The Dura-Ace pedal system from Shimano occupies an odd position in cycling, in that they’re hellishly expensive, but are also meaningfully better than the lower tier version.
The trouble is they are very expensive indeed at $330 / $235.
First, let’s not mess around. Shimano’s SL road pedal system is brilliant. Unchanged since homus-erectus first emerged from the cave, the pedals benefit the rider by delivering one of the largest pedal areas on the market, spreading the weight of the rider, across the ball of the foot, resulting in less discomfort, and less hotspots. Bravo Shimano. They come with Shimano build quality too.
When it comes to the Dura-Ace label you should expect the best, and you’d expect the pedals to be carrying less timber than a lower tier version, and they are indeed 20g’s lighter, but there is some actual engineering in a Dura-Ace pedal that exists for something other than the pursuit of lightweight.
Incongruous though it may sound, given the lighter weight in the overall system, there is in fact an extra bearing. And this bearing creates not only a stiffer pedalling platform, but a more efficient one, with less resistance under load, and therefore less wear over the long term.
I struggle to think of anything else on a bike where the same can be said of ‘tiering up’ on the set up.
The kicker is as always, the price. Unless it’s Cyber Monday. In which case the usual rules definitely do not apply.
If you want to help yourself to a great pedalling system, that at this price becomes inarguably, inextricably, the very best pedalling system on the market, today is the day. Before the clock strikes twelve, and this glass cycling slipper turns back into an expensive pumpkin.
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