Renthal Revo-F Flat Pedal – Reviews, Comparisons, Specifications – Flat Pedals
Yep, you read that correctly. Renthal now makes a flat pedal for mountain biking. After 14 years of supplying cockpit parts, they felt it was time to turn their attention to the other important MTB contact point – your feet. What were your goals? What makes your pedals stand out from the multitude of other options? How do we assess performance after about 1.5 months on the trail? Read on to find out!
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Renthal Revo-F highlights
- Forged and CNC machined 6061 aluminum body
- Fully concave parallelogram profile
- 104mm x 100mm platform
- 10 pens per page
- Adjustable pen height
- High quality cromoly axle
- Wide IGUS socket
- Three cartridge chambers
- Completely sealed
- Colors: Black or AluGold
- Weight: 490 grams per pair, verified
- RRP: USD 159.95, GBP 154.95, EUR 179.95
First impressions
Renthal hardly needs an introduction to the world of two-wheeled off-road activities. The company has been active in the motocross scene for 55 years, where Renthal handlebars are installed as an OEM specification on MX performance models from the world’s largest manufacturers. 14 years ago they added a mountain bike line, which has since expanded to include handlebars, stems, grips and chainrings. Building on this success seems like a natural thing to do, and while the world hardly needs another flat pedal option today, Renthal felt they could add value by applying their promise of quality to this component as well. However, they didn’t want to do something just for the sake of it, so they spent a few years developing and refining the pedal before finally bringing it to market.
Starting with the internals, Renthal put durability and ease of maintenance at the top of the list of desired features in the new pedal. They chose a continuous chromoly axle that rotated on a large IGUS bushing and three smaller external bearings. To make pedal work easier for most home mechanics, they have developed an axle system that also serves to pull the bushing out of the pedal for maintenance work. This opens up access to the bearings, which can be easily knocked out and replaced, again using the pedal’s own axle and some very common tools (6 and 8mm Allen keys, a standard 8mm socket wrench and a hammer – that’s all). Renthal has just received a patent pending design of this axle system, showing that it is actually something very different than what already exists.
When Renthal discussed the shape of the case, he noted that a flat pedal benefits greatly from a concave shape in two directions. The Revo-F is made from 6061 alloy that has been forged and CNC machined to achieve the desired shape. The outline looks similar to many other flat pedals, but the devil is always in the details and Renthal has left no stone unturned here. The processing is complex and the profile of the contours is intentional. Renthal wanted a pedal that would withstand rock chips and have a beveled leading edge designed to slide off obstacles rather than snag on them. This also means there’s quite a bit of material left over in this area, adding to the weight of the pedal – at 490 grams per pair, it’s one of the heavier options on the market at the moment.
Looking at the dimensions of the pedal, the case itself is quite compact with dimensions of 104 x 100 mm. However, the axle is quite long, which allows the pedal to sit a little further from the crank arm, giving a better “pin-to-axle” number (we measure this number for all pedals we test here at Vital). and you can check out how different pedals compare to each other in our Flat Pedal Face Off item). For reference, the Revo-F offers a concavity of 7mm, which is among the best we’ve ever tested, and a PTA of 110mm, which is pretty average.
When it comes to the pins, Renthal wanted to offer a lot of adjustability as preferences can vary from rider to rider. They decided to use a combination of two different pin lengths and washers, which can be used to create many different combinations, with the pin height varying between 2.5 and 5.5 mm at each pin position. All necessary pins and washers are included. The pins are loaded from the back of the pedal, which should help make them easy to remove even if you break them off completely. The thread of the pins ends at the top, which typically results in an excellent hold of the pins. The pins are placed around the edges of the pedal, with the pin closest to the crank arm slightly offset to ensure that it actually serves a purpose (Renthal noted that many riders often placed their foot slightly outward, which made the innermost pins visible). useless if positioned too close to the cranks).
On the path
The Revo-F has a fairly compact platform, but the large concavity really helps the foot sink in and find support no matter where you place it. The long axle means the pedal is far enough away from the crank arm so that even riders with large feet don’t feel cramped. We believe this pedal offers a very good balance between overall size, PTA, and ability to overcome trailside obstacles. It’s not the roomiest pedal underfoot, but it doesn’t feel cramped either.
The grip provided by the set screws is excellent, and we think Renthal did a pretty good job with the placement of the pins too. The pedal feels familiar underfoot and we couldn’t fault the grip in any way. The pedal gives reassuring confidence even in thick mud, which shouldn’t be a surprise as Renthal is a British company and has been testing these pedals at home for two years now. The compact form factor and smooth, beveled front edge also allow the Revo-F to take on rock chips with ease. After 1.5 months on the trail we can show a few scratches for our efforts, but nothing more.
Things that could be improved
The way we measure and evaluate pedals here at Vital favors a long PTA, deep concavity and light weight. The Revo-F is quite compact and is therefore in the middle of the PTA rankings. It’s also quite heavy. Whether you think these features are something that should be improved – or whether they actually represent an advantage – is entirely up to you and depends on your riding style, routes and preferences. We know that Renthal made a conscious decision to give the Revo-F a little more weight in the name of durability and ease of maintenance. So if these aspects are important to you, you should definitely consider it among the top picks.
Long term durability
We’ve only had 1.5 months of testing with the Revo-F so far, so it’s too early for us to make a final judgment on its durability. However, Renthal’s design choices all favor durability, and from what we’ve seen so far, we have no reason to doubt that the Revo-F will impress here. Another clear advantage is the ability to convert the pedal at home using common tools.
What is the end result?
You could argue that there are already more than enough flat pedal options on the market, and you wouldn’t be far off. However, Renthal has proven that you can still focus on the details and come up with something fresh (so fresh, in fact, that they have a pending patent for the axle design). If grip, durability and ease of maintenance are high on your list of requirements and you don’t mind carrying around a few extra grams, we think the Revo-F has you covered.
More information at: renthal.com.
About the reviewer
Johan Hjord – Age: 50 // Years of MTB rider: 18 // Weight: 190 pounds (87 kg) // Height: 6 feet 0 inches (1.84 m)
Johan loves bikes, which strangely doesn’t make him any better at riding them. After years of practicing falling off cliffs on a snowboard, he took up mountain biking in 2005. Since then, he has mostly ridden bikes with too much suspension travel to cover up his many mistakes as a rider. His 200-pound body weight, coupled with his unique ability with poor line choices and awkward landings, make him an expert in durability – if parts survive Johan, they’re pretty much fine for anyone. Johan rides flat pedals with a riding style he describes as “none” (although in reality he rips!). Since he doesn’t like most of the trail elements, Johan uses much of his free time to build his own. Johan’s other achievements include surviving this far and helping keep the Vital Media Machine’s stoke dial firmly at 11.
Photos by Johan Hjord and Nils Hjord
