NC-17 = PG-13

NC-17 SUD Pin III S-Pro CNC Pedals Review

NC-17 Sudpin III S-Pro in Black Ano

I was running a set of flats that were on the big side and usually that means heavy. That lead me on a search for pedals that had the right profile, were light and durable. So looking around, in the $80-100 range my options were limited to Crank Brothers, Azonic, Wellgo, Atomlab, Transition and a few others. But all these were heavy and I wanted something under 400g.

Then I came across these pedals I’d never heard of before (NC-17 SUD Pin III S-Pro CNC Pedals), I purchased them from a website in the UK as they are not available in the USA. They looked good and were made in Germany. I figure, you know the bearings had to be good cause it’s a known fact that Germans make the best bearings right? Well at least I can vouch for this part of it, let’s take a closer look:

Technical Facts:

– Weight: 399 Gram
– Material: 7075-T6 Aluminum CNC-made
– Cr-Mo axle
– pedal size (LxWxH): 90x90x15mm
– sealed precision cartridge bearings
– replacement Pins included
– laser engraved
– Colors: black, green, white and red

NC-17 Sudpin III S-Pro in Black Ano

DESIGN
They look great, there’s not much not to like. They have a nice full squarish shape. Pin placements are in good spots you’d expect. At about 400 grams, they were over 100 grams lighter than most pedals in this price range. CNC pedals have a nice finished quality to them and obviously strong. They roll very smooth and there is no perceivable play when turning and pulling them by hand. They felt really solid under foot.

FUNCTION & PERFORMANCE
This is where I have mixed feelings on these pedals, as I know potentially, they would have been excellent. Here’s where they missed… a 90×90 surface area is a little small for even a modest shoe size (I’m a size 9). That’s why the NC17 (No children under 17) name is a mismatch; as they’re better suited for kids under 14 years of age and less than 100lbs. That said though, if you’re coming from a small body clip-in pedal, they’d be perfect. The upside is, you end up not hitting as many trail rocks, branches or whatever as they’re smaller in profile.

I’ve ridden them now for 6 months and was conscious of them for a month or so (just being small) — but I hardly notice them anymore. They grip pretty well with the Five Ten shoes (what doesn’t), they’re light and strong for their size. Having ridden them for this long, I thought they would have been toast by now but they’ve held up well despite some of their short-comings.

Riding on the NC-17 Pedals. Photo Jason Cardilo.

STRENGTH & DURABILITY
Stregnth wise, these pedals have held up strong. I’ve taken a few big jumps, dumps and the occasional whack to rocks and they continue to be straight and smooth rolling. After 6 months of good use, there is no play in the bearings.

Durability wise, it’s a miss. If I started off by removing the allen hex pins and phillips screws and loctited them in place, I’d say pretty good. But the fact that I’ve lost a few pins after hitting a few dirt hills or loose rocks, I think that’s where these pedals come up short. The drilled holes for the hex pins are shallow, so they don’t provide enough threads to bite into the pedal body. The outer pins, loosen up easily and I’ve had a couple just flat out stripped. There’s a reason for why they come with extra outer pins, but this provides little relief if threads are missing from the pedal body. For being a German made product, this part of the construction seemed overlooked.

GOOD: These pedals are strong and roll very nice with the precision cartridge bearings. pedal body is nice and thin. Weight is respectable at 400 grams at the $100 price point.

BAD: The biggest obvious thing is the surface area. It runs on the smaller side (some people may prefer this coming from perhaps clip-ins). Shallow pin bores and thread strength at the outer pins. These pedals would be awesome if they solve this part of it. Overall, for agressive riding, these are more suited for smaller riders. Not advised for DH use.

Reviewed by Qwan Pham

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 10:36 pm. It is filed under Controls, Riding Type and tagged with Affordable Pedals, Light Pedals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.