Look was one of the first, actually the first company to make a clipless pedal. And if you’re reading that and thinking “but these are clip-in pedals” then you’re not from the time when pedals had toe-clips and straps to hold your feet somewhat precariously to the pedals. When the cleat and retension spring system found its way to market, toe-clips were made redundant, hence the clipless moniker. Somewhere along the line toe-clips were forgotten about altogether and if a pedal wasn’t ‘flat’, it was called somewhat erroneously a clip or clip-in. Well I’m sticking with clipless because, well, it’s correct. Ok, historically based rant over, let’s talk about these new Look off-road clipless pedals.

As I said, Look may or may not have invented the clipless pedal, but they were first to get it out to the masses via the Pro road peloton adopting them in the late 80s, with only a few hold-outs like the great Sean Kelly holding on to tradition and making their life difficult in the process. In those days, if you were ‘clipped-in’, you were on Look. Others gradually followed suit, and then infiltrated the mountain bike world where Shimano’s SPD system was soon being misappropriated like Hoover is to vacuum cleaners, no matter their brand. If you have Crank Brothers clipless pedals, you don’t have SPD clips, ok? Sheesh, this stuff is tiring.

Look ventured into the MTB clipless world in the early 90s, with their big red ARC pedals, favoured by none other than Tinker Juarez who was rumoured to have kept a stash long after production stopped. I tested a set of Look’s comeback MTB pedals around 2009 or 10 I think, and came away largely unimpressed and with a fear of my feet unexpectedly releasing at the most inopportune times. Those pedals mimicked the spring system of the ever-reliable and consistent Time ATAC models, still my preferred pedal to this day. Unfortunately they didn’t mimic any of the good qualities of Time, and Look, at lest in this part of the world, snuck back off to the road world where they had a top-notch and trustworthy product.

Earlier this year I was offered a set of these new X-Track En-Rage models to try, and opted for the trail version with a bit more of a cage around the retention mechanism, this time doing their best Shimano impersonation. In fact, Shimano SPD cleats will work with these pedals, so will be available pretty much anywhere you ride. I was hoping for the same feel and ease of entry/exit as SPDs, but at first was not convinced at all. Getting in was pretty much the same method, but once in it felt like there was no float unless I really put some effort into moving my foot about. After loosening the spring tension, it then felt like I was going to pop out again at any time. After a few dozen rides, some regular lubing of the spring, and careful setting of the spring tension, the pedals started to perform as they should, and confidence was restored. I finally didn’t have to think about what was going on down there and if I was about to be ejected on a climb or corner or rough/steep section of trail.

Throughout the usual wet Wellington winter they performed pretty well, only clogging up in really thick clay type mud which most pedals would have problems with, and retaining good entry and exit even with a shoe that’d been walking through the slop. Those little dimpled platforms may have helped with a bit of grip too, at least they look like they’ve been contacting the sole at some point in the pedalling process. If not, they look kinda cool anyway.

Now, these pedals were designed to be used for mountain biking, and more specifically trail riding, but I put them to most use on my gravel bike. The extra alloy of the body isn’t completely necessary for such endeavours, and Look make a more regular style pedal for the gravel and XC crowd. But I thought I’d be putting them to us on my MTB as well, so went for the extra protection and shoe support of the trail version. I only got in a few mountain bike rides on them, as I’d gone back to flats and was experimenting with some different varieties of those as well. The rides I did do on the Looks were issue-free, as the initial tightness-getting-in and looseness-staying-in problems had been solved. I’d rate them almost on a par with Shimano but not quite, as that ‘bedding-in’ period is something the Big S never seems to require.

After my initial doubts and then fears of the X-Tracks, I ended up pretty happy with them, and they found a permanent place on my gravel bike and have been trouble-free and consistent ever since. Whether they will challenge the market leader here is a matter of trying them out, as the NZ distributor is seeing good feedback, and no doubt they are doing a good trade with the Euro-centric, umm, Euros in, ahhh, Europe. They make a good choice for MTB, gravel or cyclocross and can do duty for all of those disciplines without too many qualms. They’re worth a Look, if you can find them.