So, just recently, yesterday, I changed/moved from clipless pedals (Crank Bros Acid 1) on my MTB to flats (Chesters).
An effort to gain back some skills and develop a few more (been off mtb for a bit over 3 yrs due to health issues).
Took them - Chesters - for a shakedown ride yesterday in the large open space where I live (Ellwood Mesa in Goleta).
Really liked them, mostly... However I did come up with one issue which had never surfaced before - Pedal strikes due to width...
On the mesa there are a number of tight section through scrubbrush, which have very deep V-ruts, some over 2 ft deep. You can't avoid running them since the thick, rough brush is right to that edge. And they are anywhere from 15 to many feet longer.
Even with pedals in a 'ready/attack' position I was stopped dead by the pedal not making it through the rut - both sides.
This becomes a problem, especially on the trails in our Los Padres backcounty, where there are often narrow passages between large boulders. Boulders you can't climb over and are butted against steep talus on the uphill side and often a precipitous drop on the downhill side. No way to ride it if you can;t squeeze through. Usually means you have to dismount and figure a way to carry around/over...
With my acid pedals, some of these can be ridden, because of enough clearance. But no way the Chesters are gonna fit !
Pic below shows the difference - Acids are total width of 90 mm from crank to outeredge. Chesters are 110mm from crank to outeredge (pic has a little perspective issue, but the CHesters ARE 110 mm wide).
This extra width seems to make a big difference!
Pedal Width - Chester (110mm) vs Crank Bros Acid 1 (90mm) comparo
SO I'm looking for Flat Pedals, with good pin arrangement and grip, that are narrower than Chesters, by as much as possible.
The 110 width seems to be a defacto/common width in flats. I did find a reference for Gamut Podiums, but at $170/pr, they're out of the question.
There seem to some chinese pedals which show narrower width - but how reliable those measurements are is always a question...
Any and All recommendations/suggestions are appreciated!
Ride On
Yuri