These little pedals are reputedly the best-selling SPDs in Britain over the past few years.The simple double-sided uncaged design and the sweet and reliable clip-in and clip-out action are hard to fault. The pedals work impressively in most conditions; sandy mud upsets them a little, making clipping in and out less precise but never sketchy enough to really worry me. Only snow seriously impairs performance. The cleats and pedals tend to ball up, icing the contact surfaces and making clipping in very hit-and-miss. I’d rather be unable to engage the cleats than unable to get out again.  I’ve used my pair for two years now and despite being bashed off many rocks and a total lack of TLC, the mechanism works as well as ever. The cup-and-cone bearings have recently started to run a little roughly but they have outlasted two supposedly “sealed” XT bottom brackets so I can’t really complain. If you’re after a reliable no-frills pair of SPDs I’d happily recommend them.

Cost: About £40.

Rating: 5/5