Elongated platform pedals

Jeremy McCreary

Jeremy McCreary

Well-Known Member
Region
USA
City
Carlsbad, CA
Bike came with fairly nice 4x4" alloy platform pedals, but now and then, my feet either lose proper placement or have a hard time finding it when starting. A roadie friend with the same problem improved things with elongated platforms — specifically, the ones on Catalyst Pedals from Pedaling Innovations.

By "elongated" here I mean rectangular, with the greater platform dimension parallel to the length of the bike and significantly longer than 4".

I like the idea of elongated platforms for several reasons — including the mechanical arguments for the mid-foot position put forth on the Catalyst site. But not wild about the $149 Catalyst price. Nor the lack of reflectors.

ROCKBROS has less elongated alloy platforms for $38, also without reflectors.

Q1. Any other elongated platform options out there?

Q2. Thoughts on adding reflectors to the ROCKBROS offering?

Q3. If you use elongated platforms, how do you like them?

Interested in platform pedals only. Thanks!
 
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Try Crankbrothers Stamp in size L. For a casual rider such as me or you, Stamp 1 Large (US$50) are excellent (no need to pay for the high-end versions of Stamp). The width is 4.49" and length is 4.47".

No reflectors (sorry!), these pedals are very thin and profiled (concave) . Of course, similarly to the Catalyst, the Stamps are equipped with steel traction pins. Crankbrothers Stamp have great reputation, and I use them (1, 3 or 7 Large) on all my e-bikes. Combine Stamps with Adidas Five Ten Freerider Pro shoes and you'll get something as good as the "clipless" pedals/cleated shoes but with no risk related to the latter.

Regarding the reflectors: no respected maker of quality pedals bothers about the reflectors. I think you could find many other Hi-Vis options than the pedal reflectors!

My experiences: The Stamp/Five Ten combination keeps your feet on the pedals like these were glued to each other. You actually have to lift your foot a little to disconnect from the pedal! Big pedals are giving me freedom as to set my foot position on the pedal, and I change the position pretty often (it is what clipless/cleated won't ever let you). Under no condition can your foot slip off the pedal, and I often ride my e-bikes standing on the pedals like MTBers do (to relieve my butt, to avoid big bumps or to change the body position with my butt above the rear wheel for steep descents).

I think Rockbros pedals are equally good, same as Catalysts.

DaveMatthews said:
I went with FaceFace Chester pedals https://www.raceface.ca/products/chester-pedal?variant=32503653040261

But they are not elongated much if at all. They do however grip my soles very well.
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I still keep a pair of Chesters but those turned out to be too small for my large feet! :)
 
Rome said:
Reflectors I think are mandatory in England. I remember reading from a well known member. When he had his R&M fitted with new pedals it required amber Reflectors.
Anyway pedals and saddles?
Moot
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UK is a very strange country. Even Germany does not require pedal reflectors!
 
Jeremy McCreary said:
Bike came with fairly nice 4x4" alloy platform pedals, but now and then, my feet either lose proper placement or have a hard time finding it when starting. A roadie friend with the same problem improved things with elongated platforms — specifically, the ones on Catalyst Pedals from Pedaling Innovations.

By "elongated" here I mean rectangular, with the greater platform dimension parallel to the length of the bike and significantly longer than 4".

I like the idea of elongated platforms for several reasons — including the mechanical arguments for the mid-foot position put forth on the Catalyst site. But not wild about the $149 Catalyst price. Nor the lack of reflectors.
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I use their big feet pedals. My feet are size 13. my wife uses the regular size. thepyrice of them sure went up later in covid. no other pedals that I know of are that large.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. Amazing how difficult it is to get actual platform dimensions for some of these, as if it weren't relevant somehow.

Some platform aspect ratios (L/W): Catalyst = 1.51, ROCKBROS Wide = 1.15, Chester = 1.10, Stamp 1 large = 1.00.
 
Jeremy McCreary said:
Thanks for all the suggestions. Amazing how difficult it is to get actual platform dimensions for some of these, as if it weren't relevant somehow.

Some platform aspect ratios (L/W): Catalyst = 1.51, ROCKBROS Wide = 1.15, Chester = 1.10, Stamp 1 large = 1.00.
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i’m thinking the front to back dimension tends to be fairly standardized because of the risk of pedal strikes otherwise. does your bike have a high enough bottom bracket to allow another inch or more or pedal forward and back?

i like to turn fast, which means i like small pedals :)
 
mschwett said:
believe it or not, federal requirement in the united states requires that bicycles be sold with pedals that have amber reflectors front and back.

it is, however, legal to remove those as the consumer.

silly law.
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Thanks for the regulatory info. I enjoy night riding, and like adding pedal reflectors to my other visibility measures. Willing to bet that a small moving reflector is more eye-catching than a larger stationary one — at least to a point.
 
Jeremy McCreary said:
Which pedals are these?
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go to their webpage and look at the large size. for feet 13 and bigger.
IMG_1983.jpg
 
mschwett said:
i’m thinking the front to back dimension tends to be fairly standardized because of the risk of pedal strikes otherwise. does your bike have a high enough bottom bracket to allow another inch or more or pedal forward and back?

i like to turn fast, which means i like small pedals :)
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Not an agressive rider in general, and only do lighter offroad, but definitely want to avoid pedal strikes. Just don't bounce like I used to.

Bottom bracket is about 285 mm high with 170 mm cranks, all on center. No strikes so far with the current 98x98 mm pedals (LxW, with L front to back).

Reasonable clearance for the 120x104 mm ROCKBROS pedal? How about the 143x95 mm Catalyst?
 
Sorry, not from that photo.

Wait, can barely make out part of logo. Wasn't aware that Catalysts come in more than 1 size.
 
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Interesting. I looked at about 50 pedals on modernbikes.com site last night, most of them have no dimension but the axle thread. On the first couple of pages origin8 had a 113 mm long one with grip points on one side, but I didn't buy it. https://www.modernbike.com/origin8-retox-platform-pedals-red. My bike is green. OEM pedals are tan.
I'm only shoe size 10 1/2, but I sprained my foot twice in the last year pushing down on the pedal, flat footed in middle of shoe sole just ahead of the heel. I have huge quadriceps for my 158 lb, but very light duty bones & cartilage in hands & feet. I'm addressing the problem with $240 US made SAS shoes that have an actual shank, but wearing these dress shoes does not exactly fit my rural lifestyle with 30" johnson grass on my driveway first trip out there. I can find walking shoes that are too narrow on closeout (since I have B width feet) but that ****ese garbage has 1.5 mm rubber as a sole. I'm not worried about pedal strike, I never ride without feet on the pedals and I never pedal with my toes. I do worry about special biking shoes, since I have to push the bike with 60 lb groceries 7 to 20 miles every couple of years. Special biking shoes don't come in B width, either.
It is time to do something, the pedals on my bike are groaning every turn and laying it on the side & oiling them didn't help this time. ~12000 miles. I couldn't get the pedal out last night to measure the axle, as is usual. I have never ever gotten a pedal out in 66 years of riding. Yes, I know the ones on one side are LH thread. I put the pedals on the bike when I got it out of the box, with anti-seize. I'll probably have to buy 2 new cranks since I can pull those off with the $50 puller I bought.
 
I have been using Catalyst pedals for years. They are the only platform pedal I use when I am not cleating in. I was one of the early adopters of their use on street bikes.

I have a few sets of the 'normal' size, and for my Surly I decided to try the really big ones even though I do not have a Size 13 foot. I prefer them.

The use case for me was foot pain due to the unsupported arch. Being able to plant the full arch on the pedal is a big deal comfortwise. And you really do use different muscles as the reviews say you do. You'll actually feel weak and tired in the beginning because you are changing the muscle groups you use. But you will also be applying much more power to the pedal stroke. When I first tried them out, it took a while to adapt my pedal stroke. And I did not feel particularly good about them or their benefits. Then after awhile I rode a bike that didn't have them and was floored at how much I missed the things and how much they actually gave me, now that I was able to directly compare. Thats what sold me. Also pedal strikes on the front or rear can happen if you are swooping into corners hard on the street. But otherwise not a problem. Its never caused a crash, just stained underwear.

So: Two benefits: Support for the full arch and much more powerful pedal stroke due to the different muscle groups employed. They are totally worth the money.

'Small' size on a bike whose pedals are low to the ground
PXL_20220526_161504488.jpg


The bigfoot size
PXL_20220827_235403067.NIGHT.jpg


Normal size again. I've got more :)
PXL_20211201_154340776.jpg
 
By the way these are the next-largest.


I have had one break after getting whacked really hard. But since its a $25 set of pedals no big loss. Here they are on the same red bike as the previous post. they came off in favor of the Catalysts. These pedals are big - barely big enough to do a mid-foot position. They are sized comparative to the other 'big' pedals on the market and are an inexpensive way to go big and stay conventional. But the Catalysts are better and in a size league of their own.
PXL_20220418_222802390.jpg
 
m@Robertson said:
By the way these are the next-largest.


I have had one break after getting whacked really hard. But since its a $25 set of pedals no big loss.
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Very helpful! Wow, for the cost of one pair of Catalysts, I could have a matching pedal color for every riding outfit!

The ROCKBROS "wide" alloy platforms linked in the OP are a tad larger at 120x104 mm and only $10 more after the coupon I just noticed. No fashion statement here, as they only come in black. But I'm already smokin' hot on a bike, so no big deal.
;^}

Can see how there might be a break-in period, but the mid-position Catalyst is advocating makes a LOT of sense to me — both mechanically and physiologically. If a life in science teaches anything, it's that thoroughly entrenched conventional wisdom can be quite wrong. The good and bad news about science is that humans are involved.
 
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