Review: Spank Oozy Trail Flat Pedal

The Oozy Trail Flat Pedal is the newest member of the Spank family of pedals. Quite like the youngest kid of any family, it often gets compared to the older sibling and receives a few hand-me-downs. The same is true for the Oozy. Spank set the bar quite high when they came out with the Spike flat pedal. And while there are a few engineering traits that resemble the Spike design, Spank incorporated several changes that have made the new Oozy pedal exemplary.

Official Specs from Spank

• 12mm Thin – Massive 11x11cm Platform
• 360g per pair (with full pin compliment)
• Cold Forged Alloy Pedal Body
• Hollow Taper Scandium Enriched Steel Axle
• Chamfered Leading Edges for Improved Clearance and Reduced Impact Forces
• Chamfered Side Edges for Improved Cornering Clearance
• Oversized Sealed Full Compliment Inboard Industrial Bearing
• Sealed Outboard IGUS Bushing
• 18 Adjustable Pins per Pedal
• New CNC Optimized, Full Sized Hex Head, Rear Loading Pins Improve Durability and Maintenence
• Inboard Friction Seal Prevents Contamination and Reduces Unwanted Pedal Spin.
• Color: Emerald Green / Silver / Black / Race Blue / Race Red

Engineering and Impressions

Spank’s Oozy line of products is designed for the all-mountain, enduro, and trail crowd. And if there’s one thing these disciplines despise, it’s weight. The downhill cult takes a distinct pleasure in loading their bikes with every piece of lead they can find to let gravity do the work. The rest of us, on the otherhand, can’t (and won’t) mooch off of skiers for a lift up the mountain. Since we’re the ones churning the pedals, a sleek and low-weight option is ideal. Spank used fancy machinery and machining tricks in order to reduce the weight of the Oozy pedals by almost 15% compared to it’s big brother, the Spike. A quick look at the pedals and it’s easy to see how much additional material is now removed by CNC.

Enhanced design and engineering went into the body of the pedal as well, in which the material was cold forged. The axle sports a hollow taper made of a special scandium-enriched steel (not unlike the special sauce on a Big Mac). According to Spank, the axle is “paired with a thin walled IGUS outboard bushing.” The Oozy also features much lighter traction pins. And while it’s really hard to count gram differences in traction pins, all of the modifications have resulted in a very sleek, light design.

The total pedal area of 11cm x 11cm (over 4in x 4in) was more than sufficient for my feet to have substantial contact with pedal. I would imagine even the largest of feet wouldn’t have any issues. Though the Oozy sports two fewer pins than the Spike, never once did I feel as though my feet weren’t firmly connected to the pedals. I honestly forgot that I was using flats.

One of the things I despise the most about flats for XC/enduro applications is the loss of pedalling efficiency when climbing. For this reason, I tested the Oozy pedals on numerous rides with thousands of feet of climbing. While it is inevitable to loose contact with the pedal on the very top of the pedaling stroke, with proper technique I felt as though I only lost maybe 10% efficiency with these flats as compared to clipless, which makes them far superior compared to other flats I have used.

One drawback of large pedals is their tendancy to catch on rocks and terrain. A selling point by Spank for these pedals is that the edges are chamfered in order to allow the pedals to “glance over obstacles and reduce impact forces.” While my pedals took quite a beating during the test rides, not once did they catch on obstacles. Yet another sales pitch that the Oozy pedals live up to.

If there’s one bonus to putting in a crap ton of vertical feet in climbing, it’s the crap ton of downhill! The traction on these pedals is phenomenal, even when going down rocky descents that have always managed to jar my feet free on other flat pedals. The Oozy pedals also shone during testing at the Angel Fire Bike Park, living up to the promises for enduro riding as well.

The only drawback to the design of these pedals that I didn’t care for was the large axle attachment to the crank arm. I typically use crank boot protectors to keep my crank arms pretty and scuff-free. But it is impossible to use them with these pedals.

Besides that small integration issue, the design and engineering that went into the Oozy Trail pedals have resulted in a very light, sexy, efficient flat pedal, fully living up to Spank’s hype.

MSRP: $149

Thanks to Spank for providing the Oozy Trail Pedal for review.