A little while back John from Trail and Track, local Melbourne BMX specialist, asked if we would check out some Wellgo D2 Smoothie Pedals. I'd never heard of D2 Smoothies before but found Wellgo pedals to be good, reliable pedals and at a reasonable price. The D2 Smoothie is a SPD compatible (clipless) pedal. Basically they are a little different to the common Shimano 545 or 424 SPD's, but are similar in the way they have a solid cage around the clip. The clip mechanism on the SPD's pivot on the axle, the D2 Smoothie has the pivot on the toe end of the pedal body. Where the Shimano's pivot is spring loaded, so is the D2, but only at the rear of the clip mechanism. The theory behind the springs is a smoother ride, hence the name.
Personally I don't use "clipless" pedals, so organised for Jamie Bullows, former Australian Champion and one of the bmxultra.com team riders, to use them and report back with feedback. If you are as curious as me about new products that you haven't heard much about then you would be all over Google researching, but there's not a lot of information on these pedals.
Features:
How do they compare to SPD's? Since the clip and the pedal body move together Jamie tells us he found it "easier to clip in", and during the couple of months of testing "never accidentally clipped out". When we asked him about the mechanism he said "It felt firm under foot, you don't feel the spring at all. No bounce, no suspension, nothing. This pedal is all business. I prefer these over the Shimano pedals".
The D2 pedals provide a number of advantages over the Shimano 545 SPD's:
At first we were a little concerned about the extra holes in the pedal body for the springs and the mechanism pivot, but the cage appears to be well constructed and didn't show any signs of stress or damage even after a few months.
All in all a great alternative to the Shimano SPD's and well worth checking out for your self.
Rating 18.5/20:
| Value for money: | 4/5 |
| Weight: | 5/5 |
| Functionality: | 5/5 |
| Looks/Finish: | 4.5/5 |
Comments:
Thanks to Trail and Track and Bicycle Parts Wholesale for supplying the Wellgo D2 Smoothie Pedals for review www.bicyclepartswholesale.com.au
Reviewed by Jamie Bullows and Shane Jenkins/bmxultra.com May 24 2010