:35
these are steel grub screws now the
1:38
pedals do come with two different length
1:40
screws in the Box the ones that come
1:42
fitted are 3 mm pins and to be honest
1:45
they leave a lot to be desired in terms
1:47
of traction I can see the stock 3mm pins
1:50
being useful for more recreational
1:52
Riders and those who don't want really
1:53
vicious tall angry looking pins on their
1:56
pedals for me I stripped them off
1:58
straight away and put on the longer 5 mm
2:00
pins which come in the box and these are
2:02
pretty vicious looking pins they're
2:04
externally threaded as well to give a
2:05
little bit more bite on the underside of
2:07
your shoe the only problem though is
2:09
that all of the pins come prepped with
2:11
loc type which is fantastic and I
2:12
certainly haven't lost any pins during
2:14
testing but it does make them really
2:17
difficult to remove and install they
2:19
also require a 2 mm hex key so it did
2:22
take me quite a bit of time to remove
2:24
the stock 3 mm pins and install these
2:26
taller 5 mm pins the other thing about
2:28
these being a grub screw design is that
2:30
if you do scrape the pins against a rock
2:33
and uh and damage the surface you're
2:35
also damaging the hex hole which you
2:37
would normally use to put your 2mm hex
2:40
key in remove the pin and that means
2:41
that when the pins are damaged you will
2:43
need to use a set of pliers to remove
2:45
them from the pedal being Shimano pedals
2:48
these are of course made from cold
2:49
forged alloy they're very very solid
2:52
chunky pedals we've got three big
2:53
windows that are machined into the pedal
2:56
platform itself and this is designed to
2:58
help mud and grit a vacuum from the
3:00
underside of your shoe to maintain
3:02
traction on the pedal that said we do
3:04
have these Pockets that are machined
3:06
into the outside of the pedal body
3:08
that's to drop weight from the pedal but
3:09
that does mean there are a lot of Ledges
3:11
here for storing soil samples if you're
3:13
riding in particularly lomy or muddy
3:15
conditions with a chromoly axle and big
3:17
forged alloy bodies these aren't the
3:19
lightest pedals on the market confirmed
3:21
weight for the pair is 495 G with the
3:25
taller 5 mm pins fitted as we've got
3:27
here they are very robust though
3:29
certainly smashed them into my fair
3:31
share of rocks and roots on the trail
3:33
and they're still spinning nice and
3:34
smooth and save for a few scratches and
3:36
gouges here on the pedal body they're
3:38
still going strong and speaking of the
3:40
axles and the bearings these use
3:42
shimano's Cup and Cone bearing system so
3:44
whereas a lot of flat pedals on the
3:46
market will use tiny cartridge bearings
3:48
or du bushings or a combination of the
3:50
two these use adjustable and easily
3:53
serviceable Cup and Cone bearings now
3:55
there are two bearing races inside each
3:58
pedal axle assembly and we have 11 steel
4:00
balls per bearing so 22 per pedal
4:03
they're relatively easy to pull apart
4:05
and service you will need shimano's
4:06
little plastic tool for undoing this
4:08
gold sleeve here to access the inside of
4:10
the pedal but once you pull that out
4:12
they're quite easy to clean out and
4:13
regrease if you need to now I did pull
4:16
these pedals apart yesterday and even
4:18
after 9 months of testing they're still
4:19
clean as a whistle inside with plenty of
4:21
Grease where it needs to be and they're
4:24
still spinning as smooth as the day they
4:26
came out of the box which is really
4:28
really impressive considering I've had
4:30
other pedals which have gotten quite
4:31
scratchy within the first couple of
4:33
months of riding I'm really impressed
4:35
with just how smooth and durable the
4:37
bearing system in these Saint pedals has
4:39
been combine that serviceability and
4:41
durability with shimano's 2-year
4:43
warranty and these pedals are about as
4:45
reliable as it gets traction has been
4:48
really good they're certainly not the
4:49
grippiest pedals on the market I
4:51
probably give that award to either the
4:52
DMR volts or the nuk proof Horizons but
4:55
these aren't far off and there're
4:56
certainly a big improvement over
4:58
previous Shimano flat pedals the
5:00
platform itself is fairly flat there's a
5:02
small amount of concavity here so the
5:04
front and rear of the platform are 1 mm
5:07
thicker than the center of the platform
5:09
that said they don't have a distinctly
5:11
bow shape compared to pedals like the
5:13
DMR volt so if you're chasing that shape
5:15
I probably wouldn't recommend these
5:16
pedals one thing you can do though is
5:18
run the taller 5 mm pins at the front
5:21
and rear of the pedal and run the
5:23
shorter 3 mm pins through the middle and
5:25
what that will do is create a pseudo
5:27
Bowl shape to give you a little bit more
5:29
conc it to the pedal platform that's
5:31
exactly what my colleague Andy has been
5:33
doing and he prefers that setup
5:34
personally I like the 5 mm pins all the
5:37
way around for Maximum Traction maximum
5:39
grip combined with shimano's own gr7
5:42
flat pedal shoe which I've also been
5:43
testing these Michelin rubber sols
5:45
provide plenty of edges to hold on to
5:48
those pins and deliver really really
5:50
good usable traction levels so I've been
5:52
quite impressed with the grip on offer
5:54
with these for sure while they're not
5:55
the grippiest on the market they're
5:57
certainly very very good and that
5:58
probably sums up the saint flat pedals
6:00
pretty well they're not the thinnest on
6:01
the market they're not the grippiest on
6:03
the market and they're certainly not the
6:05
lightest on the market but they're super
6:07
reliable easy to service and they
6:09
provide a good balance of all those
6:11
performance attributes now if you'd like
6:13
to read the full review of the saint
6:14
m828 flat pedals make sure you jump on
6:17
singl TRW world.com to read my review of
6:20
shimano's latest high-end flat pedals if
6:23
you got any questions for me about these
6:24
pedals make sure you drop them into the
6:26
comment section below as always give us
6:28
a thumbs up for the video and if you
6:29
haven't already done it make sure you
6:30
hit that subscribe button and we'll have
6:32
plenty more videos coming your way in
6:34
the near future right that's it for me
6:36
and I'll see you guys next time t
6:39
[Music]
#Sports