LOOK Cycle – Bicycle Pedals KEO 2 MAX XXX – Large Contact Surface 500 mm² – Total Power Transfer – Ultra-Light Pedals, XXXX Body – Adjustable Tension

Product Information

THE NEW KEO 2 MAX IS THE PRODUCT THAT WILL GIVE YOU THE CONFIDENCE YOU NEED TO GO BEYOND YOUR PERSONAL LIMITS. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two systems is in how the float works and feels when you’re using cleats that provide a lot of movement. Look’s nine-degree red cleats and Shimano’s six-degree yellow cleat feel in use like they provide similar amounts of movement. However, Shimano’s cleat allows your foot to move around a point in the middle of the cleat; Look’s move around the tip. A recent poll on ROUVY “WHAT PEDALS DO YOU USE ON YOUR BIKE WHILE TRAINING INDOORS” showed the following results. The results kind of make sense since ROUVY (like all other indoor training applications) uses power as one of the main rider inputs. The riders can also use the same pedal system both indoors and outdoors. PEDALS

While weight is far from being the most important aspect of a bike component, it still matters. The cheapest Kéo, the Classic 3, weighs 350g/pr including cleats. The base-model SPD-SL pedals, PD-RS500s come in at a claimed 320g without cleats; a pair of cleats weighs 74g, so that’s 394g in total. One up from Shimano’s entry-level pedals, the Tiagra R550s offer very good performance and reliability for the price with a design that echoes the company’s top-end pedals. Some cleats are ‘zero-float’, or fixed, which means they release your foot with only the slightest of movements. They need to be set up very carefully for the sake of your knees. Most cleats, however, offer something in the range of 3 to 9 degrees of float. The R550s are a great set of first clipless pedals, offering everything you need. They have Shimano’s three-bolt cleat system, adjustable float and adjustable release tension so you can make clipping in and out as easy or hard as you like.Of the above poiints, Look have admitedly closed the gap in recent years, adding pontoons to the cleats so you dont directly walk on the pedal / cleat mating surface as before. Being already quasi-familiar with the product, I was anxious to see if there was a difference in performance. Is the extra weight worth it and the modifications noticeable? Read on… More broadly, Cavell says, “Both SPD-SL and Look are well designed and stable pedalling platforms with a choice of float profiles to suit most riders. Not sure I see too much difference in the pedal real estate but their functionality and ‘feel’ are different enough to give a different proposition to riders.” I moved over from Shimano to Look. Miss the feel of Shimano - the blue cleats, especially. However, I now run Assioma power pedals, so it just makes sense to have one cleat/pedal setup on the turbo, etc. Now- I'm absolutely on board with the Look Pedals; the power transfer is great, the overall "feel" is positive and dependable. Some brands, such as Shimano, use smaller cleats that fasten with two bolts. There are various reasons you might choose a smaller two-bolt cleat over a three-point fastening cleat. You can find out which would be best for you in our Shimano SPD and SPD-SL explainer.

The pedals always hung at an angle on the crank, which minimises the time and effort to push the cleat in, and as with all Look pedals, getting in and out is very easy, making them ideal for a wide range of cyclists.I sweat a lot when training indoors. In fact, to keep rust from ruining the cleats on my shoes, I need to keep lubing the cleat bolts with WD-40. Comparison On initial set-up, the Look Keo 2 Max Carbon is every bit as secure as the Shimano pedals with clipping in and release feeling very similar. Over the duration of the test though the Look cleats did wear noticeably faster than the Shimano, this resulted in some play between the cleat and the pedal with no amount of adjustment removing it. This isn’t something you notice when you’re just riding along, unless you concentrate hard on how your feet are moving or ride with a Kéo pedal on one side and an SPD-SL with yellow cleat on the other. Look first came up with this three-point fastening and it’s become pretty much the standard for road pedals, with Shimano, Time, Mavic and others all using the same arrangement. To try and get a handle on whether there were any important ergonomic differences between SPD-SL and Kéo pedals, I spoke to bike fit experts Phil Cavel of Cyclefit.

The sole purpose of the sum of these improvements has been to guarantee you irreproachable reliability. Most road cleats use a three-bolt pattern and come in a variety of different floats. Stan Portus / Our Media

A tried-and-tested design built from carbon fibre is unlikely to go too far wrong but how does it compare against its competitors?

Garmin’s Rally RS200 power meter pedals have a clean look and are easy to install. Simon Bromley / Immediate Media The cleats are pretty wide and have rubbery patches on the bottom, which makes walking on them slightly less dangerous. Look offers 2mm washers to extend the Q-Factor from 53mm to 55mm, which is possible because the threaded section is a long-ish 14mm. I didn’t test these. RIDE REVIEW: According to Garmin, this is what justifies the name change from its outgoing Vector pedals. Otherwise, the two pedals are very similar when it comes to their clean looks and power functionality. At the top of the range, Look has gone all-out to save weight on the Kéo Blade Carbon Ceramic Ti model, which as the name suggests has titanium axles, ceramic bearings and a carbon fibre body. A pair with cleats weighs a claimed 260g.