​Cube Acid pedals put to the test: Sturdy road bike pedals for 100 euros

Cube positions the Acid Click C40 Aero as a high-end road bike pedal for long training sessions and racing: an aerodynamically shaped, carbon-fibre-reinforced pedal body, a KEO-compatible clip-in mechanism (also available in an SPD-SL version), needle and industrial ball bearings, and a CrMo axle secured with a single-sided screw. The enclosed pedal body is designed to protect against dirt and moisture, whilst a stainless steel contact surface reduces wear. Cleats with 4.5-degree float are included, and the spring tension can be individually adjusted.

During the test, covering around 300 kilometres, it was easy to clip in and out of the pedals – once you’d found the right side of the pedal (more on that in the next paragraph). Handy: when adjusting the spring tension, there are distinct notches, making it easy to set both pedals to the same setting. The rubberised pedal plates, similar to the Look Keo Grip cleats, ensure a secure grip when walking. A little-known fact: even without cycling shoes, the pedals offer surprisingly good grip.

With road bike clipless pedals, one side is slightly heavier so that it rotates downwards of its own accord once you’ve unclipped. This helps you get the clipping-in process second nature, so you don’t have to look down: you always push against the pedal in the same way and find the correct position to clip in straight away. With the brand-new Cube Acid pedals, this didn’t work quite so well, as the pedals remained in the same position and didn’t rotate around the pedal axle under the force of gravity. On one pedal, the axle seemed to be stiffer than on the other. After a few kilometres of running-in, this has already improved noticeably.

+ good value, KEO-compatible, rubber-coated cleats

- one pedal didn’t return reliably to its starting position at first; it needs a bit of running-in and is relatively heavy

• Price: 99.95 euros
• Weight: 288 grams (weighed, excluding plates and screws)