Spank Spike Pedal

(discontinued)

These are a decent, but not great, pedal in the dry, but unusable in wet and sloppy due to bearings seizing. I usually get up to a month riding fairly hard 2-3 times a week in soggy wet season (8 months) Cascadia weather before the big bearing seizes up and needs a rebuild or replacement. But I've also had it seize after a single particularly sloppy ride.  The bearing needs a better seal system. As context, back when I clipped in more my XT SPDs lasted 2+ years, and old Wellgo MG1 bearings also lasted 2 years (though the pedals looked haggard and spindle bent).

They have an annoying squeak wearing Impacts in certain weather conditions. It's the end nut rubbing against the sticky rubber.  Final complaint is the bearing bulge makes then feel a bit narrower, and my foot always rubs up against it. I'm going to slightly thicker pedals next time around that don't have this bulge. 

Pedal is nice and thin, has decent feel for a thin pedal, and reasonable grip. Pins are a good design and easy to replace.

If it weren't for the bearing issue, I'd still be riding these. If you only ride in the dry, these are OK, but there are better out there.  Avoid if you ride in slop.

While these are a good set of pedals overall, they eat through bearings and bushings. I've never had bearing/bushing problems in my previous 15 years of riding, riding Shimano SPDs, up to and including the XT level while racing XC, then riding the same set of Syncros Meathooks for 7 seasons, and they are still used now by the new owner. Sure, the Meathooks had play and worn bushings, but they didn't squeak and wouldn't spin that much when packed with grease.

The Spikes need a yearly rebuild - the bearing and bushing develop play after about half a year, it's tolerable for up to a year, if you do a rebuild in the spring and ride a squeaky set over the winter.

I've had to superglue the main bearing to the axle in order to unseize it twice after a really wet ride (this was on two different bearings, one before and one after a bearing swap). Plus i'm told they have a custom bearing size, which is also currently out of stock in Europe. If they fixed the bearing situation after the 2015 model year or if they add a grease port (and change the Igus bushing to something else, like a small needle bearing in combination with the grease port) these sure can be damn good pedals. But given the situation i'll be getting something else for my next bike.

They would be getting 4 to 5 stars if the bearings were OK.

I used these for 6 months prior to picking up a different pair of pedals and really liked them. Loads of grip and big platform. They aren't the lightest pedal out there if you are looking to save weight. The colors look great too. Would recommend for any enduro or DH build, survived a summer season of thrashing on my DH bike.

I found these pedals to be absolutely brilliant, more than worth the money I paid. I bought them to well try them out really after reading some positive reviews.

The amount of grip is perfect, not so much that it's too hard to move your foot when you get your footing wrong, but more than enough to keep your foot in place if you get me. Sooo good when matched up with 5.10's

Not only do they look amazing, but they're also bombproof. I've smashed mine into a fair amount of rocks and just the ground in general and only lost 2 pins. The body has a couple of scratches on but that's it.

The only possible niggle with them is that they don't spin freely. I don't mind this because they won't spin when you take a foot off but some people might not like this.

All in all, an amazing pedal that has proven itself brilliantly in my eyes