Long-term review: Chromag flat pedals

Contacts

Five years ago I got a pair of Chromag’s Contact pedals. I loved them immediately; annodized red, they looked freaking awesome. But they aren’t just good looking.

This CNCed platform pedal is designed by Brendan Semenuk. Featuring a concave surface with 18 height-adjustable traction pins, it looks like a platform pedal should. Not too big, not too small. Reminiscent of the pedal everyone’s been emulating since the 1990s; the coveted original Shimano DX from 1981 (if it ain’t broke right?).

The Contacts work just like the should. Providing plety of traction, all the dents in my shins are from my pre-Contact life. Hundreds of pedal strikes, cased jumps and botched drops later and the axle is as straight as the day I first installed them.

For the past five years, these were the only pedals I trusted. I’d switch them from my Santa Cruz Nomad to my NS dirt jumper each time I switched bikes. It was annoying, but simply put, I trust the Contacts. They retail for $155.

Scarabs

I’ve recently put on a pair of Chromag’s Scarab pedals. They’re a beautiful annondized blue, and much like the Contacts, they work just like they should. They spin well and so far I’ve got no complaints about the traction. The concave platfom puts your foot where it should go and they’re a reasonable thickeness; 13 mm a the center, which isn’t the thinnnest pedal out there, but I’ve had the thin pedals before; the bearings lasted less than one season after the axle bent on the first pedal strike.

Just like the Contacts, the Scarabs are made with CNC machined, extruded alumium. They have a hardened chromoly axle, dual seals, inner bushing and precision cartridge bearings.

I’ve heard people moan and groan about their pedals being too grippy, but that’s totally adjustable with these pedals. The pins can be removed, or added. You can use the pins with washers (to make them shorter) or without (to make them longer). Chromag also sells new pins if you want to add pins. In fact, if you filled every threaded option on these, you could put 20 pins per side. That would probably make them too grippy, but hey, options are good right?

They retail for $190 which certainly isn’t the cheapest pedal out there, but there’s a good chance these pedals will last you for years to come. Not to mention they come in six different annondized colours.