The French brand Look knows a thing or two about pedals, they are more accustomed to clipless road pedals and they have since broadened their horizons to mountain bikes too.
More recently they have released a range of MTB flat pedals, making the Trail ROC available a couple of years ago. They added two new pedals, the Trail Fusion budget option and the more premium Trail ROC Plus.
Design and specifications
Look turned to French Freeride and Slopestyle MTB Rider Thomas Genon in the development of the pedal who rode several prototypes at events like Redbull Rampage.
While the standard name conventions of pedals would have you thinking the Trail ROC Plus would have a bigger platform than the standard Trail ROC, it's actually slightly smaller. Look has trimmed off a fairly nominal 3mm off each side giving the Trail ROC Plus a 107mm by 107mm platform. The Trail ROC Plus is also marginally thinner than Look's other flat pedals, with a thickness of 16mm.
Plus must mean more pins, right? Well we're wrong there as well. Look has fitted out the Trail ROC Plus with 10 pins (two pins less than the standard Trail ROC), although they are now removable from the reverse side of the pedal using a T10 tool, rather than a tiny hex key in from the top.
The pedals are manufactured in France featuring a forged aluminum pedal body and a chromoly axle with an 8mm hex fitment. The pedals spin on a combination of a needle bearing and two rows of regular bearings.
Our sample pedals weigh in at 406g for the set which is reasonably competitive and are available in Black, Silver and Orange.
Performance
The combination of the shallow concave shape and long 6mm pins means the Trail ROC Plus pedals offer loads of grip. The platform provided more than enough support to avoid any hot spots when riding or absorbing big landings. While they might not have the wafer-thin feel like the super shallow Crankbrothers Stamp pedals, they are still svelt enough to help you feel more planted over rough terrain.
As the pins don’t have a hex head, Look has been able to make the long pins narrower which allows them to really dig into your sole for maximum grip. That's great if you are running dedicated MTB flat pedal shoes, although they are a little jaggy if you're wearing really thin-soled trainers.
My sample pedals have taken the brunt of a fair few heavy landings and rock strikes and seem to have brushed them off with ease. There are a few bent pins which is to be expected though. In theory, these should be easier to replace as they can be undone from underneath. That said, they will need to either be straightened out or the bent bit trimmed off before they can be removed.
One of my complaints about the Look X-Track clipless pedals I have previously tested was the covered axles stopping you from threading the pedals on by hand, these have the same issue as the pedal body extends right up to the crank. Arguably most riders are probably not fitting and removing pedals as much as I am, but if you are it's something that could become annoying.
Verdict
Plenty of platform and tenaciously grippy pins are assured to keep your feet locked to the Trail ROC Plus pedals out on the trail. I think they look a little more refined than the standard ROC pedal and considering the fact the durability has so far been impressive and they are manufactured in France, the premium price tag is reasonable as well.
Tech specs: Look Trail ROC Plus pedal
- Price: $180 / £159 / €159
- Size: 107 x 107 x 16mm
- Weight: 406g (per pair)
- Construction: Forged aluminum body, Chromoly steel axle
- Colors: Black, Orange, Silver
