Xpedo Thrust SL Titanium Review

The Xpedo Thrust SL is the lightest look-keo style pedals on the market by a good margin. I’ve had experience with Xpedo before, with their light mtb pedals to mixed success, so I decided to take the plunge and order a pair from Amazon International for $227.44 (which is far less than their website).

	Xpedo Thrust SL (Titanium)	Shimano PD-R9100 Dura Ace Pedals	Wahoo Speedplay Zero Pedals
Weight (pair)	168g	228g	220g
Price (USD)	$229.99	$280.00	$255.00
Purchase	Amazon	Amazon	Amazon

Early Issues

The first week or two was great. No issues clipping in or unclipping, and the adjustment for when you need to unclip was handy to have (and I maxed it out so it is very hard to unclip). At week three (around ~1k miles), I ran into issues with the bearings in my pedals. One of the pedals was creaking when standing, and when spun on the bike stand, the pedal made a grinding noise. One of the bearings was shot, but to me, that was an incredibly short lifespan for bearings. I decided to hope that it was a manufacturing issue and make a warranty claim. They had me send them out without any promise of fixing them at my own expense. The turnaround time was quick at one week, but I wasn’t happy to have to send them in and gain some grams when it was peak summer here in Boulder. Luckily I had an old pair of Assioma pedals to use as a backup.

Continued Issues

The pedals came back and the issue was fixed. Both the spindle and body looked to not be replaced, so I guessed they must have done something with the bearings. There was still some grinding feeling when spinning one of the pedals, but I figured it wasn’t a big issue and that they fixed them, right? Lo and behold, another week or two and the creak came back.

The bearings that were causing the most issues for me were the larger ones, so I decided to replace them all on my own and pack the pedals with a lot of grease in the hope that would solve the issue. That worked for a few rides, but then the brand-new bearings were shot.

I decided to send them in for repair, again. I pleaded with the support person to cover shipping, and they did reluctantly. So off they went again. This time, they replaced both pedal bodies, and it seems I got a revisioned body. The metal washer was now longer and prevented any side-to-side play, which seemed to be an oversight in the first version I had.

Anyway, the new pedal bodies worked great. There were still issues with one of the bearings, so I replaced them to be proactive. I had bought a kit of 10 bearings, so figured I might as well use them. Anyways, another thousand miles and they started creaking. This time when I was in Spain and without replacement bearings. On the spot, I ordered some new pedals, which will be talked about in a future post.

Bad Tolerances

My analysis is that between the pedal body and spindle, there are bad tolerances all around which are wrecking the bearings. I’ve given up. I have extra bearings to replace, but I would have to replace them proactively every 1000 miles (or less). For a $255 MSRP pedal, this is pretty unacceptable.

Verdict

Do not recommend them. Unless you like replacing bearings, or annoying others on your group ride with creaks.