LOOK Cycle - KEO Blade Carbon Bike Pedals - High Performance Pedals - Powerful, Light and Aerodynamic LOOK KEO pedals with Carbon Blades, Chromoly+ Axles, Steel Bearings

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I made the switch for the exact same reason this year. The Faveros are fantastic pedals, but they are a pain to clip in to, just because they spin soooooo freely. Look's testing procedure for its axles is reassuringly thorough. Each axle is loaded with the equivalent forces of Andre Greipel's 1700W sprint at 100rpm for 333 hours. Well tested then. Because Shimano use cup-and-cone bearings it’s also possible to adjust them, though the TL-D63 tool for that job is both expensive and quite hard to find. The pedals are fitted with an 8Nm carbon blade, but tension can be increased to 12Nm, if needed. The visibly oversized axle, combined with a spindle that passes through internal rollers under the pedal platform, increases efficiency and limits the loss of your precious watts.

This isn’t something you notice when you’re just riding along, unless you concentrate hard on how your feet are moving or ride with a Kéo pedal on one side and an SPD-SL with yellow cleat on the other. Several years’ worth of research has gone into the design and build of Look’s Keo Blade Cromo pedals, resulting in a product which is light, durable, and secure.

Look has developed a Keo Fit system where suitably-equipped dealers can get your cleats set up just so, and also give you specific advice about which of the float options best suits you. I didn't try this as I already had Keo cleats set up on a pair of shoes so just used them as they were, but it could be a useful service if you're changing over. Burt agrees, adding: “I’d say if you can ride one or the other you can ride either bio mechanically speaking — it will just be personal preference.” On initial set-up, the Look Keo 2 Max Carbon is every bit as secure as the Shimano pedals with clipping in and release feeling very similar. Over the duration of the test though the Look cleats did wear noticeably faster than the Shimano, this resulted in some play between the cleat and the pedal with no amount of adjustment removing it. Lightweight, aerodynamic, powerful, the new Keo Blade Carbon has all the assets to allow you to improve and optimise your performance until victory is yours. It is for these reasons that Keo Blade Carbon the unanimous choice of many champions who have made it a weapon of choice in the conquest of their greatest achievements.

While weight is far from being the most important aspect of a bike component, it still matters. The cheapest Kéo, the Classic 3, weighs 350g/pr including cleats. The base-model SPD-SL pedals, PD-RS500s come in at a claimed 320g without cleats; a pair of cleats weighs 74g, so that’s 394g in total.Shimano also colour-code their cleats. Fixed cleats have red bits on them, cleats with blue trim have two degrees of float, and yellow-decorated cleats have six degrees of float. As with all of the pedals on test, the installation was straightforward: regular thread on the drive-side, reverse thread on the other and an Allen key to tighten them up. Cleat setup has been the main differentiator with how straightforward or difficult each pedal has been to set up. All the Look pedals feature a three-bolt cleat, similar in setup to Shimano’s SPD SL platform but with a few differences. The material of the Look cleat supplied with the Keo Blade Carbon Ceramic pedals is a hard grey plastic, with harder wearing white sections at the front and rear of the cleat. These offer 4.5 degrees of float (the amount you can twist your foot while remaining clipped in), but 0-degree and 9-degree float options are also available aftermarket. Intended for performance cycling, the blade of the Keo Blade is optimised for speed. As the name suggests, rather than the traditional coil system, these pedals use a blade retention system. The integration of the blade and pedal lessens the frontal area presented to the wind, improving aerodynamics and ultimately increasing speed. It's not impossible that the blade could get damaged if you crash but the fact that it's slightly recessed and sits well away from the edge of the pedal means that's unlikely. Platform Johnhas been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

Clipping in is relatively easy. As with any other pedal system, you need to get the hang of positioning your foot in the right place, but after a few rides you'll have that dialled. To enhance durability and reliability, the bearings are protected by an o-ring washer and are double-lipped seal to increase resistance to the elements. When viewed side by side, it’s easy to see the big leaps forward look has made with the second-generation kéo blade: when viewed side by side, it’s easy to see the big leaps forward look has made with the second-generation kéo blade The bottom of the pedal is completely closed-in by the spring blade, with only a slim gap down each side. This makes them a bit more of a dirt trap than more open pedals, but I didn't have particular problems with them clogging up, even when I had to walk through mud. Shimano Dura-Ace pedals: Shimano's top-tier pedal is lighter, easier to adjust, but slightly more expensive

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The spindle and bearing assembly is not serviceable, setting it at odds with a lot of the competition. Look say that it's been tested to withstand two million cycles at 100 rpm with a 90 kg load on the centre of the pedal, or the equivalent of a 1,700 watt sprint for 333 hours, so it should be okay for a while with the sort of loads that you or I are likely to put on it. Certainly the sealing shrugged off the wet conditions we've had lately without any issues and the pedals are still spinning smoothly. Lightweight, aerodynamic, powerful, the new KEO BLADE CARBON has all the assets to allow you to improve and optimize your performance until victory is yours. It is for these reasons that KEO BLADE CARBON is the unanimous choice of many champions who have made it a weapon of choice in the conquest of their greatest achievements. There are differences in the range of tension adjustment, float, and entry and exit feel between Look Kéo and SPD-SL pedals, but none of them are killer apps. How to choose? With pedal and cleat combined, they are only 1g heavier than Shimano's Dura-Ace offering (Image credit: Peter Haworth) Performance For me, ceramic bearings still have a tough job beating the Shimano system that has served me well for years. My XT cyclo-cross pedals go through awful conditions every winter and my Ultegra 6800 pedals have done four long years of road riding. Look's claim that its ceramic bearings will last '4 to 6 times longer than standard steel bearings' will take quite a few years to test. The two months that I've been riding and racing with these pedals have caused zero issues, so all good so far.

Also agree with @Sjl wrt Shimano's reliability - I did zero servicing on mine, and they never let me down, whether bottom of-the-range, or flashy carbon jobbies As a result, you’re either very much ‘in’ or very much ‘out’ and there’s no vagueness in between, whereas with the standard system there’s a short period where the rear gate is flexed open and you’re still partially engaged.I believe that Shimano provides a significantly better product compared to Look, with the differences being; Unfortunately, some of our other complaints about the original KéO Blade still carry over, and in one specific area the new pedal is notably worse. At the top of the range, Look has gone all-out to save weight on the Kéo Blade Carbon Ceramic Ti model, which as the name suggests has titanium axles, ceramic bearings and a carbon fibre body. A pair with cleats weighs a claimed 260g. Look says, "Designed to win, the new Keo Blade Carbon improves the experience associated with the use of blade technology in a clipless pedal. This new version is the result of experience gained during years of development in the heart of our manufacturing facility and to continual improvements made thanks to daily input from the greatest of champions. It’s easy to see the changes between the new KéO Blade 2 (left) and the original one (right) when viewed side by side