Bontrager Line Pro Flat Pedal

If you’ve been riding for a while, you may well recall the Big Earl and King Earl flat pedals from Bontrager, Trek’s house brand for components. At around 650 grams and featuring a fairly clunky profile, they had durability going for them but beyond that it would be fair to say that the design wasn’t exactly inspired. Good thing then that Bontrager decided to start fresh for their new Line Pro, a decidedly more up to date offering worthy of a 2017 shop window. We’ve put a pair to the test to see how they stack up on the trail.

Bontrager Line Pro Highlights

• Pedal body made from 6061-T6 aluminum
• Concave body design
• Sealed cartridge bearings
• Chromoly axle
• 10 rear loading pins per side
• Tunable pin height
• Colors: black, orange
• Weight: 426 grams (pair, verified)
• MSRP: $99.99 USD

Initial Impressions

The Line Pro pedal looks the part straight out of the box. I bears more than a little resemblance to DMR’s Vault, the winner of our Flat Pedal Face Off in 2016, which can only be a good thing. The design is open with a generous platform to rest your feet on. Wanting to make room for an axle that spins on sealed cartridge bearings (and a bushing on the crank side) without creating any kind of bulge in the middle, Bontrager didn’t try to create the thinnest pedal out there but the Line Pro still qualifies for today’s “flat, wide, and thin” category.

The heavily machined pedal body offers a fair amount of concavity, further accentuated by the placement of traction pins around the edges. The pins screw in from the rear, and feature washers that can be added or removed to fine tune the feel and the grip of the pedal.

The leading edges are heavily chamfered, and Bontrager left plenty of material around this area to help ward off rock strikes and similar. At 426 grams for the pair, the Line Pro isn’t the lightest pedal we’ve come across to date, but it’s well in line with much of the competition, while the $99.99 price tag places it squarely on the more affordable side of the quality pedal market.

On The Trail

As described in our Flat Pedal Face Off feature, we look for flat and wide pedals that offer good grip and a confidence-inspiring feeling underfoot. The Line Pro felt good from day one, providing ample grip and enough room to let us move our big feet around as needed. The pin height can be adjusted, but even in the standard configuration the Line Pro hangs on to your shoe soles like chewing gum on your favorite sneaker.

The overall shape is stable, although we did find that the taller profile of the Line Pro makes it slightly more prone to rolling than other, thinner pedals. This is also due to the fact that the platform tapers off quite dramatically towards to the rear of the pedal (a result of the highly chamfered design), which reduces the overall contact patch with the foot. It is far from dramatic, but noticeable under certain circumstances nevertheless.

Pedals take a beating, and maintenance is another important aspect of the ownership experience. The Line Pro is easy to work one, with just a few tools like a socket wrench needed to expose the innards for cleaning and/or replacing the bearings.

Things That Could Be Improved

We like the overall shape and performance of the Line Pro, but it could be made even better by making it just a tiny bit thinner and longer. As it stands, it offers great grip but it can feel a little tall under your foot at times.

Long Term Durability

This is only a First Ride review, so we can’t provide any real life feedback on actual durability. The bearing-based axle design is proven though, and after our few short weeks on the trail we have not detected any signs of premature wear or other problems. We have managed to hit quite a few rocks already, which the Line Pro has so far shrugged off without breaking stride.

What’s The Bottom Line?

There’s no shortage of good flat pedal options out there, and most of the finalists in our flat pedal Face Off would not hold you back on the trail. Bontrager’s Line Pro features a robust design with a concave shape that generates a lot of grip, in a package that retails for a lot less than some of its rivals. A slightly thinner profile would help it challenge for the top spots in the aforementioned Face Off, but as it stands, it’s still a very good option for those looking for an affordable pedal that can take a beating.

More information at: www.trekbikes.com.

About The Reviewer

Johan Hjord 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