​Cube Acid Click Road C40 Aero Pedals: Sturdy road bike pedals for 100 euros

Cube positions the Acid Click Road C40 Aero pedals as high-end road bike pedals for long training sessions and racing: an aerodynamically shaped, carbon-fibre-reinforced pedal body, a KEO-compatible clip-in mechanism (also available in an SPD-SL version), needle and industrial ball bearings, and a CrMo axle secured with a single-sided screw. The enclosed pedal body is designed to protect against dirt and moisture, whilst a stainless steel contact surface reduces wear. The set includes cleats with 4.5-degree float, and the spring tension can be individually adjusted.

During the test, which covered around 300 kilometres, it was easy to clip in and out of the pedals – once you’d found the right side of the pedal (more on this in the next paragraph). Handy: when adjusting the spring tension, there are distinct notches, making it easy to set both pedals to the same setting. The rubberised cleats ensure a secure grip when walking. A quick side note: even without cycling shoes, the pedals offer surprisingly good grip.

With road bike clipless pedals, one side is designed to be slightly heavier so that it rotates downwards on its own once you’ve unclipped – this makes it easy to get the hang of the clipping-in process; you always apply the same pressure to the pedal and so quickly find the position where it clicks. With the brand-new Cube Acid pedals, this didn’t work very well at first – more so with one pedal than the other: it didn’t reliably turn downwards. After a few kilometres of running them in, this has already improved significantly.

+ affordable, KEO-compatible, rubber-coated cleats,

- One of the pedals didn’t return reliably to its starting position at first; it needs a bit of running-in

• Price: 99.95 euros
• Weight: 287 grams (manufacturer’s specification)