Gear Review: Shimano T8000 XT Touring Pedals

As a mountain biker from my teenage years, I'd developed a pretty strong anti-SPD sentiment, based mostly on which of the world cup DH racers clipped in and who ran on flat pedals. Poring over Mike Rose's photos on the pages of Dirt magazine, it was an easy choice - all the cool riders were on flats. Clipless pedals were the preserve of the skinsuits and peakless helmets brigade, who were sucking all the fun out of downhill and making everything a wee bit too... serious. 

My first pair of clipless pedals were Look road pedals that came on a second hand Giant Defy. I still remember vividly that most inauspicious of starts - nipping along to Dales Cycles to buy a pair of Specialized shoes and a set of Look cleats, and barely making it ten metres from the front door before forgetting how to unclip and finding myself in a heap on the pavement on Calgary Street. After a wee while, I changed over to Shimano pedals, and found myself getting on a wee bit better with those. 

When thinking through the build up of my Ribble CGR 725, one of the big questions on my mind was which pedal system to go for. Although many gravel riders still get on fine with SPD-SL road style cleats and pedals, I didn't see those lasting too long on manky adventures in the back of the Scottish beyond, least of all trying to clamber through bogs and over rocky burns in disco slippers (see that old Dirt magazine anti-spud sentiment again). I figured Shimano MTB SPDs would likely be the safest bet, in terms of widespread availabilty, choice of shoes and pedals, and matched with a nice walkable shoe. 

An XT-level trail pedal seemed like a pretty good idea, and the choices seemed promising, but I also had to be realistic with myself - I'd also likely be using the bike for commuting to work and general cutting about, so maybe a half-and-half pedal might make sense. I had been aware of pedals like the A530 before, and although I'm sure they'd have made pretty good SPD pedals, I was less convinced of their abilities as a flat pedal.

So then, you can only imagine my pleasant surprise as I was browsing a local bike shop and came across the T8000 XT Touring pedals - SPD on one side, and amazingly, what looked a lot like a proper flat mountain bike pedal on the other. A concave platform, and interchangeable pins distributed across the surface for grip... what joy! The price was maybe a wee bit higher than I'd have liked, but I couldn't ever recall having bought anything with the XT logo on it that hadn't been a solid, durable bit of kit that would last years. 

The good news is that now, after a few hundred miles of mixed riding, they're definitely living up to my expectations. I've adjusted well to the transition from road to mountain bike pedals, and the flat side of the pedal has proven to be a handy backup when cutting about in a pair of trainers. 

My first worry was wondering how I'd manage to get myself clipped in, given the single sided entry, but thankfully this wasn't a problem at all. When resting, the pedals will sit with the cleat entry facing the back of the bike in a vertical orientation, much like road pedals, so all you need to do is kick your foot forward into them, and you'll usually clip in without too much problem. I did find at first that the engagement process was a wee bit more tricky than with the road pedals, mostly based on the smaller target to aim for. The big plastic hook on the front of most road cleats is a lot easier to locate without really having to think too much, where the smaller MTB cleat requires a wee bit more finesse in locating. 

My second, and slightly more tangible worry, was that in the more likely event of a crash or a mishap on the trails, how I'd be able to get out of the pedals. Emergency bailouts are not something I encounter a lot on the road, but are pretty frequent when riding on less predictable trails. The good news is that they're a lot easier to bail out of than the road pedals, and the adjustable spring tension lets you get it just right. As I'm not pushing out any Greipel-esque levels of max sprint power, I tend to err slightly on the looser side. 

Weight is a very reasonable 392g (Shimano's quoted figure), meaning they're not superlight options for a dream build, but they're certainly far from porky. The platform is good and open too, meaning I've not found mud build-up to be a problem so far. The platform design has the welcome bonus in that it offers a bit of extra support on the SPD side too.

The flat side of the pedal has been a pleasant surprise so far - it's maybe not quite up there with the best dedicated flat pedals, at maybe three-quarters the surface area of something you'd see on a downhill bike, but it's definitely far more capable than the afterthought I feared it might've been. It does come with a pack of extended grubscrew-type pins, and while I've not decided to replace the standard pins, it's handy to have as an option. A popular option from my mountain bike days was to only replace the four corner pins on each pedal with longer ones, so I might keep that in mind come winter. 

The only small negative I've encountered so far is the need to keep the pedal and the cleat clean between rides, as any dried dirt in the mechanism leads to an irritating noise when pedalling hard. Not something that causes a problem during normal riding, just when out of the saddle pushing up steep climbs or making poor attempts at sprinting.