David at Fly has posted up some more info about the plastic Ruben pedals, so if you've been wondering if Fly were going to bring something new to the PC pedal table, have a listen to what he's got to say:
"We wanted to make a plastic pedal with the same thin shape as the Ruben aluminum ones so we searched for a harder material to achieve that. After some testing we found a new compound out of nylon and fiber glass that we call “graphite” which is harder than the material currently used on other plastic pedals. These new pedals are only 1mm. thicker than the aluminum ones on each side so the feeling is the same as the alumium ones.How new is that? They're not PC. That is, they're not molded in poly carbonate, they're graphite. Well... they're not actually graphite either, they're glass filled nylon. So what the hell is that? Here's a little something, lifted from somewhere:
Other detail on these pedals are how grippy they are. We used coned 3 x 3mm. Squared pins that are grippier than rounded ones. And since this material is harder, the knurling on the whole pedal surface is sharper. Of course still the aluminum ones are grippier but the difference is not much…The low profile makes them really light as well with a a weight of 360grs. / 12.6 oz. per pair."
"Nylon ® is significantly strengthened by the addition of glass-fibers. The added glass provides stability & rigidity, but reduces the non-lubricated wear properties. 30% glass filled nylon has 200% better strength than general purpose nylon but it is highly abrasive and will abraid or gall mating surfaces.""Abraid or gall mating surfaces" - Careful, that's your shoe man!
Though if you're counting grams, they will have the additional pull of being the lightest (don't quote me) freestyle pedals on the market and regardless of possible abraiding or galling to the soles of my Orchids, I'll be tossing up between a pair of these and Odyssey's JC PCs. It's that recurring dilema: "superior grip v.s possible shin carnage". It's hard isn't it? Life. Just one big decision after another. Fortunately these wont be dropping till December, so all fretting and obsessing can be postpone till then.
Edit: OK, they're not the lightest. These probably are, but really? As for the titanium thing, can you count pedals with ti spindles as freestyle pedals?
11 comments:
Man do they look real nice. I'll be getting me a pair or two.
Graphite is the same term Skyway used for their top of the line Tuff wheels. Same stuff? Maybe.
"How new is that?"
Same material as used in the MKS pedals of the 80's, Skyways, Z-rims etc, so not at all...
KHE stimulators pedals have been made for like 10 years now from graphite, and the Ti spindle ones are also 360 gram.
wellgo Ti MG1's are only 300 gram for a pair.
New? Not quite. Bulbous hit the nail on the head. Come on, when are people going to do their history research. Its amazing how companies take ideas from 25 years ago and call them "new." Anyone who actaully rode in the 80's could tell you all about MKS graphite pedals, or black Skyway graphite racing mags with gold Campy hubs. It was a gimmick then, and it is now. And whoever did this post should be ashamed of themsleves, perpetrating such nonsense. Either find someone who knows their history, or don't put up any posts at all.
Joe, I've taken onboard your criticism and am trying to feel as ashamed as I should be. In fact, I'm trying to feel even more ashamed than I should be, just to eliminate the chance that I under-shame myself. Better safe than sorry.
I think the problem is that I never rode in the 80s, in fact I was barely out of nappies. This is probably compounded by the fact that even today I am more interested in reading The Come Up and checking what manufacturers are doing today than reliving those glory days surfing through the pages of BMX Museum. Anyway, as long as we've got you here - as the "knows his history" guy we'll all be ok. From here on in I'll just consider you my historically accurate post filterer, adding footnotes as they're required.
Anyway, back to the "graphite". I don't really know why Fly are calling this material graphite - I've always thought that graphite referred to a part with carbon-graphite fibres added as reinforcement, when these pedals are reinforced with glass fibre. Maybe they are using that name as an historical nod to the graphite molded parts of 80s that you mentioned, and probably used carbon fibre as their reinforcement. Maybe you could let us know. Either way, adding carbon fibre or glass fibre to an injection molding does increase the rigidity and surprisingly that’s why people actually bother to do it rather than as a gimmick.
Adding much glass really ups the chance of fracturing like a piece of glass. The amount of glass fiber is likely in the 6-8% range (max.). Dupont Nylon 6/6 is notably the go-to material of choice for a variety of lightweight/moldable/low-cost products. I've always thought Poly Carbonate was chosen because of the translucent color options. Bike pedals that are cheap to make in China have traditionally been made with Poly Propolene (PP). I'll give David a lot of credit for explaining things in English and not just doing what everyone else is already doing (although his use of nylon + glass is truly an old old old concept to everyone outside of the BMX world).
Yeah, nothing new at all about using glass fibre in an injection molding, but I suppose I was more getting to the point that when everyone is doing one thing (ie PC) it takes a lot more time and effort in the way of design, prototyping and testing to actually try something new. So like you say credit for that.
Yeah, but can you count ti spindles as freestyle pedals? And as for the wellgo mags all I can say is... beware.
Jeff, I take it this is your blog, and you are writing about bike parts as it's titled, not the latest web video or flavor of the month 15 year old kid (as such other websites you mentioned you like to check). So with all due respect isn't it your duty, not mine, to basic research before putting up any posts?
It's not about being stuck in the old school mindset or reliving fabled glory days. It's about proper journalistic integrity. Sorry to sound harsh toward you, but maybe I'm a little tired of seeing un-researched claims and "new" ideas abound by various companies. Most "new" innovations from the 80's were kooky gimmicks; all I'm saying is let's keep them in that decade, and not ignorantly propagate rehashed goofy ideas.
So please take my words as (maybe a little harsh) some constructive criticism only...
Ok, I hear you. Anyway a bit of fire in the comments definitely makes things more interesting.
Look, I'm not a journalist - I'm a just a guy who writes a blog. I don't get paid for it, I don't do anyone any favours, I just write whatever I feel like. I do as much research as possible in the very limited time that I've got.
I also hear you on the kooky gimmicks of the 80s, but I don't see how you call this a kooky gimmick. Like Gargon said it's common practice and you'd find glass reinforced nylon in loads of injection molded stuff that you've got at home. It's there because it hardens the plastic. I mean, all he's doing is telling you what they're made of. And all I'm doing is saying that they've bothered to test and use a different material to what everyone else is currently using.
Pieter's pointed out that KHE make their stimulator pedals out of "graphite" - they're flat pedals and I missed them, but there is also no info about what they are actually made from, so...
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