Throughout most of the year I ride with clipless pedals on all of my bikes. I use Look Keo 2 cleats on my road bikes and Crank Brothers Egg Beaters on my mountain bikes. The Egg Beaters are great for riding in mud and sand, but I’ve had the cleats on my shoes clog up while riding in heavy snow and slush (usually after I had to get off the bike and push). When I got my new Surly Necromancer Pugsley a few weeks ago I decided to try a new pedal and the guys at the local bike shop suggested the Odyssey JCPC Pedal.
Odyssey JCPC Pedal For Winter Cycling
The body of the Odyssey JCPC Pedal is made of an injection-molded fiber reinforced polymer composite that is extremely durable. This pedal is heavy by road bike standards, weighing in at a little over 8 ounces per pedal. However, these pedals shed mud, snow, sand and slush better than anything I’ve tried. The metal pins on this pedal are like superglue for your shoes—I’ve not had my feet slip a bit with these pedals. In fact, I liked these pedals so much a bought a second pair for my old ice bike (a mountain bike with steel studded tires). In case you are wondering, I’ve not noticed any damage done to my cycling shoes as a result of the pins on this pedal.
These pedals are available is several colors, including the standard Black, White and the just introduced Red, Blue and Ocean Blue. If you are the artistic sort you can mix the colors—just take the pedals apart and you can have Red on one side and White on the other. The pedal comes apart by removing 16 metal pins with a 3mm hex. This might seem rather frivolous, but since you can also use these pedals with the metal pins on just one side you could use the different color to easily identify which side has the pins poking through. Personally, I would not suggest riding with pins on just one side since you lose a good bit of traction when you ride without the metal pins under your shoes.
The Odyssey JCPC Pedal retails for around $35. If your local bike shop does not carry them you can find them at numerous places online.
Joboo
January 4, 2012 at 8:47 AM
Nice pedal option!!
When I first got my Pugs, I pulled a set of nicely pinned BMX pedals from my LBS’s blueberry bucket (spare parts boxes), they worked fine, until it was time to go clip-less.
I’ve always used Time pedals, so the “Z” version was “my” logical choice.
During our northern Mn. Winters I wear nothing but my Rocky 1600 gram winter boots while riding, and with the lugged tread of my boots they grip the Z pedals like they were pinned to the max. LOL
Pedal On!!!
Peace
All Seasons Cyclist
January 4, 2012 at 9:44 AM
Joboo, these pedals are great and you would definitely get more use out of them than me — Chicago usually has a great layer of snow from Thanksgiving till April 1, but this year were are struggling. Unfortunately, I’ve been able to use these pedals in the mud more than in the snow!
Mark Shaw
January 5, 2012 at 12:37 PM
I have a similar pair of pedals on one of my bikes and you can adjust the pins to get better grip, I also have ridden using clipless look keo pedals and although there is a difference its not that much. Only problem I have had is if the pins protrude too much they make a nice mess of your shins occasionally ouch !!!