He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history. When viewed side by side, it’s easy to see the big leaps forward look has made with the second-generation kéo blade: when viewed side by side, it’s easy to see the big leaps forward look has made with the second-generation kéo blade

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.This comparison seems a little bias to me, but that's probably because I am a little bias the other way. Several years’ worth of research has gone into the design and build of Look’s Keo Blade Cromo pedals, resulting in a product which is light, durable, and secure. For me, ceramic bearings still have a tough job beating the Shimano system that has served me well for years. My XT cyclo-cross pedals go through awful conditions every winter and my Ultegra 6800 pedals have done four long years of road riding. Look's claim that its ceramic bearings will last '4 to 6 times longer than standard steel bearings' will take quite a few years to test. The two months that I've been riding and racing with these pedals have caused zero issues, so all good so far. Intended for performance cycling, the blade of the Keo Blade is optimised for speed. As the name suggests, rather than the traditional coil system, these pedals use a blade retention system. The integration of the blade and pedal lessens the frontal area presented to the wind, improving aerodynamics and ultimately increasing speed.

While there isn’t anything functionally wrong with the Look Keo Blade Carbon Ceramic pedals they do come up against some stiff competition. The Look Keo Max 2 offer the same wide pedalling platform, adjustable retention without swapping springs and the cleat with the grip sections all with only a 16g penalty to the Keo Blade. The Keo Blade Carbon ceramic is a perfectly competent pedal, but when faced with such stiff competition from in-brand rivals, let alone other brands, it doesn’t shine. Also considerThere are differences in the range of tension adjustment, float, and entry and exit feel between Look Kéo and SPD-SL pedals, but none of them are killer apps. How to choose? The pedal platform is 67mm wide (Shimano Dura-Ace, for comparison, is just a millimetre narrower) and has a surface area of 700mm 2 meaning that the pressure is distributed over a large area and you can get plenty of support.

The axle of the updated Blade Carbon pedals has been redesigned, the distance between the roller and needle bearings having been increased by 25%. Look says that this provides more rigidity to the entire length of the axle and, as a consequence, improved power transmission. Look also claims that its new axle design allows a gain of about 2 watts at 100rpm. Will you notice this in use? I can't say that I did.To enhance durability and reliability, the bearings are protected by an o-ring washer and are double-lipped seal to increase resistance to the elements. The new look kéo blade 2 cr pedals essentially combine the best features of the original kéo blade and the kéo blade aero: the new look kéo blade 2 cr pedals essentially combine the best features of the original kéo blade and the kéo blade aero Engagement and disengagement are pretty trouble-free and will be familiar to those who've used other Keo pedals; the shape of the jaws are pretty similar through the range. Unlike the coil-sprung models, the weight of this pedal isn't so concentrated at the rear, but they hang at a similar angle so it's relatively straightforward to clip in without looking, something that can be an issue with Time Xpresso pedals, for example. One thing that I really liked about the blade design is that the underside of the pedal is flatter and less treacherous than most road pedals if you put your weight on it having missed the clip-in. 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. With pedal and cleat combined, they are only 1g heavier than Shimano's Dura-Ace offering (Image credit: Peter Haworth) Performance