Renthal Revo-F Flat Pedal

Yep, you read that right. Renthal is now making a flat pedal for mountain biking. After 14 years of supplying parts for the cockpit, they felt the time was right to turn their attention to the other crucial MTB contact point – your feet. What were their goals in doing so? What will allow their pedals to stand out in a sea of other options? What do we think of the performance after about 1.5 months on the trail? Keep reading to find out!

Renthal Revo-F Highlights

• Forged and CNC machined 6061 aluminum body
• Fully concave parallelogram profile
• 104mm x 100mm platform
• 10 pins per side
• Tunable pin height
• High grade cromoly axle
• Wide IGUS bushing
• Three cartridge bearings
• Fully sealed
• Colors: Black or AluGold
• Weight: 490 grams per pair, verified
• MSRP: $159.95 USD, £154.95 GBP, €179.95 EUR

Initial Impressions

Renthal needs little introduction in the world of two-wheeled offroad activities. The company has been active in the motocross scene for 55 years now, where Renthal handlebars are fitted as OEM spec on MX performance models by the world’s biggest manufacturers. 14 years ago they added a mountain bike line which has grown to include handlebars, stems, grips, and chainrings to date. Building on this success seems a natural thing to do, and although the world hardly needs another flat pedal option today, Renthal felt they could add some value by applying their commitment to quality to this component as well. They did not want to make something for the sake of making though, so they’ve spent quite a few years developing and refining the pedal before finally introducing it to the market.

Starting from the internals, Renthal put durability and serviceability at the very top of the list of the desired attributes for the new pedal. They settled on a full-length chromoly axle, spinning on a large IGUS bushing and three smaller outboard bearings. To make the pedal easy to work on for most any home mechanic, they developed an axle system that also serves to pull the bushing out of the pedal for servicing. This opens access to the bearings which can be easily knocked out and replaced, once again by using the pedal’s own axle and some very common tools (6 and 8mm allen keys, a standard 8mm socket, and a mallet – that’s it). Renthal has just been granted a patent pending for the design of this axle system, which tells you that it is indeed something different enough to what's out there already.

Moving on to the shape of the body, Renthal identified that a flat pedal benefits greatly from a concave shape in two directions. The Revo-F is made from 6061 alloy, which has been forged and CNCed to arrive at the desired shape. The outline looks similar to many other flat pedals, but the devil is always in the details and Renthal left no stone unturned here. The machining is intricate and the profile of the contours is deliberate. Renthal wanted a pedal that could deal with rockstrikes, presenting a chamfered leading edge designed to slide off obstacles as opposed to hang up on them. That also means that they left quite a lot of material around this area, which adds to the weight of the pedal – at 490 grams for the pair, it is among the heavier options out there at the moment.

Looking over the dimensions of the pedal, the body itself is fairly compact, measuring in at 104x100 mms. However, the axle is quite long, which allows the pedal to sit a bit further out from the crank arm, providing for a better “pin-to-axle” number (we measure this number for all the pedals we test here at Vital, and you can check how different pedals stack up against each other in our Flat Pedal Face Off article). For reference, the Revo-F offers 7 mm of concavity, which is among the very best we’ve tested, and a PTA of 110 mm, which is fairly average.

For the pins, Renthal wanted to offer a lot of adjustability, as preferences will vary from one rider to the next. They settled on a combination of two different pin lengths and washers that can be used to create a number of different combinations, with pin height varying from 2.5 to 5.5 mm at any of the pin positions. All the necessary pins and washers are included in the box. The pins load from the rear of the pedal, which should help ensure that they can be easily removed even if you snap them off completely. The thread of the pins ends at the top, which is typically conducive to excellent pin grip. The pins are placed around the edges of the pedal, with the pin closest to the crank arm slightly offset to make sure it actually serves a purpose (Renthal noticed that many riders would often place their foot slightly towards the outside, which renders the innermost pins useless if they are positioned too close to the cranks).

On The Trail

The Revo-F features quite a compact platform, but the significant amount of concavity really helps the foot sink in and find grip regardless of where you place it. The long axle places the pedal far enough away from the crank arm to allow even riders with big feet to not feel cramped. We think this pedal strikes a very good balance between overall size, PTA, and ability to sneak past trailside obstacles. It is not the roomiest pedal underfoot, but it doesn’t feel cramped either.

The grip delivered by the threaded pins is excellent, and we think Renthal pretty much nailed the pin placement as well. The pedal feels familiar underfoot, and we’ve not been able to fault the grip in any circumstances. The pedal is reassuringly confidence-inspiring even in thick mud, which should come as no surprise since Renthal is a UK company and they’ve been testing these pedal at home for two years by now. The compact form-factor and the smooth, chamfered leading edge also allows the Revo-F to shrug off rock strikes with ease. After 1.5 months on the trail, we have a few scuff marks to show for our efforts, but nothing more.

Things That Could Be Improved

The way we measure and rank pedals here at Vital favors a long PTA, deep concavity, and light weight. The Revo-F is fairly compact, which leaves it in the middle of the pack in the PTA rankings. It is also quite heavy. Whether or not you think those attributes are something that should be improved upon - or in fact an advantage - is for you to decide, in light of your riding style, trails, and preferences. We understand that Renthal knowingly decided to leave a bit of weight on the Revo-F in the name of durability and ease of service, so if those aspects are close to your heart, you should definitely consider it among the leaders.

Long Term Durability

We only have 1.5 months of trail time with the Revo-F so far, so it’s too early for us to provide a definitive verdict when it comes to durability. However, the design choices made by Renthal all favor durability, and from what we’ve seen so far, we have no reason to doubt that the Revo-F will deliver here. Being able to rebuild the pedal at home with common tools is a clear advantage as well.

What’s The Bottom Line?

You could argue that there are already more than enough flat pedal options in the market, and you wouldn’t be far off base. However, Renthal has proven that you can still sweat the details and come up with something fresh (so fresh, in fact, that they have been awarded a pending patent on the axle design). If grip, durability, and serviceability are high on your list of requirements, and you don’t mind carrying around a few extra grams, we believe you’ll be very well served with the Revo-F.

More information at: renthal.com.

About The Reviewer

Johan Hjord - Age: 50 // Years Riding MTB: 18 // Weight: 190-pounds (87-kg) // Height: 6'0" (1.84m)

Johan loves bikes, which strangely doesn’t make him any better at riding them. After many years spent practicing falling off cliffs with his snowboard, he took up mountain biking in 2005. Ever since, he’s mostly been riding bikes with too much suspension travel to cover up his many flaws as a rider. His 200-pound body weight coupled with unique skill for poor line choice and clumsy landings make him an expert on durability - if parts survive Johan, they’re pretty much okay for anybody. Johan rides flat pedals with a riding style that he describes as "none" (when in actuality he rips!). Having found most trail features to be not to his liking, Johan uses much of his spare time building his own. Johan’s other accomplishments include surviving this far and helping keep the Vital Media Machine’s stoke dial firmly on 11.

Photos by Johan Hjord and Nils Hjord